Eclectic build the bikes for themselves, they’re intention is to create interest at the UK bike shows, but also they need to be practical. We didn’t want a bike that needed to turn up in the back of a van, we wanted a useable custom bike to show off on. The bike has been a two-year build and was finished early 2020, just in time for the global pandemic.
Engineer Jak Goodyear likes a challenge, so the aim was to build something we’d not seen much of before. We decided to go low, with an inline four, rather than the usual V-twin.
The engine was checked through, it was an unknown 1979 find, but turned out to be a beaut. We sat on a box on the floor that felt like the right height for our low-rider dream, the engine on another box and some handlebars offered up. A pair of nice mag wheels and the frame was built to this simple set-up.
Kawasaki Z1’s are Jak’s specialty, so the bike includes a lot of original Kawasaki parts and as you take in the bike these elements start to pop out, to give it that genuine Kawasaki feel and the ‘Spirit of the 70’s’ name.
The wide Z1 engine is the challenge going low, the foot-pegs couldn’t go very far forward and the spectacular four into one exhaust system had to be dealt with in a satisfying way.
All the stainless steel details come from an industrial kitchen worktop, which was top grade stainless and a lot of the other parts are bespoke engineering.
We new straight away the engine was tip-top when that distinctive inline four fired up.
We went for the candy orange finish to keep with our build mantra of a ‘usable bike for sunny days’, which zings in the rare UK sunshine. The suck and whistle of the 4 carbs give you the real sense of sitting on a rocket, which riding it makes you realize you actually are, someone lit the blue touch-paper in the 1970’s and the Z1 has landed in the 2020’s.
