Description
"description": " MAD MAX: THE "GOOSE" BIKE GOSLING 1 Way back in 1979 there were no computers, no social media, no mobiles, no nothing really so how we got to hear about this new motorbike film coming out in the cinema was anybody's guess. Must have been word of mouth or maybe an ad in Motorcycle News or Motorcycle Weekly but in any case we got the message and we turned up to our local flea *** to watch it. It was not a "biker" film as such, it was more of futuristic end of the world movie but it did have lots of bikes in it, especially some 900 and 1000 Kawasaki Z bikes…. I ** sure you have all seen it at some time in your life and it was to be fair, a little crap, filmed on a budget with a lot of unknown actors who had cut their teeth on a previous "biker" movie, STONE in 1974 which also starred a lot of old 1973/ 1974 Kawasaki Z1-900`s. Again not a particular good movie but well worth watching for the Z1`s and the main mans Norton pulling massive wheelies. Only one actor really went on to greater things, Mel Gibson of course while the others cropped up in other Aussie classics like "prisoner cell block H", although the actor who played Jim goose, Steve Bisley went on to his own crime drama show on the BBC and various hit shows in his native Australia. These days they speak of Mad Max as a classic film of the 70`s which is pushing it a bit too far, the real stars were the bikes and the creator of the film, George Miller, went on to do 3 more movies without much to do with bikes and to me much less appealing. Any way the production team managed to "loan" a handful of new Z1000`s from Kawasaki Australia and with a small budget of just a few thousand dollars they managed to produce some futuristic looking bikes. When I say futuristic I mean a bit of bodywork and loud exhaust, although I guess in 1979 we were all doing that sort of thing to our own bikes anyway? The two main bikes were the "toecutters" bike, a Z1000 with a fairing and seat cowling finished in ugly black and has given what we call these days a "madmax" bike but the other bike was the "Jim Goose" police bike. No police badges on it as such, just the MFP stickers, which stood for MAIN FORCE PATROL. It was basically a toecutter bike but had all the bells and whistles that you would expect on this type of bike and was painted in a flash silver paintjob with hints of blue. It was an instant iconic bike that I always vowed to replicate one day. Well that day came way back in 2010 when a Japanese company called White house produced a full replica kit, not for the Z1000 but for the Zephyr 1100 which was a very desirable bike in Japan at that time. I had a contact in Japan so I got him to buy me the kit and send it over to me. The kit was expensive at the time, around £4500 but it came with all the bits and fully painted. To be honest it did not take too much effort to make it fit my Z1000 donor bike which I had already built. I had seen a few garage built "goose" replicas on that new fangled "you tube" thing on my computer but none had all the bits like this kit, it was superb. I reckon it stood me at £12000 fully finished and I was confident I would make money on it. So we took it to a few shows and events, riding around with the blue lights flashing, the sirens wailing, shouting insults to others with the built in microphone but we could not sell it. , it`s the challenge and the joy of doing it, well that's what I told my accountant many times!Then 10 years later some magazine did an article on it and suddenly everybody was ringing me to see if I still had it and would I take £20, 000 for it?. It`s not nice to see a grown man cry but I shed a fair few tears for many a month! I tried to build another, but White House in Japan had moved on to other projects, mainly to do with Honda`s and were not producing any of the bits any longer. I was obviously well ahead of my time, 10 years ahead in this case, but then I was building Eddie Lawson Replicas before Kawasaki did and I remember building a "cafe" racer many years before they became the new thing and least we forget, my first restoration of a 1973 Z1 was in 1978, that was only 5 years after they stopped making the dam things….. Anyway, back to the story, So, here I ** now many years later building another, will I ever learn? So the week before Christmas 2024 a big box arrived with the fairings and tailpiece in it. Probably the best Xmas present I have ever had. The supplier is AIR-TECH in California, Nice bit of kit but it comes unpainted, undrilled and with no screen and no brackets, and of course none of the MFP badges or any of the "police" equipment, so the job gets even harder. I see a few weeks of trawling the internet in store for me....... I already had a supplier for the rear sets, exhaust and some other replica parts, so all I needed was a donor bike. Should be easy right? NO!, it would seem because the cost of a 900 model is now through the roof, then many Zed Heads have had to lower their...
