newie from Oz

These are great photos. They must bring back the memories for you. I was recently looking at a photo taken in 1982 of my XS Eleven, whilst in France en route to Switzerland. That really got me thinking about that particular adventure. Photos are very important.
Your 1300 looks good. I notice you removed the rear fender / mudguard; a big improvement. Did the bike use much oil on those long high speed blasts?

Yeah they bought back some memories for me of the many miles I put up on mine.
Even hauled mine out the back of the cave a few days ago so one never knows it might even get the work it desperately needs.

biltonjim wrote: Did the bike use much oil on those long high speed blasts?

never used any oil, l thought the oil usage problems were sorted by the A5.

I didn't know that, but nice to know having bought an A5.

Looks like Robert made the big time.

www.motojournalweb.com/galeries/28028/?im=0

The more l see this stunner the more l want...

charlie9670 wrote: I didn't know that, but nice to know having bought an A5.

found this on another site quotes-

From what I've been able to research, the 79, 80, and 81 models came with incredibly hard rings. If not broken in 'hard' they would not seat and burn oil.

My understanding is that in '81 Kawasaki changed ring metallurgy - and also that big K is known to have ring issues across several different models.

Yes, it was my understanding that they changed something, either the rings or the pistons to help control oil usage.