Kawasaki stands for dynamism. It is one of the four major Japanese brands. And it is a brand with loyal followers. Nol Bikker of Nol Bikker Motoren in Noordeloos - the company has been in existence for 40 years - is a passionate Kawasaki dealer and last Saturday made a successful attempt to get into the Guinness World Records book with a whole row of driving Kawas. We were there and can only express our admiration for the organization of the festival
784 Kawasaki's
To get The Book, 750 Kawasaki's were needed. In total, 784 Kawasaki's participated in the trip. That was a tour of about forty kilometers that must have put the richly present foreign participants on the wrong foot about what the Netherlands looks like.
The pasture area there near Noordeloos, Arkel is an area as we experienced motorcyclists still remember from the sixties and seventies. The large number of classic Kawasaki cars that drove reinforced that illusion. And there were waving people of all generations and the currently known genders along the entire route.
Beautiful restorations
The street of many of those veterans was so beautiful that you got the idea that somewhere there must still be a factory where classic Kawasaki's are made. That is of course not the case, but apparently there is a high level of restoration within the Kawa world.
Because apparently there are still many Kawas, who were not known as the machines with the highest service life, that survived the Great Throwing Out of the eighties and nineties. There is a side note to that lifespan. Kawasaki's broke often and with conviction. That was because Kawasaki had set 'optimum performance' as Unique Sellingpoint. That affected younger, testosterone-fueled riders. And they saw the gas handle full of happy conviction as an ON / OFF button.
Suitable for standard races
Kawasaki's found a biotope on circuits that suited their character perfectly. And despite the grumbling about the poor handling due to the lack of any connection between the quality of the bicycle part and the too powerful engine blocks, many drivers put Kawasaki's very sharp times in the standard classes.
Many three-cylinders, many six-cylinders
And many Z900s. Kawasaki's icons were well represented. The only point of criticism could be that many of those machines were just as nicer than they were ever delivered new. TLC is apparently a tool that works for classics of all nationalities.
Most three-cylinder engines were reborn
But with the thick 900s and the Z1300s there were engines that really had already been running. Including a pair of six-cylinder drilled up to 1600 cc that had acquired their extra lung capacity due to their evolution to sidecar puller.
The multiple filmed day - we also saw a lot of flying cameras - was festive for the participants and a nice piece of propaganda for motorcyclists to the bourgeoisie. And being allowed to ride on the Kawasaki Turbo from Johan Kole made the day a topper for us. It is a shame that the turbo time in motorcycle country has lasted so short.
