Kawasaki's Triumph Clone (ride, brake, exhaust, Clic)

[KoobleKar]

If ya like old BSAs, here are a few (sorry - cellphone) pics of my riding buddy's 1967 BAS Lightning 650:
http://triumphtalk.com/MGalleryItem.php?id=1540 (broken link)

http://triumphtalk.com/MGalleryItem.php?id=1539 (broken link)

http://triumphtalk.com/MGalleryItem.php?id=1541 (broken link)

[catman]

That is gorgeous! A truly beautiful bike. Congratulate him for me!

[KoobleKar]

The story of how he aquired this bike is even more amazing....

He worked for a demolition company that tears down old houses. This bike was in pieces in the basement of one of the houses they were tearing down. He asked the boss about it and the boss told him it was his if he wanted it. So he gathered up all the parts he could find and took 5 years restoring the bike to the condition you see here.

[catman]

That is rather amazing. All I can say is: The effort shows! I'm sure it's a real conversation starter.

[KoobleKar]

Yeah, I wish I had better photos to post. I did in fact take my good digital camera to the last Bike Nite we were both going to and planned on taking some better pictures. Of COURSE though.....my camera battery had gone dead.

[catman]

But of course. Murphy's Law in action!

[Gunluvver2]

I owned several BSA's, Triumphs, Nortons, Royal Enfields in the 1960's and 1970's. I had one 650cc Kawasaki twin and I liked it. It had better electrics than any of the English bikes and I thought it was more reliable. If Kawasaki can get the seat height down and the weight under 475 pounds I think they would have a winner.

GL2

[catman]

Gunluvver2: The Royal Enfield 750 Interceptor really made me drool back in the day. What a fine-looking motorcycle it was, and fast for its time.

I'll be looking forward to reading a road test of the new Kawasaki twin. There is very little about it on the Internet that I could find so far. MotorCycleNews will get an example of it before too long, I hope.

[Gunluvver2]

Catman,
I might be interested in a Japanese twin along the classic Brit lines also. I loved the heck out of the 50's and 60's British bikes except for their reliability issues. Things like Lucas electrics, Zener diodes and Amal carbs have left a bad taste in my mouth. The Japanese have always been fantastic at improving ideas of others. A fairly lightweight (425 lbs would be great) twin with decent power and brakes would be a lot of fun.

GL2

[Rosinante]

Originally Posted by Mac_Muz

That green is a demo color I bet, 1st year only probably, and there will likely be another choice in paint.

Sure, that green is a bit quaint; too bad they didn't do a British Racing Green instead. +1 on the alternate color choice, but I'd bet it's ho-hum black. IMO there's nothing so common/boring than another black motorcycle.