Jalopnik: kawasaki

48-Cylinder Kawasaki Pushes Boundaries Of Sanity

Ben Wojdyla — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:00:00 EDT

Kawasaki made some notorious motorcycles in the 1970s, most notably the H1 triple with its hellacious two-cycle power curve. This custom monster boast 48-cylinders, six crankshafts and six Jaguar E-type distributors. Yeah, it's kinda hairy.

The creation of motorcycling madman Simon Whitlock, who in the past has built a fuel injected, water cooled, supercharged and nitrous-fed version of the aforementioned killer H1. This creation is cobbled together from a series of engines pulled from Kawasaki S1/KH250's and boasts a total displacement of 4200 cubic centimeters, and is essentially six, inline-eight engines, each with its own crankshaft, all tied together with gears and running through a BMW transmission. The engine uses six Jaguar E-Type distributors to get the sparks flying and a 75 cc pony motor under the seat as a starter. Believe it or not, the bike is barely rideable, but we're betting a change of pants is required after every trip. [Ridelust, BigBikeRiders]

Do Not Want: Talon Performance Street Legal Quad

Ben Wojdyla — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:00:00 EDT

Talon performance has created a... thing... for use on public roads that, without much doubt, will certainly turn heads, though not in the way one might like. Based loosely on the automatic transmission-equipped Kawasaki KFX 700 four wheeler, the Street Legal Quad is an exercise in the absurd. Fun on the street probably, but the mix of terrifying styling and mechanical dubiousness (note the strategic lack of brake calipers) leave this on the top shelf of potential bad ideas.

[Talon Performance]

Kawasaki Wants To Smother The Fires Of The Dodge Vs. Chevy Rivalry With Love

Ray Wert — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 21:00:00 EDT

With "Maximum" Bob Lutz and Jason "Main Man" Vines continuing to try and turn the cold war between Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep and Chevy owners hot, someone's got to cool that heat on the street down. Who knew it would take the mighty ninjas of Kawasaki to get the job done? That's right — these two custom jobbers are going to take matters into their own hands by going stoplight to stoplight, Dodge riders hand in Chevy riders hand down Woodward Avenue together, until Dodge and Chevy enthusiasts see their blood no longer ready to boil over — or until everyone vomits from the sight of these two brazen un-beauties rattling down Detroit's main drag.

Where'd These TV and Film Cars Go?

Davey G. Johnson — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 19:00:00 EDT

Hemmings blogger David Traver Adolphus got to wondering whatever happened to all this season's hero cars of yesteryear, including the Pretty in Pink Karmann Ghia, the Stripes RV and Tom Cruise's Kawi from Top Gun. We'll chime in and add that we're curious about the whereabouts of the Lone Starr's Winnebago from Spaceballs, the Messerschmitt from Brazil and the delivery boy's bicycle from the "Last in Line" video, which you can check out above. [Hemmings]

Paging Officers Poncharello and Baker: It's the KZ1000P!

Davey G. Johnson — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 20:00:00 EST

While supping at Maria's this evening, we noticed a couple of po-pos in the restaurant as we got up to leave. Then we noticed an LAPD KZ1000P in the parking lot. And while the classic law-enforcement bike has gone off to the big motor pool in the sky production-wise, the big lug served a long and illustrious term with many law enforcement agencies, most notably the California Highway Patro. Plus, they made the Ki-61 Hien, which is one of the cooler-looking aircraft of the Second World War and also known for ramming B-29s intentionally. At 595 pounds dry, the KZ1000P doesn't have the superior ramming potential of the fighter the Allies called "Tony," but it would make a fairly significant dent in a perp. – Davey G. Johnson

Kawasaki KZ1000P Police Motorcycle [Uncle Paul]

Related:
Vintage Bike Radness Happens in Pedro [Internal]

Dubs On a Quad? The Trend is Dead

Davey G. Johnson — Fri, 23 Jun 2006 16:30:00 EDT

We've decried the rise of dub culture for years, and it finally seems that it's reached critical mass and is now on the wane. At least, we hope it is. 13s are the new 23s, and the Starlet is the whip to have. Actually, we suppose due to its diminutive size, it's really more of a flogger than a whip. Rum, sodomy and the lash aside, some guy who used to be in the Necros kicked down this rather disconcerting mash-up he found on eBay: A Kawi quad featuring a blingin' set o' big wheels with rubber-band tires. In Ohio, of all places. Dear Ohio: you gave us Rocket From the Tombs, the Dead Boys, Devo and the band the guy who tipped us to this used to be in. Why did you have to go and give us this? We'd almost forgiven you for Family Ties.

Kawasaki KFX 400 ATV on Dubs [eBay]

Vintage Bike Radness Happens in Pedro

Davey G. Johnson — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 23:42:33 EDT

Bumbeck came down from the hills in the Mighty Starlet to catch a showing of Cars today (which totally brought out the softy in us, and may well be our favorite Pixar film yet — disregard the haters and see it). He calls and says, "Hey, I just ran across this awesome bike show," which happened to be at Century Motorcycles (since 1936!), only a few blocks up from us on Pacific. We'd been meaning to check the shop out, and we're kicking ourselves for not going in sooner. Oh man...if your tastes run toward old bikes, we have to say, this show was a killer. Even the Harleys there were well-sorted, although most of the machines were either of British or Japanese origin. This might well be the best motorcycle show we've ever attended, because practically everything there was a runner, and those that weren't, well, they were all rad and weird in their own way. Click through for a grip of photos.