IT’S 1978, AND APPARENTLY there’s a recession on. But don’t tell the motorcycle manufacturers of Japan and Italy. For the Japanese, the future was all about muscle. More cubes, more power, more camshafts... just more of everything. For the Italians, it was aesthetics, and in the case of Laverda, power.
WHAT SHALL I BUY?
Price new in 1978(ish)...Laverda Jota: £2500Kawasaki Z1R: £2008Honda CBX 1000: £2879Moto Guzzi Le Mans: £2239Suzuki GS1000: £1945
The Kawasaki Z1R
In Japan, the leader of the power pack for half a decade was Kawasaki, though it 1000cc four was getting a little bit long in the tooth, and the fact was that it didn’t handle worth a damn, unless you did all kinds of fiddling with trick swingarms and new shocks and better tyres and fork braces – and even then, it was not much better. The brakes were terrible, and while today the look of the z1000 is considered a wondrous thing, in the cut and thrust of the late 1970s it was looking a bit dated. Kawasaki came up with a taste of what was to come with the Z1R, which arrived in showrooms in 1978. This was a Kawasaki to lust after again – and quickly became the Kawasaki to have.
It was £200 more than a conventional Z1000, but you got a smart and menacing nose fairing,
