Topic: Kawasaki vertical twin ???

[greenjeans]

A guy down the street has a 79 Kawasaki twin for sale.   Any comparable forums or advice you can give me as to what to look for, stay away from.    Haven't seen it yet, going to take a look after work.    It's a runner and the price seems fair.   
Always intrigued by the twins....of all kinds

[kirkn]

Here y'go:

http://www.armbell.com/kz400/index.php?sid=bc8f3f6ab7004bd704129f419b1f27ad&mforum=kz400

It's an outstanding forum dedicated to the vintage Kawasaki twins.  All the help and info you'll ever need, especially including the 'home' site kz400.com

Kawasaki had two twins in the mid-70s to mid-80s:  a 400 that grew to a 440, and a 750.  It'll be one or the other.

The KZ400 was Kawasaki's version of a Honda CB350.  It was Kawasaki's second 4-stroke, following the KZ900 of myth, legend and immortality.  The 400/440 is a great bike.  Strong enough, good handling, counterbalanced motor, very 'nice' bikes.

The 750 is most of all that, too, but not as numerous.  A bit on the heavy side.

Enjoy it, whatever it turns out to be.

Kirk

[LesterPiglet]

The 750 was rubbish, I would ignore it.

[BeSeeingYou]

The 750 was rubbish, I would ignore it.

It would be nice if you had a little more to add.  Just tossing this out is kind of worthless.  What is the basis for your statement?

The 750 is smooth for a big twin as it has a counterbalancer.  Typical of Kawi engines it is robust and reliable but this one is no speed demon  but is more middle of the road.  A friend has an 81 that I have worked on and ridden a bit.  Not a fan of the style of those years but the 79 I think is still the older more classic 70's look.  The 80's bikes had a few things I did not care for that made them a hassle to work on, namely no centerstand and exhaust headers and pipes that run below the frame making it a chore to get it on the lift.  Not sure if this affects the earlier bikes.  I am a fan of big twins and this one has a good looking engine and to me would be a good candidate for a cafe job.  IMO a twin usually looks better than the wide fours in that regard.  Or leave it stock...it's not a bad looking bike.   An overlooked bike that might be worth a look at the right price.

Sometimes it's fun to show up at bike night with something a bit out of the "mainstream". 

[scottly]

A good friend of mine had a 750; here is a pic from a 3000 mile road trip in 1979. The Kawi had no problems, unlike the two Honda CBXs on the same trip.

[LesterPiglet]

The 750 was slow, underpowered and had balancer problems. I think I only ever seen one here and that was in the shop being fixed.

[dave the welder]

i owned a 750 back in the early 80s.lots of low end torque,great handling compared to my 750 honda wwwhich i owned at the same time.it wieghed less than the honda.only faults i had !would not go over 90 and 2 at 58 mph it would vibrate.not real bad but on a trip to the UP(aprox 400 miles each way)i had a severe case of numb EVERYTHING.and i do mean everything all in all a great city bike not a long distance cruiser

[simon#42]

im not a huge fan of these either , have ridden a couple and fixed a few . they are slow, vibrate allot and dont steer particularly well . not one of Kawasaki's better efforts .

[mcpuffett]

I had a Z75O Twin back in the late 80's had no problems with it at all  ,  took me all over Belgium & Holland & numerous runs to Kent & all over the Uk without a worry  , heres a photo of me on it cheers Mick.

 

[sopo400f]

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=27238.0
This thread made me want to get a 750 twin.

Although I'm now shooting for an xs650 Twin instead.

[greenjeans]

Thanks for the input guys.   Now he's got it posted on CL.    A bit more than we had originally discussed.  I think his wife got involved.

We shall see.    Looks very similar to the photo mcpuffet posted.

Not too worried about making it a long-distance cruiser.   It would be a city, bar-hopping experiment.

[Tugboat]

I have a '76 KZ400 which I absolutely adore. So much so that I'm rebuilding the top-end at a cost that's more than what I paid for the whole bike! It's been my daily rider for the past three years or so.. did the 2011 Rally on it.. probably put about 4k on it so far. Recommended as a small twin if that's what yr looking for. Good luck!

[kirkn]

Easy way to distinguish - the 750 is a DOHC, the 400 is a SOHC.  Otherwise, they'll certainly have a 'family' resemblance, being Kawasakis of similar vintage.

Post the CL link so we can all see. 

I just did a quick search of the Dallas/Ft. Worth CL, and I see two '79 KZ750 twins and one '79 KZ400. 

[crazypj]

The 400 and 750 both run 'backwards' compared to conventional engines.
750 is a bit top heavy , the torque reaction loads front end a bit when accelerating.
Otherwise, they are ok (for Kawasaki's  )