One of three versions of Kawi’s venerable 1,000 series, this is the one I would want, as it’s probably the best all-around model to live with in most situations. This 1979 Kawasaki KZ1000 ST can be found here on Facebook Marketplace in The Biggest Little City in the World: Reno, Nevada, and the seller is asking $3,500 or offer. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Nevadahalfrack for the tip!
Although, as a bike that does, or tries to do everything, sometimes, each of those things gets watered down a bit in order to work for everyone. This is Kawasaki’s shaft drive model of the KZ1000, known as the ST. The KZ1000 Limited is easy to pick out; that’s the laid-back cruiser model, but the MKII and ST looked somewhat similar. The ST (sometimes referred to as a shaftie) is the one in the middle, a pretty safe bet, in my opinion.
I’m not a motorcycle touring guy anymore, but that’s all I dreamed about in my teens and early 20s. After driving 30,000-40,000 miles a year for the last 20 years, I’ve seen enough horrible, uncaring, inattentive drivers that I don’t even like riding a motorcycle on public roads anymore. Back in ’79, I would have gotten a fairing and saddlebags for this bike as I did for my shaft drive Yamaha 750. This Luminous Dark Red example looks great, and the seller has included a ton of good photos. Kawasaki made the KZ series from 1977 through 2005 in various configurations.
38,185 miles! That’s about triple the miles as I have on my ’78 Yamaha XS750E shaft drive bike. Of course, I haven’t ridden mine in, gulp, four decades. It’s a true barn find now. Dang, how sadly coincidental. The seller says this KZ has clean paint, and it does look great. It also has new tires and a new battery, a fresh oil change, and a rebuilt carb. It almost sounds like it was taken out of storage and brought back to life. I wonder if they’d work on my 750…
The engine is Kawasaki’s 1,015-cc DOHC inline-four with around 95 horsepower and 65 lb-ft of torque. Backed by a five-speed manual sending power through the shaft drive to the rear wheel, the seller says this one is running great, and they have a clean title. Here’s an excellent article on the ’79 KZ1000 ST. I’d keep this one exactly as it looks now, no 4-into-1 exhaust, no cafe racer trinkets, none of that. Have any of you owned or ridden a KZ1000?
I’ve ridden a ZL 900 Eliminator, gotta be pretty close to this. Scary fast, 105 in a block, 11 second quarter mile. This is a beautiful bike, love these Kawasakis.