Nova Motorcycles-1983 Kawasaki KZ1000 ELR

In 1981 Eddie Lawson was coming off back to back superbike championships when a dealer had the idea of creating a replica bike to move the slow selling J model. Kawasaki obliged with a lime green paint job, a few tasty performance parts, an oil cooler, and of course a Kerker 4-into-1 exhaust-which, by law, had to be installed by a dealer! A unicorn was born. While not particularly embraced at the time, this bike has become a true collectors item. Let the good times roll!

[@steveng8727]

Really enjoy your informative videos.

[@nigelcox7477]

Such a beautiful bike, with such menace too! I think the racers of these ‘super bikes’ were the real heroes. Can’t wait to hear it. 👍✅😎❤️

[@nelsondavis4310]

I worked at Kawasaki of Putnam when those were sold, loved seeing Eddie Lawson race at Louden N.H. I was more of a Suzuki guy though, the Suzuki equivalent was the Wes Cooley replica.

[@KenCondon]

All indications is that this is actually a 1983. You can tell by the instruments. It’s the KZ1000R2. The 1982 has round instruments and the tank stripes are different. About 1200 were sold in the US.

[@novamotorcycles]

We'll have to double check the numbers on this. It's definitely a repaint, so we just assumed it was a little un-original. If it's an 83 it's an even rarer duck.

[@henrywedge4224]

hope your not going to put those pod filters back on, performance killer. But love the old air cooled big bore Kawasaki's. With i still had my GPZ 1100 :(