1968 Kawasaki A7-SS Avenger - 6-Page Vintage Motorcycle Road Test Article for Sale

On eBay Now...

1968 Kawasaki A7-SS Avenger - 6-Page Vintage Motorcycle Road Test Article For Sale

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

1968 Kawasaki A7-SS Avenger - 6-Page Vintage Motorcycle Road Test Article:
$14.25

Yes we combine shipping for multiple purchases.Add multiple items to your cart and the combined shipping total will automatically be calculated.
1968 Kawasaki A7-SS Avenger - 6-Page Vintage Motorcycle Road Test Article
Original, Vintage Magazine articlePage Size: Approx. 8\" x 11\" (21 cm x 28 cm) each pageCondition: Good
THE RAGE IN the motorcycleindustry today is to lake either a250, 305. or 1350 street machine, hangon a set of upswept pipes, place a pieceof tin under the engine, call it an engineguard and Voila, you have a scram-bler. Or do you? Actually, this type ofmachine is no more a scrambler than isBobby Unser (come to think of it.he might be one of the biggest scram-blers of all time).Most everyone realizes that thesemachines aren’t what you\'d call truescramblers but they can be ridden offthe road on weekends without fear ofbashing in the downswept pipes of atrue street bike. And most important,from the factory standpoint, peopleaccept them as off-the-road machinesand today the so-called scrambler con-stitutes the bulk of motorcycle sales.One of the best selling machines soldas a scrambler is the Kawasaki 350Avenger SS. We tested the street ver-sion of this bike a few months back andwere happy with what we found. We\'repleased with the SS model too. if oneremembers to keep it on the road 99-percent of the time. If you want anhonest Kawasaki scrambler, buy theF21 M, it\'s a true scrambler and a goodone.Realizing this bike is meant pri-marily for the road, let’s see just whatmakes the Avenger SS run.The engine is basically the samedesign as the A l-R tested elsewhere inthis issue. Granted, one\'s a 350 and theother a 250 but there are many thingsin common. Both utilize the dual ro-tary valve principle of induction, bothhave four main bearing crankshafts,and the five-speed gearbox is commonto both bikes. Differences include thebore and stroke, the SS being 62mm by56mm. Definitely oversquare, this isone great reason why the SS doesn’tget its maximum horsepower until itreaches 7500 rpm. Maximum torqueof 3.99 ft/lbs isn’t reached until 7000rpm. Although the maximums aren’trecorded until way up the rev range,the SS pulls well at the slower enginespeeds. If the machine was a 250 thismight not be so, but the six addedinches make all the difference in theworld.Pressure oiling is used on the SS, thesame as the factory road racer. The oilpump is located by the left carburetorand if a problem should arise, it is besttaken care of by a dealer. The pump isquite complex and requires specialtools to be worked on properly.The frame of the SS is the same ason the street model, heavy. Being madefrom heavy gauge, thin wall tubingdoes bring the weight up but we have toadmit the frame is rugged. There is oneadvantage though, being made theway it is cancels the undesirable traitsof flex. At no time during our testperiod could we find a trace of pogo-ing in the corners, one of the best testsfor flexing.When we tested the street version ofthis bike we felt that the front forkscould have been dampened a great dealmore than they were. We doubt if oursaying it made the difference but on theSS the forks are just right. The boun-ciness we noticed with the street bike isgone and replaced by a set of legs thatsmooth out the bumps and give acomfortable ride. The rear shocks arefine as far as they go but they couldstand a slower dampening rate. Theride given by them is a bit stiff. Thiscould be rectified by a quicker damp-ening rate and slightly weaker springs.All in all, the SS does handle betterthan its road going brother.One thing the SS has is perform-ance. Even quicker through the quar-ter than the road bike, it is now a...
12633e-6808-09