Even if you know very little about Kawasaki’s history, you probably know about the KZ1000R Eddie Lawson Replica. Released in 1982, it was a limited edition motorcycle based on the one that Lawson won the championship with. Essentially a production bike with new paint and some upgraded parts, it was special, but not overly so.
If you wanted something truly special (and with a bit more pep), Kawasaki had the KZ1000R S1?an almost exact copy of Lawson?s actual GP bike. They built about 30 S1s, and if you knew the right people, you could buy one for around $11,000. Understandably, they are astonishingly collectable; some have been sold at auction in recent years for ten times that.

It?s easy to see why S1s are so collectable?but not everybody has six figures clogging their bank account. Which is why Tony Bucci at VSB Moto in Canada decided to build this very convincing Kawasaki KZ1000R S1 replica. Vintage superbikes are Tony’s forte, so who better to do this iconic machine justice" ?We really liked Kawasaki?s 82 KZ1000R offering, but we also really liked the original Kawasaki Factory S1 race bike,? Tony tells us. ?We basically blended the best of what both bikes had to offer to build our S1 Street Replica.?

VSB Moto started with the KZ’s improved stablemate, the 1982 Kawasaki GPZ1100 B2, as a donor. The frame was in tip top shape and needed nothing more than a fresh coat of powder?but the full bike took almost five years to build. Part of the challen...