Really rare Kawasaki for sale on Craigslist

[farmer58za]

Hi All
Saw this on Craigslist: A kawasaki KD 400, made up as a prototype by Kawasaki

http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/mcy/3125563862.html

This is some history, got off the Vintage Kawasaki Singles Yahoo Group:


> > "The KD400 was built by kawasaki at their Nebraska plant in 76/7 .It was
then given to one of the oldest dealers to demo in their showroom. The dealers
name is Chris Masic (not sure on spelling)
> > He then sold it along with 4 NOS bikes including a coyote,B8 and W2TT to a
collector in California by the name of Dan Mazz.... That was in 96
> > Dan then sold it on Ebay, to a fellow californian. It has since moved on to
Seattle where it is today
> > In conversation with Dan he tells me that he thinks It was the only one
made,genuine kawasaki,and that no spares were ever made for it.
> > No answer as to why it has the 117 Frame number.
> > It is for sale with offers over $5K"

Interesting...

Regards
David

[Hoony]

disc brakes are very interesting for the era. a bike ahead of its time

[Lozza]

Looks like the next model on from the big horn. Pity it never went into production

[JohnnyO]

Pretty cool.. ahead of it's time with discs but behind the times with it's suspension. $5000 seems cheap for such a rare bike.

[EML]

A 400 two-stroke with mechanical disc brakes
Leave it where it is.

[firko]

That's an interesting bike that would have been a logical follow up to the F5 Bighorn and could have been a great challenger to Yamaha's DT400 and Suzuki's TS400.
I'm with EML on the mechanical disc brakes though. Every bike I've ever ridden with them was dangerous beyond scary, that's why you rarely saw them on anything bigger than a 100cc commuter. The amount of hand pressure needed just to slow down was extremely disconcerting. My Champion SC500 flat tracker had some sort of cable operated disc front disc brake (Honda CB100 I recall) adapted to the back on a spool hub that literally made no difference when you grabbed a foot full of brake. After nearly killing myself on the stop corner at Nepean I fitted a stock MX250 drum brake rear wheel for the next time out .