MRS Oficina have created this stunning Z650 street tracker for Kawasaki France. I've seen lots of MRS's work in Cafe Racer magazine, and at the Bike Shed Show, and the transformation they carried out on Kawasaki's 'neither fish nor fowl, target-misser' Vulcan S was pretty incredible.
The Z650 is an old name for a new bike. You might have heard about Euro 4 and how it is affecting new bike design. It is heavy and it's killed off a bunch of bikes, for the good of the planet it has to be said. When emissions laws were first applied to new bikes, with the introduction of Euro 1 in 1999, motorcycles could emit 13.0g/km of CO (carbon monoxide) and 3g/km of hydrocarbons. Euro 4 has tightened those emissions to 1.14g/km of CO (carbon monoxide) and 0.09g/km of hydrocarbons.
Even if those figures don't make much sense on their own simply seeing a reduction of 13 to 1.14 and 3 to 0.09 are massive changes. Bikes also have to pass stringent static petrol fume leakage, basically how much vapour escapes the tank when the bike isn't in use. All these regulations will tighten further in 2020 when Euro 5 becomes the new standard..
Also, new bikes must have ABS to be sold now. Not optional, mandatory.
So, the result is many bikes have been retired. Some motors just couldn't be engineered to pass. This is relevant, because the basis of this bike, the Z650, has replaced the ER-6 (650R Ninja in some markets). And the ER-6 is important in the world of flat track, because that motor won Bryan Smith the Grand National Championship last year, and five Springfield Miles on the bounce.
Importantly, the main core of the MRS flat tracker's frame is stock. Only the subframe has been changed. There are very few details on the bike and these are the only photos I can find. It was unveiled at a style et luxe type, Pebble Beach event in France last weekend. When we find out more we'll share it.
