1976 Kawasaki KZ400D3. Owner: Michael Lane, Kansas City, Kansas.

Nice little bike. Great for commuting, but entirely capable of a cross-country trip. This model was an answer to problems in the global economy. The dollar was devalued in 1971, with President Nixon taking us off the gold standard, meaning we had less money to spend on foreign products. Also, Congress was upping the import tariffs on lots of things, trying to figure out how to pay for the war in Vietnam. In response, Kawasaki decided to build a factory in Lincoln, Nebraska. This was not a real manufacturing facility, but more of an assembly plant, as the import duties on bits and pieces of a motorcycle were a lot less than bringing in a whole one.

1976 Kawasaki KZ400.
Kawasaki had been looking at the success of Honda?s little four-stroke twin, the CB350, which had modest performance but all the amenities Americans seemed to like, including an electric starter. Kawasaki?s R&D backroom boys put their heads together, drew up plans and came forth with a very efficient, if rather uninspired, 398cc vertical twin, with a 360-degree crankshaft, an overhead camshaft and an electric leg. In June of 1974 the first KZ400 rolled off the assembly line in Akashi, Japan, and a number of them arrived in the United States. But that was just the beginning, as the factory was turning out a lot more parts than those assembly line workers could use. Crates of them were going to Nebraska. In January of 1975 a KZ400 roll...