Kawasaki
A7 Avenger
ROAD
REPORT FROM MOTOR CYCLIST
FEBRUARY 1969
Kawasaki 350cc Avenger which Dave Minton finds
is no respecter of reputations.
Whoever became involved with it showed enormous
surprise at the sheer speed of the 350cc Kawasaki,
but as soon as they knew it was one of those
Japanese things~ they relaxed and found themselves
understanding it all. After all it is like their
cameras, transistor radios and more recently
watches. Japanese, eh? Well that explains it.
And for the onlookers it did. To a small degree
it did for me as well, because like everybody
else I have come to expect high standards as
normal from Nippon. It is an enviable reputation,
enhanced by almost every introduction to their
merchandise.
To help cost-cutting nearly all manufactures
turn out at least a couple engine sizes utilizing
as far as possible the same components. In most
cases for me anyway, the smaller of the two
is generally the sweeter nut, but not this time.
My standards were revised. Last month the 250,
I thought was quite amazing, but now there is
the 350 to consider and it is that much better.
Read Titan of Leytonstone were generous enough
to loan the machine for the test, but apart
from fitting one of their race styled sports
fairings, nothing was other than standard. Stan
Welsh, their manager, told me I would be surprised,
and I was. Whilst on the subject it may be worth
mentioning Reads approach to motorcycling. It
may appear horribly something or other knowing
most peoples views on editorial dealers mentions,
but every time I visit the Westlake racer partners
I am impressed by their wholly professional
approach to the job of spares and what have
you. It is very refreshing indeed.
All else aside now and onto the Avenger. Twice
I attempted to leave home and twice I turned
back by bad weather. It was unfair on Kawasaki
trying to discover performance on ice besides
(more important) it frightened me. But third
time lucky, very lucky as it happened, for a
good friend of mine came along, too, on his
Vincent Black Shadow. Say what you like about
the big black twins, and some people do say
some rather odd things, they perform powerfully
and quickly. On our bleak runway we both whacked
open the throttle at a slow clutch just home
speed. The Shadow boomed and bounded forward
as only a machine with its tremendous torque
can, but at the point where I thought all was
lost my Kawasaki found its strength and, with
only about 40ft. between us at the start, that's
how it remained all the way up and around the
speedometer. It was grand fun, and tremendously
satisfying matching the screaming revs of the
small two stroke twin against the legendary
power of the V twin. Up to 100mph we flew, and
then it was over for we had to slow down, but
both machines were still accelerating prior
to the roll off. Who knows what the final outcome
would have been? On another occasion, by myself
however I did. achieve an absolute maximum of
110mph on more than one run, so possibly the
faster of the Vincent twins would squeeze past
if the road. or track was long enough, but it
would. be a squeeze.
Unlike the 250, power did not jump
in hard hitting steps to the same degree, although
they were noticeable, and. except starting at
3500 rpm or thereabouts (500 below the 250 model),
were in the same place. 100 below 4000 rpm and
the surge of merely fast acceleration became
almost shocking. The speed up to 8000 rpm was
as lightning quick as I have experienced on
anything of any capacity and. regardless of
purpose in life. The makers claim of 13.8 sec
for the standing ¼ mile, would I fancy
be difficult to substantiate during daily use,
unless you are willing to risk the wrath of
the police, car drivers, John Conell, Vincent
owners and. Vic Anstice. In the hands of an
expert, I have little doubt that it could be
achieved, but meanwhile a conventional clutch
start is quite enough to leave everything else
except, maybe, another Kawasaki a long way behind..
It cannot be proved., but I am sure the fairing
must have contributed something towards the
machines progress across the tarmac, not that
it is any slur on its performance, merely that
the fairing enables the engine to propel its
load, along at something approaching its true
potential, for a naked bike has about half the
frontal area of a sports car, and. the Devil
knows what increase in atmosphere drag. But
who complains that a car of any kind is cheating
by streamlining? More than streamlining even,
in my table of advantages, it kept the weather
from me. Much of the riding was over wet roads,
but at no time did I wear leggings, or any wet
weather gear, except for a light weight anorak.
Both boots and gloves remained dry except for
a quite acceptable slight damping. The screen
was too low to keep the rain away from my eyes
and head but my chest and stomach remained comfortable.
Steering lock was unaffected. as were the foot
controls on either side. The pre-focus light
unit was attached to the fairing, behind, a
nicely curved. Perspex nose which, as far as
I could tell, made little difference to the
headlamp beam. Indeed, it was somewhat better
than the 250s which suffered. an over diffused.
beam, so I can only imagine that its bulb filament
was poorly aligned.
Unlike the 250 1 have very little criticism
over the road. holding. On the small bike it
was too hard., but on this one just right. It
may well be that just the 10 pounds difference
in machine weight makes the improvement, or
maybe I was wearing heavier clothing on the
350, but whatever it was, this time I discovered
no over sprung skittering out to the edge of
a bumpy bend. Bend swinging was a delight, always.
Firm light and. responsive, it gave me tremendous
confidence. On second thought though, could.
it have been the tyres only that supplied the
quality lacking on the 250? For on this model
a pair of Avons had. been fitted by Reads; the
rear one a GP. If it was only the tyres, then
the Japanese have even more to learn about than
previously imagined.
Braking was superb as far as stopping the
machine was concerned, but I would have felt
much happier with less spongier units. Only
a gentle squeeze on the handlebar lever and
things stopped turning as suddenly as you could
wish for, but without any feeling of sensitivity.
Whilst stopping, it was possible to squeeze
even harder and touch lever and bar together,
but without any increase in braking power which,
I must underline again, was very considerable
indeed. Exactly where the sponginess came from,
I could not tell. Once the shoes had touched
the drum I could still see movement in the operating
linkage, but as no flexing was visible in the
anchor plate, and no more than is usual with
cable controls in the cable outers, I confess
to being puzzled.
All in all, it is a difficult machine to fault
except for one or two slight incidentals. Gear
changing is as perfect as one could hope for
with any manually operated mechanics. Oil consumption,
despite its total loss system is better than
a good many fourstrokes. The riding position
which admittedly is a very personnel matter,
I found could scarcely be bettered. Instrumentation
was generally excellent, the speedometer being
one of the best I have come across, its inaccuracies
too small to be worthy of consideration. The
Porsche car company, whose tremendous experience
and technical Knowledge 1 would otherwise scarcely
dare to challenge, place the revcounter slap
in front of the driver and the smaller speedometer
to one side, presumably to remind owners of
the true value of the two instruments, and it
is on this point I disagree. I think that the
Kawasaki layout is correct, at least for road
machines. A good, big, fat, speedo is placed
centrally while the revcounter is to one side,
a slightly smaller instrument there to advise
only as to the best method of twisting the needle
of the bigger instrument around or holding it
in a certain position. Used in such a manner
on the Avenger, riding became an art that gave
me intense pleasure.
Often I have attempted to rationalize about
foreign foot control layout and have always
found. myself at a loss. The American explanation
is that as so many motorcyclists come from the
four wheeled world (over there) it is safer
to standardize as many controls as possible
hence the swapped (for us) gear and brake levers
using like car drivers, the right foot for the
brake. It is just so much rubbish. 90% of American
cars boast, and are sold, with automatic transmission
leaving the right foot for the throttle pedal,
and the left for the brake. By far the most
important reason in support of our system seems
to have been overlooked. It may appear remote
and unrelated to the arguments at first though,
but every animal in the world except for the
camel walks with diagonally opposite legs only
moving at the same time; even we swing our arms
in the same manner; it is simply a matter of
balance. Now, it is easy enough braking hard
or changing gear at speed using diagonally opposite
limbs, but using those on the same side is as
unpleasant as it is unnatural. Motorcycling
is simply an extension of running. Unlike a
car you do not fight it, but join it for maximum
performance and enjoyment; and you cannot do
that unless it is as near instinctive movement
as possible. Of course, it can be learned and
mastered, but it should not have to be. To brake
very hard, feeling as though it is all on one
side of the machine, I find unpleasant. as though
at any moment it will swing into itself like
a badly set up car. It does not stop me wishing
that I owned a Kawasaki, though.
Some slight noise, echoed back from the f
airing, was apparent, mainly I think from the
twin rotary valve discs whirling around. It
is a hollow sound, not unlike the noise from
a bone dry primary chain case, but much quieter
of course.
Scarcely a test, more a questionnaire considering
all my queries, so here is another that has
always puzzled me. Why when they turn out such
superb alloy castings do the Japanese insist
on painting the engines alloy? It beats me.
Starting was always a second kick affair,
except on one inexplicable occasion when the
plugs required heating over a flame before the
engine would fire.
The horn I loved. A dignified but loud, bugle
notified other drivers without giving the slightest
offence. Even pedestrians moved away without
glowering at me.
Accessibility to contactbreaker points was
good, and although the carburetors were hidden
under a couple of covers removal was easy enough
if required. The tools were adequate for all
but the heavier of repair work, but it was a
bit of a squash to fit them into the box.
Lastly, you had better not think about tuning
it; you cannot. The all important item on a
disc valve two stroke is, of course, the disc
valve, and with such things you leave well alone.
It is no good hoping to smooth out induction
tracts either; it is done already, but who wants
to tune such a machine anyway. With such a performance
it is quite unnecessary.
My grateful thanks to Reads for the pleasure
of riding such a delightful motorcycle; I would
love to sample another one of the machines,
sometime.
Excerpts from various US road tests
of the time:
According to journalists, the Avenger, with
its 40.5 hp (upgraded to 42 hp with the installation
of the CDI ignition) held the record in 1968
for its ratio : horsepower produced per cc.
Its road performance and almost excessive handling
abilities made it untouchable in many cases
for the duration of its short career,
A US tester wrote There is nothing in its
class that can touch itThis brutal torque provides
some pretty fearful speeds out on the turnpike
with fourth gear capable of awesome acceleration
up to 80mph Runs through the quarter gave times
in the low 14's with a terminal speed of 90
mph. It is perhaps the best middleweight bike
on the market. It's fast very fast. It's faster
than just about anything short of an out and
out super bike with twice the displacement.
Cycle Guide wrote Initial reaction from the
first buyers was simply amazement.
Never before had anyone seen a 21 motorcycle
that could compare with it in performance.
In fact its superiority was so evident, a
racer from Santa Barbara won the 1969 ACA production
road racing championship riding one.
In a quarter mile drag it will beat many 500's
and even a few 650's.
It was and still is a standard of comparison
for its class
Another US tester of the time wrote First
ride is a revelationMost 350's are only enlarged
250's; many do not run much faster, this is
not the case with this bike.
Getting the gas on hard does one of two things,
either the rear wheel breaks loose on dry pavement
or the front wheel rapidly tries to make contact
with the rear
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