In 1976 I started working at Kawasaki Country in Yakima Washington. I have always said there are 3 types of motorcycle shops. Those that make it happen…those that watch it happen….and those that wonder what happened.
Prior to this shop I worked in the latter type of shop, but this was a make it happen place. Don, the owner, was all for being creative and using your imagination. If anything, he had some of the wildest ideas. I will talk about some of the promotions we did another time; but this time I would like to reflect on some of the bikes we created.
In this time period, there was not a demand for the specialized bikes we find today. There were no sportbikes, no cruisers like we see now, and very few touring bikes. Today we see a lot of ‘builders’ around, but in my mind they are mostly assemblers - as all they do is take existing parts off the shelf and assemble a bike (with modifications to it). A real builder starts from scratch and makes his own frame and usually everything but the motor. We made customs.
The first one we did was with a stock KZ400. We found a place that made handlebar mounted fairings and some nice small bags that matched and made what could be called a mini touring bike. This combination sold very well because it looked nice and was very reasonably priced. The regional manager for Kawasaki came by and took pictures. Then Kawasaki released the KZ400 Deluxe, which cost hundreds more than ours and did not sell.
Next I wanted to build a ‘CafĂ© Racer’ so I took a 1976 KZ900 ordered Lester Mag wheels, a BMW R90S fairing, 4 into 1 pipe, better shocks and an additional disc brake and more. We had it custom painted a blue silver with blue stripes. The Kawasaki came in again armed with a camera. Again, they took pictures. Sure enough, in 1978 they introduced the Z1R.
I rode a KZ900 for a year but did not like the weight so when the KZ650 came out, I bought a 1977 KZ650C with the mags. I put a 720cc kit in it, smoothbore carbs, Koni shocks, drilled the disc, BMW fairing again and a KZ750 twin tail section. I tell you, history continues to repeat itself. Kawasaki Rep comes out, takes pictures, leaves. Then Kawasaki introduces the GPZ 750.
At about the same time I had a customer who was a former H2 owner buy a KZ650 but it wasn’t fast enough. So we turbo charged it – which was unusual in the mid 70’s. Can you say GPZ 750 turbo? I sold the 650 and rode a KZ1000 MKII (J model).
I do remember asking the rep if it was possible to get any of the Eddie Lawson race parts from Racing as I wanted to make a replica.
It was at this time the shop was purchased by the local Harley dealer and we got a new Kawasaki regional rep.
Maybe I should have applied at Kawasaki headquarters for a job.