Kawasaki Z1-R

Z1000-D1

In 1978, Kawasaki introduced the Z1000-D1, better known as the Z1-R.
This was a factory customised motorcycle featuring a small handlebar fairing, a four into one exhaust system and eighteen inch, seven spoke cast alloy wheels at the front and rear.

The Z1-R was the first of the Kawasakis to feature the new angular look. The fuel tank, fairing, tail piece, side panels, front mudguard and trim that ran along the bottom edge of the seat were finished in a light metallic blue described by Kawasaki as Metallic Stardust Silver. All above mentioned bodywork except for the side panels featured narrow stripes in blue and black.
The wheels were finished in black with polished edges to the spokes and rims.

The Z1-R had twin drilled disc brakes up front and a single drilled disc at the rear.

The slimline angular fuel tank was only 13 litres in capacity. The KAWASAKI badges on the fuel tank were the same as those fitted to the standard Z1000.
A larger capacity 22 litre fuel tank later became available. This tank featured Kawasaki badges in the style of the later Z1000 Mk II.

Side panel badges stated z1000 in white letters and numerals on a black background and below that was the legend Z1-R in red letters and numerals.

The instruments of the Z1-R featured a speedometer on the left calibrated to 160mph in 10mph increments. The tachometer was calibrated to 11000rpm with the redline starting at 8500rpm.
The warning lights between the speedometer and tachometer were, from top to bottom, NEUTRAL, HIGH BEAM, OIL and TURN. Set into the tachometer was a warning light for STOP LAMP failure.
Above the speedometer and tachometer were rectangular FUEL and AMP gauges.

The engine of the Z1-R was finished in black and was very similar in appearance to the early Z1. However, the edges of the cooling fins were not polished as on the Z1.
A return to 28mm carburettors enabled a power increase to 90 bhp.
Although the kickstarter mechanism was still present, the kickstarter lever was replaced by an emergency lever that was kept under the seat.

Unfortunately, European sales of the Z1-R were not as good as Kawasaki had hoped. In an effort to reduce stocks, Kawasaki Germany introduced the Z1000S in late 1978.
This was a standard Z1000-D1 Z1-R in Metallic Stardust Silver fitted with the larger 22 litre fuel tank and the four into four exhaust system from the Z900.

Z1000-D2

In 1979, the Z1000-D2 was introduced.
This was basically a MkII engined version of the Z1-R and featured a four into two exhaust and a nineteen inch front wheel.
It was available in Ebony or Luminous Dark Red.
The model was continued into 1980 as the Z1000-D3 when it was only available in Ebony.

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February 2022
The following information was provided by Johan Meyer from the USA.
To save repetition, when time permits, I may merge Johan’s information with the information above.
The relevant section of Johan’s information has also been added to the Z1-R TC page.

So the information I collected over the last few years is as follows:

The first Z1R’s that were build were Stardust Metallic blue and are referred to as the D1. The frame numbers are from KZT00D 000001 to KZT00D 017392.

The engine numbers however were from KZT00DE 000001 to KZT00DE 017412. Bike #000004 have engine 000004 but bike 000014 have engine number 000015.

My bike number 000448 have engine number 000559 but then bike 000509 have engine 000486 (belong to Edwin Gay from Orlando , Florida in the USA).

Same situation with bike 000521 which have engine 000495 (belong to D.L. Smith from Harriman, Tennessee, USA). My bike number 001252 then have engine 001319.

In the cases where the engine numbers are higher than the frame numbers, engines were removed from the assembly line as Kawasaki had a shortage of engine spares on this power plant as it was used in basically all the bikes from the 1973 Z1 al the way to this 1978 Z1R. In the cases where the frame numbers are lower I suspect that the frames were removed for quality control purposes and replaced back on the assembly line about 23 to 28 engines later.

The Z1R’s didn’t sell very well as the CBX 1000-6 and the XS1100 were already launched two months earlier. Alan Masek (used to be the Marketing manager for Kawasaki USA and later Vice President) teamed up with John Gleason of ATP and started Turbo Cycle Corporation (TCC) in California, USA.

They started to build the turbo versions of the Z1R (still Stardust Metallic in colour) with the “log header”, a Rajay 310 turbo with a round air filter on a 38mm Bendix carburetor fed by an Autolec 210 series fuel pump. The bikes didn’t last and very few of the about 250 original TC1’s remain.

Following this production run, Alan teamed up with Rollin “Molly” (who had a paint shop) to create a colour scheme for the TC’s and the “Molly” was born. They had the “spider” header with a 370 Rajay turbo, same Bendix carburetor but with a triangular air cleaner fed by a newer fuel pump. This black and yellow/orange lined colour scheme was well-known and dragstrips saw them on a regular basis. This bike is called the TC2.

In 1979 the Kawasaki Z1R -II were build with the Mk II engine. Their frame numbers start at KZT00D 017501 to 017800 while the engine numbers also start at KZT00DE 017501 but goes up to only 17615. According to the frame numbers there are 300 bikes but the engine numbers show that there are only 115 of the D2’s. They came in two colours – ebony and luminous red (7Y) for Italy.

At the same time Germany didn’t allow the KZ because of the concentration camp abbreviation (KZ) and a new model were developed namely the Z1000S. Only 11 of these bikes were build by Detlev’s but Kawasaki send a few “kits” to dealers in Germany to do the conversions.

In France Kawasaki got Godier Genoud (the French racer) involved to “design” a bike. The Z2R was developed and only 60 were build.

In 1980 the D3 was build. Their frame numbers started at KZT00D 017801 up to 021109 and the engines were from KZT00DE 017616 to 021069. Only 3309 of these bikes were build.

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More information and photographs to follow soon.