Motorcycling is all about minimalism. Or at least we like to pretend it is. Ofcourse, if that were really true, we’d all be riding unfaired single-cylinder motorcycles stripped to the bone and devoid of any but the most modest of modernities.
Though they be enjoying a modest resurgence, one-lungers are hardly the most aspirational — or even the most mainstream — motorcycles these days. More common are twins, a few inlinethrees and, of course, the inline-four has become the ultimate UJM (Universal Japanese Motorcycle).
Six-cylinder motorcycles, however, remain as rare as a BSA without an oil leak. Oh, Honda raced some 250- and 297-cc inline-sixes during the ’50’s and ’60s and produced its now-cherished-but-then-widely-ignored CBX in the early ’80s. Though pretty much now forgotten, Kawasaki did have a thoroughly beastly KZ1300 in its late ’80s lineup, but it’s mostly remembered for Doug Domokos wheelieing its 800 leaden pounds like a rocketship pointing towards the moon.
