If you’ve been following Allen Millyard’s exploits with his project to build a six-cylinder version of the Z1 Super Four, Kawasaki’s answer to Honda’s CB750 launched in 1972, you must have been wondering just what it’s like to ride.
This saga, the latest in a number of epic projects to build what many riders regard as unfeasibly complex machines that look like the result of a wild and untempered imagination, started at the Stafford Show in October 2019.
At the show, Kawasaki parts specialist Dave Marsden had reminded Allen that he should build an in-line six, no doubt thinking that having already turned out a V8 based on the Z1 and a V12 in the Z1300, it would be a relatively straightforward task.
Now Allen’s never one to resist a challenge and at first he considered building another V8, thinking a six might be too wide to make a convincing example of what Kawasaki might have produced. This prompted the acquisition of parts from a 1976 Z900 engine, but while studying these in his workshop, Marsden’s idea came to mind. Allen made some paper templates to show how an inline six might look, and what the width would work out at.
Because Allen has been a master of metal since he started his craft apprenticeship at the turn of the 1980s, he’s a bit old money and rightly so, so the measurement came out at around 24 inches. He wondered how this compared with the daddy of six-cylinder bikes, Honda’s CBX from 1978, and recalling that I’d mentioned being at the bike’s launch in Japan, he sent me an email to ask if I remembered how wide it was.
Width was a key issue with the CBX and Honda’s engineers had done a great job in minimising it, so I knew that it was 23½ inches across the cases, because I’d measured one. That reassured Allen, and the project was off the mark.
Denne historien er fra January 2021-utgaven av Classic Motorcycle Mechanics.
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Denne historien er fra January 2021-utgaven av Classic Motorcycle Mechanics.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Honda VFR750R - RC30
If there’s a more worshipped V4 out there, we’ve yet to see it: welcome to our reboot of the awesome VFR750R RC30…
Mountain tension!
Award-winning motorcycle engineer!
Fazer set to STUN!
What do you get when you mix CRK’s lovely café racer kit to Yamaha’s budget middleweight and the recently-retired Martin Fox? Well, one helluva foxy Fazer!
Project Suzuki 1984 RG250 part 4 BRUNO BARES ALL!
This month, while we wait for backorder engine parts, we strip the chassis back to the bare frame, assess what is needed and plan the reassembly…
Project Kawasaki Z900 Stocker part 2 Ralph has a blast!
For the best finish on his Z900’s motor Ralph wants the best, so he visits Stephen Smethurst Casting Renovation to find out how it’s done properly.
Project Suzuki TS400 Part 8 Loom with a view!
We’re getting down into the nitty-gritty this time with component testing and loom building. What could go wrong?
Project Yamaha TX750 Part 12 A question of balance…
Only The Beach Boys had good vibrations… so what’s Mark been up to, to sort out the bad ones coming from his TX750?
Splitting links
Ralph Ferrand works with tools all day long – he sells them too at bikerstoolbox.co.uk so he knows what works.
STAVROS: PRINCE OF PRANKSTERS!
It’s probably fair to say that Stephen JamesParrish’s persona and overall levity throughout his life have muddied the waters as to just how good a bike racer he was back in the day.
Metal magic!
Ralph Ferrand works with tools all day long – he sells them too at bikerstoolbox co uk so he knows what works.. .