Did you see these other Classic features?
THE ERA OF THE TW0-STROKE
RISE AND FALL OF THE TRIPLE
Mike Hailwood on the RC166
in the Isle of Man 1967 Z1300 an engineering masterpiece
from the 1970s
Kawasaki Z1300 the final chapter
in the size battle Z1300 engine detail
In spite of this the big Kawasaki did not capture
the imagination of the average big bike buyer.
It did, however, remain in production for ten
years, and seems to have obtained a cult
following. Many believed that compared with
the well balanced proportions of the Honda
CBX, the Kawasaki looks big and clumsy, but
this is subjective and the big Kawasaki boasted
such features as liquid cooling, which enabled
the cylinders to be positioned closer together,
and make the engine narrower than it would
normally have been. The engine was also a
lot quieter than the Honda. In many ways the
Kawasaki spelled the ending of the race for ever
bigger superbikes. As the calendar turned to the
1980’s the manufacturers looked to improved
aerodynamics, greater efficiency and economy, and a very different direction from the constant
race for weight, and power. In many ways the
1970s had been a significant chapter in the
development of motorcycles, and many of the
ideas that were tried and tested came directly
from the Japanese race bikes of the 1960s.
A young engineer Shoichiro Irimajiri worked
on a project that produced the high-revving
multi-cylinder Honda race bikes ridden by Mike
Hailwood and Luigi Taveri on the Grand Prix
circuits of the day. The remarkable 250cc RC166
race bike had the same engine architecture
as the CBX, an in-line six with six individual CV
carburettors. The bikes were the inspiration and
indeed the ancestors of the CBX1000, which
remains one of the most desirable and sought
after classics of the period.
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