Previously referring to the Z1300 as an "Autobahn stormer", when reviewing their 'Machine of the Year' competition results in 1979 after readers had voted for the Triumph Bonneville as the winner, UK weekly newspaper "Motor Cycle News" stated "Kawasaki, with their Z1300 — a superb example of technology by anyone's standards — have gone overboard in many people's minds", characterizing it along with the Honda CBX, Suzuki GS1000, and Yamaha XS1100 as 'hyperbikes' for their extreme size and performance for the time.