Will the Z1 be followed by a six-cylinder, a rotary, or a two-stroke four-cylinder?
In 1969, Kawasaki surprised the world with the 500cc 2-stroke, 3-cylinder Mach III, with its incredibly high performance.
Then in 1971, they increased the displacement to 750cc with the same 2-stroke, 3-cylinder Mach IV, which had a top speed of over 200km/h but was less violent.
In fact, a 750cc 4-stroke, 4-cylinder engine was being developed behind the scenes, but Honda released the CB750 Four in the same year as the Mach III, and Kawasaki felt that a later release would not make enough impact, so they increased the displacement to 900cc and even made it DOHC, which resulted in the appearance of the Z1 in 1972, as you know.
Then, three models were developed to follow the Z1. One was a 1,000cc 6-cylinder flagship, the other was a rotary engine that was attracting attention at the time, and the other was a 2-stroke square-4, a monster with a 750cc in-line twin-cylinder connected front to back. All of them have already begun test runs.
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Information Source. [ RIDE HI ]
