Kawasaki 750GPZ
- Thread starter Finklejag
- Start date
Back in 1984 I had a 1982 KZ-650. Man, that thing was SCARY FAST!
Imagine what you would think if you rode a current sport bike
My first sport style bike was a 1991 or 1992 Suzuki Katana...man I thought that thing was the fastest any human could travel on two wheels. Now I have a 700cc single that could probably out accelerate it, and certainly out handle it. Modern sport bikes are just incredible.
Very cool looking older machine. I dig it!
Too bad it wasn't a 1100. Those things could move, and were fuel injected.
KTM ? I think they are really interesting . To me they are the RD 350 Yamaha of these days light , powerful and fast.Imagine what you would think if you rode a current sport bike
My first sport style bike was a 1991 or 1992 Suzuki Katana...man I thought that thing was the fastest any human could travel on two wheels. Now I have a 700cc single that could probably out accelerate it, and certainly out handle it. Modern sport bikes are just incredible.
Very cool looking older machine. I dig it!
The red ones are '83; '84's were silver (I had one) the 1100's were fuel injected...and fast for the time. The GPz 750's responded really well to the Dynojet carb kit with individual K&N filters, and a sprocket change. I sold mine the summer of 1994 prior to a military PCS move...that thing was fast enough for me. At our old airport on a Saturday, one our patrol officers came out to clock us (I guess to see who to watch) I was clocked doing 146 in a red Maxell T-Shirt, jeans, and Chuck Taylor's, yep and a helmet. The indestructability of youth!
For me that style of GPZ=Maverick.
Back in 1986, walked in to a Kawasaki dealership to buy that very same bike but fell in love 
with a bike that was sitting next to it…….that Bike, a 1987 GPX 600R Ninja.
And now you know the rest of the story.
with a bike that was sitting next to it…….that Bike, a 1987 GPX 600R Ninja.And now you know the rest of the story.
Eddie Lawson edition…….or was that the 1000?
I don't know. He raced it at Sears Point so it was jetted with velocity stacks, drilled & wired, etc.
That is a nice and large covered parking area for motorcycles, with quite a few taking advantage of it.
Clean bike though.
Clean bike though.
I think the Eddie Lawson were later ZRX., the green one with white and purple accents.
If I may, the ELR was based on the KZ1000 air cooled engine, 2 valves per cylinder. It was more of a GPZ in look and shape. Eddie Lawson had won the Superbike championship in 1981 I believe. Kawasaki had a lot of KZ1000s as they hadn't sold as well as anticipated and they decided to take advantage of Eddie Lawson's success and made the ELR in 1982.
The '99 and '00 ZRX 1100's were given the similar green color to the ELR, but based on the liquid cooled ZX-11 which is an entirely different engine that has roots back in the original Ninja 900.
In general ZRX owners cringe when we see an advertisement on Craigslist, for instance, with a ZRX being called an ELR "replica". The ZRX is a great bike but no ELR. The ELR is a class of its own.
Wow... what a pristeen example... brings back my K Bike memories...
1980... Z400FX Kawasaki... Japanese 4 unique to the home market... I
painted the wheels School Bus yellow and installed a Honda fairing and
tail cowl... It was deemed the Circus Wheeled Kawasaki by the Honda
factory workers at the Saitama Honda Plant they christened the frame
with a sticker "Made by Honda Motors LTD"...
1981... While stationed in Wichita Kansas I ordered a new GPz550 from
East Side Honda... 3 days later I was off for a 1500 mile round trip
to New York and back... next summer I rode home to California and
back... I got the 3 spoke magnesium Dymags direct from Harris
Performance while on a TDY to England courtesy of the USAF...
1980... Z400FX Kawasaki... Japanese 4 unique to the home market... I
painted the wheels School Bus yellow and installed a Honda fairing and
tail cowl... It was deemed the Circus Wheeled Kawasaki by the Honda
factory workers at the Saitama Honda Plant they christened the frame
with a sticker "Made by Honda Motors LTD"...
1981... While stationed in Wichita Kansas I ordered a new GPz550 from
East Side Honda... 3 days later I was off for a 1500 mile round trip
to New York and back... next summer I rode home to California and
back... I got the 3 spoke magnesium Dymags direct from Harris
Performance while on a TDY to England courtesy of the USAF...
KTM mostly with Husky frosting...the thing is just a ton of fun. I'm still waiting for the tarmac and tires to get warm enough to really have any fun.
Of the naturally aspirated GPZ bikes, the 1100 back in the 80s was the only one with fuel injection to my knowledge. The 750 turbo had fuel injection. The GPZ 1100 that was based on the ZX11 engine in the mid 90s was back to carburetors.
Yeah those are good bikes. Back in the day my buddy had a GPz1100, he loved it. He wore a shirt that said "GPz1100, 80 MPH in 1st gear... what to do with the other 5 gears?" LOL
