Chris’s Kawasaki Z650 B2

This bike is the spiritual and literal twin of Guy Martin’s Martek turbo, the famous Pike’s Peak bike which I did a loom for in late 2017.

It was originally built for the Prodigy’s Keith Flint, but ended up being sold a couple of times until Richard grabbed it and set about finishing it off as carefully as he could. The result is a thoroughly well-sorted motorcycle. You can tell when someone knows what they are doing, just from the way problems are solved.

Richard doesn’t want to ride it on the road, so there are no lights or brake lights. And unlike Guy’s injected Martek GSX-R, this one breathes through a great big carb on the right. All I had to do was join up the components on the bike as neatly and reliably as possible.

The whole bike runs via the kill switch, but to be sure I used it to work a relay, and thus avoid loading the switch with too much current. The bike has a pressure switch, which can send an input to the ignition box at a given level of boost. The idea is to use the input to retard the ignition, although Ruichard says he hasn’t bothered so far because the bike makes a ton of power even in non-optimised mode.

He’s also not used the air shifter switch, which can in theory operate a quick shifter function on the ignition. Setting up a quick shifter takes a while. You have to mess about with the timing and duration of the ignition cut to get a smooth shift. Just in case the bike needs a quick shifter controller (such as the one made by Cordona) I added a separate power source. It’s the black/green and black wires.

This is one of those bikes are you want to stare at, simply because it is so impressive and mental. You’ll get the chance at the Worship Show in Leeds this September 28th 2025: https://www.worshipmotoshow.com/