The owner’s tale: Paul Rotheram
I’ve always had a love of biking and owned and ridden a number of different motorcycles since the late 1970s. When I was a teenager, my dad taught me to ride his Honda CB175 twin around and around and around the garden, which when I think about those fond memories of him, he certainly was the catalyst for my affection towards motorcycles, especially 1970s Japanese bikes. Having limited funds as a young man restricted what I could afford to buy. A car was outside my budget, so the bikes I did own tended to be limited in engine size and used for personal transport. I remember the big four-cylinder, four-stroke machines of the 1970s which were so glamorous and so expensive, I never thought I’d own one. Fast forward 40 years… I saw an advert in our local newspaper for The Motorcycle Restoration Company and as a result paid a visit to see what they had to offer. Over a period of time, I got to know Chris and his team of motorcycle engineers and was really impressed by the quality of their workmanship and engineering skills. All of the completed restoration projects I saw in their workshop were absolutely stunning. At around the same time, a very clever friend of mine had just completed restoring his own 1976 Kawasaki Z650 to concourse standards… Wow, I was so envious. But I didn’t have the expertise or the time to do a similar restoration which was when I approached Chris at MRC. He showed me a 1977 Z1000, which if I’m honest was in a very poor state of repair. We both looked online at other Z1000s of similar age to see what type of restoration was possible. I wanted a bike that was of its time but brought up to date with regards to reliability. I also wanted to own something unique. Chris had the idea of building a custom 70s Z1000 where the visible modifications would be in the period of the 70s, but at the same time building in modern alterations for the purposes of improved performance and reliability. Rather than give MRC instructions of how I wanted the build to be done, I thought it best to give artistic freedom. My only instruction was I wanted the Z1000 to be blue!
I am so pleased with how the Motorcycle Restoration Company has custom built for me a most Beautiful Blue 1977 Z1000 motorcycle that I have ever owned and it rides well too. I’d especially like to thank both Mark and Chris at MRC for their input into the Z1000 build and whose artistic flare and motorcycle engineering skills know no boundary.