What's New For '82: Kawasaki
What’s New For ’82: Kawasaki
There aren’t any V-Twins or V-Fours or other unusual engine configurations in Kawasaki’s 1982 lineup, and there aren't any turbos either. Instead, Kawasaki has introduced several new models based on existing motorcycles, choosing to refine and update existing technology with the emphasis on function.
The GPzl 100 gets new styling, with a small handlebar-mounted sports fairing as seen on the 1981 GPz550 and new black-chrome mufflers. There’s also been a change in crankshaft construction, with closer tolerances on the press fits, avoiding the problems the 1981 version had with cranks twisting with the first seriously-missed shift.
Joining the GPzl 100 in Kawasaki’s superbike lineup is the GPzl000, aka the Eddie Lawson replica. Based on the successful KZ1000J, the GPzl000 is painted green, blue and white, the colors of Eddie Lawson’s Championship-winning Superbike. It has a sports fairing, flat bars and notched seat and comes with a Kerker 4into-1 exhaust system and piggyback-reservoir rear shocks, like Eddie’s. The engine retains the familiar front rubber mounts and rigid rear mount, and has an aluminum oil cooler mounted on the front downtubes. Eddie’s 1982 Superbike will be based on the GPzl000, so he’ll be racing with a sports fairing this season.
The long-awaited and expected GPz750 arrives for 1982, bringing the successful GPz550 formula up one notch on the displacement ladder. The GPz750 is based on the KZ750, but has five more bhp, a sports fairing and new' tank, seat, sideeovers and tail section styling to match. Like the 1981 GPz.550, the Í982 GPz750 is a striking red with silver and blue stripes, the engine finished in black with black chrome pipes and black CV carburetors. It comes with an aluminum oil cooler and the cam cover is finished in crinkle-paint, an unusual touch. The handlebars match the sporty look of the bike and the extra five horsepower is supposed to get the bike into the 1 Is at the drags.
Alert readers will note that hard specifications, such as wheelbase, cam timing, carburetor size, etc. are missing in the above descriptions. That’s because Kawasaki showed these models to the press with the provision that no photos or specifications be published before March issues.
The same embargo applied to two new custom models, the KZ750N Spectre and the KZI 100D Spectre. The Spectre 750 is based on the standard KZ750 sold last year but has shaft drive and lean, low semi-chopper styling. The seat is stepped, but not too much, there’s a cast grab rail following the rear profile of the seat, and the taillight is perched out on the end of the fender. The tank is teardrop-shaped and small, and handlebars aren't so much pullbacks as high-risers. The forks look more raked out than they are, being leading-axle models, and come stock with rubber gaiters. The headlight is finished in black and is small, flat and tucked tight to the fork legs, which are covered between triple clamps with a black sheet metal tube/headlight ear.
Another GPz, Belts For the Little Guys, A Shaft 750 and a Uni-Trak Street Bike.
The engine of the Spectre 750 has a satin gold finish on the cases and head, and the cylinders are black. The 4-into-2 exhaust system features shorty megaphones and is black-chrome plated. The rear wheel looks to be 16-in.
The KZI 100 Spectre is styled just like the 750, but uses the carbureted, shaftdrive version of the GPz 1 100 engine. Like the 750, the 1 100 has dual disc brakes on the front and a single disc on the rear, with a big, fat rear tire on a 16-in. rim.
Fortunately, there are some 1972 Kawasaki models that aren't embargoed, including the 553cc GPz550 which has already reached showroom floors. The 1982 version makes more power thanks to new CV carburetors, more compression (10:1 ), and slight changes in cam timing to make the valves open farther and sooner in relationship to degrees of crankshaft rotation, with maximum lift and actual cam timing figures unchanged. The CV carbs are larger when fully opened than the slide-throttle carbs used on the 1981 GPz550s. The exhaust pipes are upswept and are finished in black chrome instead of the flat black 1981 finish, but the muffler openings aren't any bigger.
The big news is in the GPz550 chassis: It's Uni-Trak, Kawasaki’s single-rearshock system. Fitting Uni-Trak to the 550 required a slight lengthening of the wheelbase, to 57.1 in.. The air forks have a linked filler.
Besides being Uni-Trak, the 1982 GPz550 is red in a big way. Red swing arm, red highlights on the cast wheels, red oil cooler. The fairing, tank, seat, sidecovers and tail section arc all different, and you’ll have to see one side-by-side w ith a 1981 model to accurately judge how different it all looks. And like the GPz750, the 1982 GPz550 has crinkle paint on the cam cover.
Completely new is the AR80, a reedvalve, two-stroke Single with a handlebarmount sports fairing, flat bars. Uni-Trak and road racer styling. The AR80 has a front disc brake and a dow npipe expansion chamber and makes lots more power than the pioneering mini-cafe bike, the Honda MB5. The AR80 has been sold overseas prior to this year and will be brought into the U S. in small numbers.
Belt-drive fever hits the smaller street bikes with the addition of toothed final drive belts to the KZ250 CSR and KZ305 CSR models. Eddie Lawson won the AMA 25()cc Championship on a KR250 equipped with belt drive, and the raceproven system was introduced to Kawasaki street machines on the KZ440 LTD in 1981. (The standard KZ440 gets belt drive, too, with cast wheels.) In all cases it’s proven reliable and maintenance-free. The CSR designation means that these models are semi-choppers with spoked wheels. The KZ250 is a sohe Single with drum brakes front and rear: the KZ305 is a sohe Twin with rubber engine mounting and a disc front brake. Both have stepped seats, grab rails, pullback bars and teardrop gas tanks.
The venerable 653cc Kawasaki 650 survives as it did last year in the form of the KZ650 CSR. Like the smaller CSR models, the 650 has w ire spoke wheels, fat rear tire, stepped seat, pullback bars, grab rail, etc., with a single disc brake up front and drum rear, and leading-axle forks. There's also a KZ750 CSR. but it's powered by the dohe Twin with balancer shafts, not the dohe f our. The 650 Four and 750 Twin engines are not available in standard models.
There's also a KZ1000 CSR. with dual front discs, and a nearly-identical KZ1000 LTD with cast aluminum wheels and raised white letters on the tires to set it apart from the less expensive CSR version.
Besides the GPz.750, the 738cc dohe > Four is also available in standard (now called the KZ750E Sports) and LTD semi-chopper models. The 550 is also available in Sports and LTD models, both having a single front disc and drum rear brake instead of the GPz550’s dual discs up front and single disc in the rear.
The KZ1000J stays in the 1982 lineup virtually unchanged (except for the Sports name tag), ditto the KZ 1 100A carbureted shaft-drive and the KZ1300 shaft-drive Six.
There isn’t much that isn't changed on the KX125 and K.X250 motocrossers. The 124.ÓCC KX125 is water-cooled and has reed-valve induction. Bore and stroke is 56 x 50.6mm with 8.2:1 c.r. and a 34mm carb. The bike has a completely new chassis, with a 56.7 in. wheelbase and rake and trail of 28u and 4.76 in. The Uni-Trak shock is bigger and has a larger remote oil reservoir, and rear wheel travel is 1 1.8-in. The forks have 40mm stanchion tubes, 1 1.8 in. travel, and carry a cable-operated single disc brake. There are two radiators, one on each side of the steering head, with scoops to direct cooling air. Claimed dry weight is 194 lb.
The 216-lb. (dry) KX250 is air-cooled but the 250cc engine is all new, featuring 70mm bore, 64.9mm stroke, 8.4:1 c.r., a 38mm Mikuni, CDI, and a six-petal reed valve. The chassis is also new, with a 58-in. wheelbase, 40mm fork tubes and a front disc brake. Rake is 30°, trail 5.08 in. Travel front and rear is 1 1.8 in. The changes in both the K.X250 and the KX125 must have been effective the bikes are already cleaning house in SoCal motocross.
Missing from Kawasaki's lineup is an open-class motocrosser. The KX420 was beset with problems in 1981 and has been sent back to the drawing board. There is an open-class enduro bike, though, the KDX450, using a stroked version of the 420 engine. The KDX450 has Uni-Trak, a larger plastic gas tank, a nominal headlight and taillight, and a tool pouch on the rear fender. Other KDX enduro models include the KDX250, KDX 175 and the new KDX 80, which received a full test in the December 1981 issue.
For mini-motocrossers, there’s the 82cc air-cooled KX80, a Uni-Trak hold-over from 1981.
Dual purpose is alive and well at Kawasaki, although the models are little changed from last year. Included are the four-stroke KL250 Single and the twostroke KE models in 175, 125 and 100 versions. The KE 1 75 has a reed-valve engine, while the KE125 and KE100 get rotary valve motors. Down at the bottom of the Kawasaki line is the KD80M, a rotaryvalve, off-road two stroke playbike for the non-serious recreational rider. Si
