1974 Kawasaki W3 650-Klone With AK

Hands-on riding impression in Pennsylvania USA of Kawasaki’s first big-engined bike, the British-style pushrod W3 of which 26,289 examples were built from 1965 to 1974

- Alan Cathcart

It’s hugely ironic that Kawasaki, which ever since the 1969 creation of its H1 Mach III two-stroke triple has almost permanently led all other Japanese manufacturers in the pursuit of performance for its street bike range, should have started out its life on two wheels by trying to build a better British bike. For that’s what the OHV parallel twins it manufactured from 1965 to 1974 unquestionably resembled – and even after it trumped Honda’s groundbreaking CB750 four in both capacity and performance terms with the 1972 introduction of the world’s first four-stroke hyperbike, the 903cc Z1, it still kept producing the ultimate version of its BSA A10 Super Rocket klone-with-a-K, the Kawasaki W3 650, right alongside it at its Akashi factory. For a couple of years, grilled steak and beef stew both coexisted on the two-wheeled K-menu.