THE LITTLE BIG HORN

Back in the early 1970s the Japanese factories were taking the feedback from their American distributors literally, that bigger was better.

That mind set had come from the earliest forms of Stateside automotive competition where the maxim, ‘…There ain’t no substitute for cubes…’ saw every manufacturer looking to produce the largest capacity engine. Sometimes that approach worked fine with off-road motorcycles. Yamaha’s upscaling of the DT from 250 to 360 saw the resultant RT putting huge smiles on faces. When Suzuki tried the same trick on the TS250 Savage to deliver the TS400 it all got rather messy, with the first Apaches always looking for ways to eject their riders.

In the 1960s, Kawasaki had been relatively small fry on both the dirt scene and with road bikes, but the launches of the H1 triple and subsequent Z1 had got the company name out there and recognised. With increasing brand awareness, Kawasaki had gradually honed their F series trail bike range, making them ever more