Even if you know very little about Kawasaki’s history, you probably know about the KZ1000R Eddie Lawson Replica. Released in 1982, it was a limited edition motorcycle based on the one that Lawson won the championship with. Essentially a production bike with new paint and some upgraded parts, it was special, but not overly so.
If you wanted something truly special (and with a bit more pep), Kawasaki had the KZ1000R S1—an almost exact copy of Lawson’s actual GP bike. They built about 30 S1s, and if you knew the right people, you could buy one for around $11,000. Understandably, they are astonishingly collectable; some have been sold at auction in recent years for ten times that.
It’s easy to see why S1s are so collectable—but not everybody has six figures clogging their bank account.…