Happy 50th Birthday Kawasaki KZ/Z 650

Crazy to believe that this month is the “Birth” of the KZ/Z 650. 50 years of memories for many people, myself included, and looking forward to enjoying my bike for many more years to come. My bike was built in June 1976, so one of the first ones to reach this 50th milestone 🎂
Rich.

Thanks for the reminder! My 650 will not be that old till Nov of this year.

Martin Carney and the Daytona 24 Record ....!

Is this the 50th or is it 2027?

The first official model year is 1977 even if the bike was assembled in 1976. The bikes introductions were at the Winter shows in 1976 and all the sales information call out 1977.

I think the Z1 suffers from the same issue, some bikes built in 1972 but model year was 1973.

In the automotive world this 1/2 year launch is a real issue, some years have different body styles within the same year.

Hi, yes technically it was sold as a 1977 bike, but still released for sale in 1976, my bike was sold 2nd October 1976 in California and was manufactured in June 1976 in Japan then shipped to the USA ready for it’s official launch at the end of September 1976. 
Rich.