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| {{Motorcycle
| | #Redirect [[Kawasaki KZ1000P]] |
| |name = [[Kawasaki]] Z1000 Police
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| |photo=Kawasaki--KZ-1000P.jpg
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| |aka =
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| |manufacturer = Kawasaki
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| |parent_company =
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| |production =
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| |model_year =
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| |predecessor =
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| |successor =
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| |class =
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| |engine =
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| |bore_stroke =
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| |compression =
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| |top_speed =
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| |power =
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| |torque =
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| |fuel_system =
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| |ignition =
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| |spark_plug =
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| |battery =
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| |transmission =
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| |frame =
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| |suspension =
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| |brakes =
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| |front_tire =
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| |rear_tire =
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| |rake_trail =
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| |wheelbase =
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| |length =
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| |width =
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| |height =
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| |seat_height =
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| |dry_weight =
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| |wet_weight =
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| |fuel_capacity =
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| |oil_capacity =
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| |fuel_consumption =
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| |turning_radius =
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| |related =
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| |competition =
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| }}
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| == Photos ==
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| [[File:Kawasaki--KZ-1000P.jpg|600px|Kawasaki Z1000 Police]]
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| == Overview ==
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| Kawasaki KZ 1000P
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| THE 900/1000 POLICE BIKES
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| Kawasaki were quick to sell the Z1 to the various
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| police forces of America. From as early as 1974 right up to present day. The
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| letter C in their frame number identifies these bikes. Models after 1981 were
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| known as the KZ1000-P. They were finished in white and fitted out in all the
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| police gear. The popular seventies TV series 'CHIPS' brought them to everybody's
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| attention. Quite a few of them have found their way to Europe and there is even
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| an owners club for them, where owners dress up like Californian highway patrol
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| officers and ride around the country posing!
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| What Kawasaki had to say:
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| Until 1968, Kawasaki was mainly involved in developing two cycle motorcycles,
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| although the company did have a long history of developing four cycle engines.
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| In 1937, Meguro (merged with Kawasaki in 1963) manufactured 500cc single
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| engines, and the engineers who developed this technology moved to Kawasaki.
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| These engineers played a major role in developing the 650cc W series
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| motorcycles.
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| This experience provided Kawasaki with the basic skills to develop four cycle
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| engines.In 1967 Kawasaki made a decision to develop a high-performance
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| motorcycle which would far exceed the 650W1, the largest motorcycles in Japan
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| that time.
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| As the United States was targeted as the main market for these high performance
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| motorcycles, the development team was sent to the U.S. where they secretly
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| worked out a plan for the new model.
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| Finally, the displacement of the new model was set at 750cc and a mock-up was
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| completed in October 1968.
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| However, Honda announced a new 750cc single-over-head-cam (SOHC) motorcycle at
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| the
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| Tokyo Motor Show held the same year. The Kawasaki management staff realized it
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| was meaningless to come out with a similar model after Honda had already
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| introduced theirs, so all development efforts on Kawasaki's 750cc model were
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| stopped.
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| In 1970, the Z1 (development code T103) developing project team was reunited
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| with the best staff in all the fields joining the project. This group repeated
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| research and experiments to develop a better .
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| Kawasaki resumed U.S. market research in March of 1970 and collected customers'
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| opinions from various sources such as random samplings of dealers and editors of
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| major motorcycle magazines.
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| Finally, the management staff concluded there was a strong market for a
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| high-speed, eye-appealing motorcycle with enough power to use as a reliable
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| touring model.
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| Kawasaki's answer to this market was a 1,000cc class, four cycle, four cylinder
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| model. The main requirements for the Z1 engine were high speed, high stability,
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| and ease of dealing with pollution problems. A four cycle unit meeting these
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| requirements would be met by strong market demand.
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| The first prototype was completed in the spring of 1971. This prototype was
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| ridden by
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| American test riders with minor adjustments made step by step. In the fall of
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| that year, the final prototype was completed and after testing, the unit was
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| approved for mass production. The first production model was completed in
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| February 1972, and this unit was subjected to repeated severe road testing after
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| which all parts, including even the nuts and bolts, were examined. After
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| reworking all weak points, the first mass-production model was built in May
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| 1972.
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| The 903cc displacement of the Z1 made it the largest motorcycle in Japan.
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| Worldwide, it was larger than Italian Moto Guzzi 850 and comparable to
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| Harley-Davidson 1000 and 1200.
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| The specifications called for an air-cooled four-cycle four-cylinder engine with
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| a double-over-head-cam (DOHC) mechanism.
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| The DOHC was necessary to realize overall high performance from low speed to
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| high speed range. In motorcycle markets around the world, there were only one or
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| two other samples of this type of engine, and it was the first engine for
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| Kawasaki to adopt this advanced valve train.
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| The Z1's maximum horsepower was 82ps at 8,500rpm, 0 to 400m acceleration was 12
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| seconds, and the maximum speed was above 210km/h. The Z1 power was 8ps higher
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| than the H2, and had great potential considering the average horsepower of the
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| 1,200cc automobile was 77ps at that time.
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| However, horsepower per displacement was comparatively lower than the H1 and H2
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| because
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| Kawasaki changed their engine design policy so that the powerband was not set
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| near the engine's limit, thereby pursuing elegance and smooth engine
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| performance. It is also noteworthy that the Z1 engine was based on a policy to
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| prevent pollution and was equipped with anti-air-pollution devices such as a
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| positive crankcase ventilation system.
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| The main features of the Z1 were the reliable double-cradle steel tube frame, a
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| safe and reliable disc brake system, and ease of maintenance. Since the Z1
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| utilized the complicated DOHC mechanism, ease of maintenance was carefully
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| considered at the design stage. As a result, the Z1 could be maintained without
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| removing the engine from the body except for maintenance of crankshaft related
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| parts.
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| The Z1 style was fresh, but cool, without the look of a 900cc heavy weight
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| machine. The style was achieved with tail-up mufflers, a light tear-drop formed
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| fuel tank, and a slim, flowing seat.
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| All Z1 parts were individually examined and tested time after time resulting in
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| a five year development period. Five years is not a short development period for
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| one model, although as noted earlier, development was at one time stopped
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| altogether. In this sense, the Z1 was the Kawasaki's flagship model.
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| In September 1972, the Z1 was introduced to the U.S. public, and sales started
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| in November of that year. Since the development stage, Z1 was nicknamed "The New
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| York Steak," and the Z1 was enthusiastically welcomed by markets as the "mouth
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| watering motorcycle" when sales started. The suggested retail price was $1,900
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| and the initial sales plan called for 1,500 vehicles per month including the
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| European markets.
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| The Z1 was introduced to the Japanese public at the Tokyo Motor Show in October
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| of 1972 and drew the strongest attention among numerous new models developed by
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| our competitors.
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| In December 1972, Kawasaki held a press conference at Tokyo Takanawa Prince
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| Hotel and invited guests from 17 companies in the motorcycle industry, and
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| reporters from magazines and newspapers. At the conference, a new model, the Z2,
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| was introduced as a brother model for the Japanese market.Production of
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| Kawasaki's 750RS Z2 started in January 1973. It was a 746cc machine with newly
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| designed pistons and crankshaft parts to express the same feeling as the Z1. The
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| maximum Z2 horse power was 69ps at 9,000rpm with a maximum speed of 190km/h.
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| Sale of the Z2 started in March 1973 and were 10% higher than our competitors'
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| 750cc class motorcycles. The 900cc class body size and the DOHC engine attracted
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| Japanese riders all at once because motorcycle equipped with a DOHC engine had
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| not existed in Japan prior to the Z2.
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| During the first two years of production, Kawasaki built 80,000 Z1 and Z2
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| motorcycles, and the sales of these models established Kawasaki's reputation as
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| a heavy weight motorcycle manufacturer
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| [[Category:Kawasaki motorcycles]]
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