New member

Hi everyone,

My name is Gert Roewer and I live in a small country town in Southern NSW in Australia. I am 73 years old and in good health and very active. I have ridden bikes all my life since about age 17 and got my first z1300 in 1981. That was it I was hooked. I had a favourite z13 that I rode all over most of Australia and did many hundreds of kilometres on it. I have always done my own mechanical work and have become quite an expert on these bikes, and still to this day am sought out to work on them and build engines. I developed a big bore kit that I have fitted to about 10 bikes. It takes them out to 1502cc and makes an unbelievable difference. On my own big bore bike while out riding with a mate on a Yamaha xs1100 we decided to do some top gear roll ons.
From about 80km/h the 13 just blasted away so my friend put his bike into 4th gear and we did it again. Once more the 13 just pulled away very convincingly. So my friend put his into 3rd gear (me still in 5th) and we did it again. This time it was almost level but the 13 still slowly edged in front.
At present I have about ten 13's in various stages of rebuild, and a three z1300trikes that I am also working on. Trouble is that as soon as I finish a bike/trike someone wants to buy it and I am left walking. Still, it's a lot of fun.

Hi Gert welcome to the forum. not a bad collection how about a few pics.
I bought my first Z13 in 1979 and still have it.

RickG wrote: Hi Gert welcome to the forum. not a bad collection how about a few pics.
I bought my first Z13 in 1979 and still have it.

I second the welcome. Interested in what you confabulated together to achieve 1502cc. That's massive!! And Oh yes please some pics !!

Welcome, Gert.
Very interested to read about the top gear roll-on acceleration. I used to own a Yamaha XS Eleven, and it sure did have terrific acceleration, and, according to road tests at the time, could haul away from the Kawasaki six in certain speed ranges.

By the way, what is your viewpoint on the cam chain tensioner fitted to the Kawasaki 1300?

Hello Gert, welcome to forum. I too am new here going on bout 1 year now. Likewise I own a KZ1300 I bought new in 82. I do a lot of reading here don't post much. In process of starting a restore kz cause it sat in storage for over a decade. Fortunately to find this fovum, tremendous amount of info here and I gather too you know these bikes well also. Big bore sounds interesting but I plan to restore mine to original getter fairing bags and all. All pieces are in great shape mAyers have to redo some chrome pieces and paint. But my biggest fear is the engine and tyranny. This where I feel most of expenses will be spent. Plan to spend a time because once engine goes back in frame I don't plan to remove it. Once I learn to post pics will start sharing. Bye for now.

Hi Gert, welcome to the forum.
Looks like you have a long history and a good collection of the Zed 13 - you should really fit in here

Cheers Tim