When it comes to iconic 1970s middleweights, the Honda CB750 steals all the limelight. But Kawasaki?s KZ650 was also hugely popular?and easily capable of keeping up with contemporary 750s.
?Right out of the crate, it will out-perform any 750 in the world,? said Kawasaki?s advertising at the time, and the claim had merit. The little brother of the Z1 was fast and nimble, and was less than a second behind big brother on the quarter mile.

It?s not hard to find a used KZ650 these days (or Z650, as it was known outside the USA), and Swedish builder Fredrik Pål Persson is a fan. Fredrik ditched a promising career as a chef to set up PAAL Motorcycles in the city of Malmö, and with three guys helping him, he?s cooked up 19 very tasty customs so far. ?We built this project for a client,? says Fredrik. ?He requested complex shapes and straight lines. So we had to think hard when we designed it, but that?s also why the bike turned out so well.?

?When you look at it from the side, the lines are totally straight. But if you take a walk around, you?ll soon see that all the lines are actually curved.?
The base material was not promising. The KZ650 had been gathering dust and rust in a barn for 20 years, and it was in desperate need of restoration. ?There were mice living in the battery holder!? Fredrik recalls.

The rodents and cobwebs were quickly banished, and the KZ was broken down into parts scattered around the workshop.
A full engine rebuild was in order, but not just to fa...