Written by Andrew Jones
Whether it’s Eddie Lawson’s AMA wins in the early 80s or Mad Max?s Toecutter and Goose, nothing says ?unbridled manliness with a touch of lunacy? like a good old Kawasaki Z. And while you may be thinking that these times have passed, it seems that the launch of Kawasaki’s new Z900RS has seen the return of some good ol? retro moto madness. Custom-made for 2018, Japan?s Blue Thunders shop in conjunction with Icon Motorsports has taken a brand new Z, made it into a racer and decided to run it up Pikes Peak at 110% just for shits and giggles.

Blue Thunders are a shop located in Tokyo. Specialising in air-cooled Kawasakis, they exude that typical Japanese obsessiveness that, mixed with a massive population, means that bike fanatics of even the most obtuse tastes can eke out a decent living given half a chance. While their bread and butter is engine tuning and custom work on KZs, they also look after carbs, electricals, replacement parts and – quite clearly – Kawasaki race preparation.
Our typical ?lost in translation? attempts to communicate with the Japanese-speaking shop saw them describe the bike’s style as ?Neo-Classical.? Call us crazy, but we think they are probably referring to those classic Lawson-era AMA road racers and not to pre-Christ Roman architecture. But hell, if they want to try a custom based on some Greco-Roman ideals, we’d be all eyes. Of course, the donor was a brand new Z900RS purchased fr...