Kawasaki Z650 Custom
Kawasaki Z650 Custom | |
Manufacturer | |
---|---|
Production | 1979 |
Engine | Four stroke, transverse four cylinder, DOHC, 2 valves per cylinder. |
Compression ratio | 9.5:1 |
Ignition | Battery & coil |
Battery | 12V-10AH |
Transmission | 5 Speed |
Frame | Steel twin loop cradle |
Suspension | Front: Telescopic forks Rear: Swinging arm |
Brakes | Front: 2X 231mm discs Rear: Single 220mm disc |
Front Tire | 3.25-19 |
Rear Tire | 4.00-18 |
Wheelbase | 1437 mm / 56.6 in |
Seat Height | 800mm / 31.5 in |
Weight | 237 kg / 522.4 lbs (wet) |
Oil Capacity | 7.4 US pint |
Recommended Oil | K-tech 10W-40 |
Fuel Capacity | 16.5 Liters / 4.3 US gal |
Manuals | Service Manual |
Engine[edit | edit source]
The engine was a Air cooled cooled Four stroke, transverse four cylinder, DOHC, 2 valves per cylinder.. The engine featured a 9.5:1 compression ratio.
Drive[edit | edit source]
Power was moderated via the Wet, multi-plate.
Chassis[edit | edit source]
It came with a 3.25-19 front tire and a 4.00-18 rear tire. Stopping was achieved via 2X 231mm discs in the front and a Single 220mm disc in the rear. The front suspension was a Telescopic forks while the rear was equipped with a Swinging arm. The Z650 Custom was fitted with a 16.5 Liters / 4.3 US gal fuel tank. The wheelbase was 1437 mm / 56.6 in long.
Photos[edit | edit source]
Overview[edit | edit source]
Kawasaki Z 650 Custom
'IF IT DOESN'T go, chrome it' has been a sturdy pillar of both car and bike
design philosophy for years. Recently the principle of 'If It Doesn't Sell,
Limit It' seems to have taken over in biking circles at least; witness the Honda
Cold Wing Executive, the Z1000 LTD, even the Jubilee Bonny. Models nearing the
end of their sales life are given a boost by a special paint job, odds and sods
like different wheels and tanks and a hand-on-heart promise from the
manufacturers that only a limited number will be produced. That number usually
nearly always coincides with the number of bikes lying around the factory at the
end of a production run, or that are sitting around in importers' warehouses and
can be easily converted (did anybody mention the Phil Read Replica? no, surely
not).
Why do people buy them? Any thoughts that manage to penetrate most bikers'
100 proof cranial fluid go something like this: 'It's a bit special' (it is),
'it's exclusive' (it isn't), 'it'll increase in value' (it won't). Or at least
it might increase in value but I wouldn't exchange my Andy Warhol original for a
Lead Wing Executive to test the hypothesis. All those dealers seen wrapping
Jubilee Bon-nevilles in greased muslin and storing them in brass-cornered
mahogany boxes must know something I don't. Still, essentially it's marketing.
I therefore approached the Z650C with extreme caution even though Kawasaki
haven't tried to make out that each individual Z650C is lovingly hand-crafted
and numbered. But the rest of the formula is there smart alloy wheels, special
paint job (with real pinstripes painted on by a guy in a brown coat with
horn-rimmed spectacles), locking filler cap and an extra disc on back and front.
However good looking this package is it didn't seem to me to be enough to
transform the fortunes of a bike that, by the mere expedient of being 100cc too
small, has failed to sell in large enough numbers to pay for the expensive
carpet it stands on in yer average Kawasaki showroom.
It really does look good though, particulary parked under a sodium
street lamp outside your favourite real ale pub. It's sort of subdued but
shiny. The engine cases are highly polished, Jhe wheels mainly matt black and
menacing, the tank/seat unit pearlescent. I'm told it looks equally good in
daylight, but I do my best not to look at bright things during the day as
there's a severe danger that I might wake up.
There are two ways that the Custom might stimulate sales of both itself and
the standard Z650 on looks alone. It may well drag people in from the streets to
have a test ride, just to pass the time while the local Suzuki dealer's
GS750/1000 waiting list slowly reduces. These people will discover, if their
nervous system is not permanently disconnected, that the Z650 is one hell of a
bike, Custom or standard.
It won't beat the 750s in the battle of the brochures or road test figures,
but out there on the road, it feels good and much better than a lot of the big
bikes. It feels good when you slam into a sharp bend and wind it on just after
the apex, when you brake hard and yank the bars to get round some car-borne oaf,
when you scream it up a slip road and have to back off because you're going
faster in 100 yards than guys who've been building up speed since Birmingham.
It's got that tight, zippy feeling that makes you want to screw it even on a
Monday morning through the thick sludge of traffic on the way to work. So quite
a few people may swallow their pride, decide that riding a mere 650, especially
a good looking one, is not too demeaning to their manhood and proceed to scare
hell out of the local megabike owners.
The other market that Kawasaki may well get a slice of with the custom is the
elusive executive motorcyclist. That's a horrible classification; what it
really means is the guy with a car who would like a bike for kicks and/or posing
purposes, not the true 'I wouldn't touch it with sterilised gloves on unless
it's got two wheels, I love the rain, isn't crashing fun? purist, although the
latter often turns into the former!
I discovered the undoubted attraction of the Z650C for this type of guy
through what is laughingly called my job (which is not professional Ace Road
Testing as must be obvious). It actually involves selling a commodity which is
very expensive, and which no-one can see the true value or purpose of. Anyway,
it involves me in a lot of travelling around plush central London offices which
is usually done either in the company car, venting my spleen at the impenetrable
wall of traffic surrounding me, or in a taxi venting highly imflammable
alcoholic fumes from every orifice. Both are time consuming and expensive.
One morning however, I abused th Cortina once too often and just after
starting up the water pump exploded, shrapnel shredding the radiator. The
resulting cloud of steam was spectacular, but not a lot of help in getting me to
a very important meeting in half an hour across the other side of London
which was then totally paralysed by traffic. Enter Z650C, lurking in the garage.
I expect a certain traffic warden is still wondering what the hell the loon
dressed in a filthy, fly-bespattered Bell Star, immaculate Parisian suit and
soft Italian slip-on shoes was doing smoking the back tire across her toes as
she twitched her thumb in preparation to waving the traffic on. Well, I got
there, and on time dumping the bike on the pavement. Imagine my surprise when,
instead of being directed to the tradesmen's entrance because of the crash hat,
the guy I had come to see came rushing through reception saying, 'Saw you arrive
old chap, splendid idea, thinking about a bike meself, mind if I have a sit?
Looks well, no oil underneath like my BSA used to have years' ago, how much are
they?' Sold, one Z650C. It happened time and time again as I trolled about town
on the Custom. It promoted interest from the most unexpected quarters. Perhaps
it was nostalgia for the traditional size, perhaps it was the looks, I dunno but
it sure got noticed.
The most impressive thing about the tartingup process the Z650 has undergone
is that, with one notable exception, all the structural changes make it a better
bike to ride faster. The front end has had considerable attention, with another
disc and different calipers which are mounted behind the fork legs together with
the superb-looking fake Morris Mag cast wheels. The extra disc was a must as the
original was very close to being underbraked. The calipers have also been
improved and, although single piston, they are, I,believe, Girling designs made
under licence in Japan. Their main advantage is that the torque reaction on the
pads is fed straight through to the fork legs or torque arm rather than through
the caliper which can then do its job of squeezing the disc without binding on
its pivot pins. They also stop you rapidly and without drama, at least in the
dry. The rear end is an entirely different matter, and I reckon that the rear
disc is the curse of modern motorcycles. The marketing men who specify them for
new models ought to be forced to walk blindfold across greasy wet roads in front
of hordes of bikes so equipped. If any of them survived they would soon change
their minds, and their trousers. A rear disc can only be of use to somebody who
commutes across the Moroccan High Atlas mountains every day where its superior
heat dissipating properties might help and it doesn't rain. I didn't fall off
the Custom because of the rear disc, but came very close to it. It locked up the
back wheel at the drop of a toe nail in the wet; not too pleasant.
The rear shocks work tolerably well, but now the front fork has been slightly
redesigned and improved they do feel slightly shaky in comparison. The handling
generally is extremely good but not in the 'solid as a rock, you can't ride me
anywhere near my limits' class, much more the 'I might move around a bit 'cos
I'm enjoying the ride, but I'll end up where you want me to go' sort of deal.
There's loads of ground clearance, the foot-rest touches on the right and
slightly more seriously the centre stand graunches on the left, but only close
to the limits of sanity. However, it was while approaching these limits that the
Custom did give me a scare.
The scene is no doubt familiar. Car in front doing 85, you want to do 90, you
wait for a gap, blast past at around 100, bright boy in the car puts his toe
down as you flash past The Bends For % Mile Reduce Speed NOW signs. The
particular bends in question were fairly wide radius and nothing dramatic except
for an odd camber and disturbingly dented Armco on both sides. A nice vigorous
wobbler ensued, not terminal but close enough to remind me that I was riding a
motorcycle, not a magic carpet, which the Custom often felt like. This behaviour
was out of character, so when I stopped for petrol a quick check showed that the
rear tire had been almost totally rubbished by speed testing earlier that day
and now looked like a sidecar cover. Riding on the corner of a square tire is
enough to start any bike off, and I expect the extra weight of disc and wheel on
the front made the wobble feel worse than it was. With reasonable tires there
should be no problem.
The frame seemed a workmanlike item tacked together from the requisite number
of tubes, and with the welcome addition of a swinging arm supported on a double
row needle roller bearings complete with grease nipple to jnject grease onto
same. A change from the laughable plastic bushes found on some other big Jap
bikes.
The engine is almost identical to the standard Z650 except for heavier
flywheels and highly polished cases. And one hell of a unit it is too. Fairly
conventional, with chain driven double overhead cam, Hy-Vo chain primary drive
and wet sump lubrication, it produces a very unconventional amount of usable
power. With this sort of top end performance not far off 117 mph available
one would expect it to be a red-line screamer needing Light Pedal Assistance
anywhere. Not so, because power comes in low down and just keeps coming in that
lovely endless gush Z1000 owners keep on about. It's very easy to throw caution
to the winds and just keep it wound on well past the 9,000rpm blood line which
it will exceed even in top. Funnily enough, despite extra flywheel weight, the
engine does get fairly rough, producing a sort of throbbing vibration, from
about 4,500rpm to about 7,500 when it smoothed out. Is it coincidence that four
and a half grand is exactly 55mph in top, the American blanket speed limit up to
which the ride is oily-smooth? Still, most British riders will operate in the
7,500rpm-plus smooth range, much to the disgust of the local constabulary.
Hand, foot and bum contact points are all pretty much in the right places,
the bars being commendably low and narrow, though straights would suit the
character of the bike even better. Instruments are the usual Nippon Denso which
look as if they're telling the truth even if they don't, switches are operable
with an over-mitted hand which must be good, and the array of idiot lights
between the dials shine with great authority. One novelty in the controls is the
hazard flasher switch which operates all four flashers at once, believed by many
to hide a magic anti-parking warden ray. They actually proved very useful while
exiting from a recent David Bowie concert in London as the road was temporarily
closed for the milling crowds to disgorge from Earls Court which they did,
blocking the road. Flashing all four indicators obviously gave the bike a quasi
official appearance causing people to leap out of the way, which was all very
satisfying.
Ironically, the only place the Custom failed to cut it was among the custom
crowd, probably the very market Big K was aiming at. For our photo session we
went along to the Saturday nite cruise from Battersea Park to the King's Road
with the wide wheel and diffraction tape set. You get zilch reaction down there
if you're not covered from head to foot with Flip-Flop or Eeriedess or sport an
unmuf-fled four-into-one. You're no-one; subtlety or real performance mean
nothing in the King's Road. In fact we thought the Custom had become invisible
at one point. There we were taking pics parked on the pavement when a cretin on
a grotesque water-pumper Suzuki drove up the kerb, along the pavement and
straight into the bike. No, the Z650C doesn't need to impress people like
that. It does its business in the streets of the City or on the twisty lanes of
the home counties. It's a class machine.
STOP PRESS: Another variation of the Z650 has been announced Stateside, the
KX650SR. It has a 5.10 x 16in rear wheel, really high wide bars, a weird Siamese
exhaust system, semi King 'n' Queen seat and chromed instrument nacelles. Thank
Cod it didn't happen here . . .
Source bike 1978
Make Model | Kawasaki Z 650 Custom / KZ650C |
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Year | 1979 |
Engine Type | Four stroke, transverse four cylinder, DOHC, 2 valves per cylinder. |
Displacement | 652 cc / 39.7 in |
Bore X Stroke | 62 х 54 mm |
Cooling System | Air cooled |
Compression | 9.5:1 |
Lubrication | Dry sump |
Oil Capacity | 7.4 US pint |
Induction | 4x 28mm Mikuni carburetors |
Ignition | Battery & coil |
Battery | 12V-10AH |
Starting | Electric & kick |
Max Power | 66 hp / 48.2 kW @ 8500 rpm |
Max Torque | 5.8 kgf-m / 57 Nm @ 7000 rpm |
Clutch | Wet, multi-plate |
Transmission | 5 Speed |
Final Drive | Chain |
Gear Ratio | 1st 15.63:1 2nd 10.93:1 3rd 8.52:1 4th 6.97:1 5th 5.97:1 |
Frame | Steel twin loop cradle |
Front Suspension | Telescopic forks |
Rear Suspension | Swinging arm |
Front Brakes | 2X 231mm discs |
Rear Brakes | Single 220mm disc |
Front Tire | 3.25-19 |
Rear Tire | 4.00-18 |
Rake | 27º |
Trail | 106 mm / 4.2 in |
Wheelbase | 1437 mm / 56.6 in |
Seat Height | 800mm / 31.5 in |
Ground Clearance | 152 mm / 6.0 in |
Wet Weight | 237 kg / 522.4 lbs |
Fuel Capacity | 16.5 Liters / 4.3 US gal |