I remember them when they were launched and the press was surprised that it wasn't a 750. 650 used to be a 'big' bike and 350s were middleweights. My favourite was the custom, the pale blue with handpainted pin stripes.
The 650 " big bike" view held shows our age Mark . If you had a Tiger 100 it was a pretty big bike when I was a teenager....now a 500 is what you take your test on.
KZ 650 was my first in line 4 cylinder, bought it new in 1978, it is a custom 650. You notice I said it is a custom, I still own it and it is setting in my garage, that is one fine bike. 22 years old when I bought this bike, only thing I owned that long besides the Bell full face helmet I got with the bike.
Hi Jack. They're great bikes and I too have a '78 I'll never sell. You could buy these for nothing 5 years ago but people have woken up to how good they are and values are rocketing. In a sense it doesn't matter as I'll never cash it in, but nice to know one was ahead of the curve. Thanks for watching, Rod
someone I know has this exact bike from new, a few years back he got knocked off it by a car reversing off a driveway so he took the opportunity to rebuild it, professionally resprayed, stove-enamelled frame and parts, anodized bits, stainless steel Allen bolts, every surface machine polished, the engine was shot blasted with coconut shells and then Cerakote'd, new seat cover, grips clock faces, cables, chain & sprockets, you name it he did it, the bike was better than the day he bought it, he still has it as far as I know, he's owned a good few bikes both on & off-road machines, he did own a Norton wasp motocross sidecar outfit which he piloted but always kept the KZ650, he said the engine was the best mid-range machine he ever rode,
Yeah they're super bikes and that engine was the basis for so many of their later bikes. It was just so strong they almost doubled the power without beefing it up. Thanks for watching
Just put tapered all balls tapered bearings in yesterday and unplugged the bleed screws and gave the brakes a flush. The old dimpled bearings were original. The new ones inspire loads of confidence and the bike handles like new.
Great. The change of brake fluid will make a huge difference if it's been in there for a generation. The headstock bearings almost definitely will never have been touched .Thanks again for watching.
Sweet bike(s)! I had a 78 that I bought used for $500 back in 1987. It was my second bike (first was a 76 GT250) and it was a huge upgrade for me. It was a great bike and never let me down.
They've gone way up in value here now. I sold one a few weeks ago for £6250...that's about $8000 and is the norm for an original bike with factory exhausts. Thanks for watching
That Kz is indeed a great bike. I just love that model as I've mentioned. Used to be able to get them very well in the States but the Americans are now really picking up on what great value they are for what they offer in terms of riding and investment so its a lot harder than a couple of years ago. Life moves on eh?
Sounded better with the four into one exhaust system Kerker pipe I live in the United States and grew up riding the Kawasaki bikes all my life as well as Harley Davidson I prefer the Kawasaki bikes I’ve had the old H1H2 triple two stroke bikes the 500 and 750 as well but I always had the kz Ltd 1000 bikes and we couldn’t wait to throw away the stock exhaust pipe and put on a four into one Kerker or yoshimira pipe and the reason why things are missing and taken off was to make it look more sporty and less junk on the bike I just bought a 1979 kz 650 for nostalgia sake and am about to restore it cheers mate enjoy your videos and I have subscribed to your channel cheers 🍻
Hey James. Thanks for watching. I've quite a few vids on the kz650-they're a brilliant bike, the best middleweight of the 70s finally getting the recognition they deserve and that's certainly reflected in the 100% jump in value across the last 3 years or so. The pipe on the bike was crazy noisy ( the Police kill us for it and it Just makes enemies for motorcycling. Lord knows we have enough it so had to go. Over here the value gets a real kicking unless it has stock pipes. I still have that bike here as I'm waiting for some calipers to land with my next delivery of bikes so I'll take this one out for a scoot and film it. Thanks again and hope you enjoy my vids....got some get stuff coming up including more Kz restos. Best, Rod
Thank you for the prompt reply I appreciate an informed intelligent person and you are one sir I’m in California USA actually from Oregon but I am in my early sixties now and I grew up riding the Kawasaki bikes and Harley Davidson bikes as well as Dirt bikes Moto-Cross I think I have had around 15 of the Kawasaki sport bikes back in the 80s I had several of H 1 H2 triple two stroke bikes both the 500 cc as well as the 750 cc motorcycles they are mostly in the Museums now lol I had several of the 1978 79 80 81 Kawasaki KZ 1000 bikes most of my mate’s gave me flack about riding what they called rice burners as they were riding the Macho Harley Davidson bikes but I didn’t really care for them because they were un dependable and broke Down quite a bit I own a new one now a Harley Heritage soft tail but I recently picked up a Kawasaki kz 650 custom someone was restoring but didn’t quite finish it and it hasn’t ran in six years it’s only got 16.000 original miles on the bike and I hope to get it up and running soon I think the most money I ever spent on one of my Kawasaki’s was $3000 Dollars for the 1980 kz LtD 1000 from the showroom floor in Texas and rode it home to California anyway I digress the other day I found the kz650 with a Kerker exhaust pipe and got nostalgic for the old bike’s and it is the first kz650 I’ve ever had but some of my friends had them and they were a lot of fun I plan to buy a couple more of the old classic bikes now that I have been bitten by the Kawasaki classic bug 😆 there are a few motorcycle salvage parts yards near my location but they are really proud of the used classic parts but I can still get almost anything that I will need I wish I could have seen the future of the bikes as I gave away a small fortune in parts and now they are expensive to get but I intend to buy or build myself a new old Kawasaki kz Ltd 1000 bike to keep and ride and if my kz650 turns out to be a good bike I will keep it as well just wanted to thank you for the reply and let you know I have subscribed to your channel on you tube and I look forward to seeing your videos and to say thank you for keeping them alive and informing us on the mechanics of the machines and the lovely English countryside in your video I’m Scots/ English American and I thank you sir for your service to the motorcycle enthusiasts community Cheerio and thanks again for your brilliant videos I suppose you say cheers now instead of Cheerio lol cheers mate.
Hi James. Spent a little time in Oregon, then down into California via The Avenue of the Giants when I rode the Transam Trail a few years ago. I did it with a load of guys from the East, one of whom is still a great, life friend we see with his wife every couple of years when they come over here. Thanks for watching and don't beat yourself up too much for stuff you gave away. We all did it. I used to have a now VERY rare Ford rally-type car I sold for a couple of thousand pounds.....now worth maybe $100K. If only I'd kept it but I just thought. "Meh...had one o' them now". ... :0)
Hi there, The stripes on the tank are decals/tape from new, not paint and they are the same on my bikes. The Kawasaki badge is metal. Thanks for watching.
Varies of course depending on the size and complexity of the work but as a rule of thumb, it's about £300 (400 bucks) for tank and 2 side panels ...if there's a tailpiece it'd add another £60-80..maybe another 100 bucks. if you want an absolutely perfect finish with no "steps" on a stripe line that would be much more...maybe £500 base price at a custom painter but you'd also need to wait 3-4 months to get the work done. Thanks for watching and don't be afraid to add your own advice as I'm always open to doing things better than I do. Best, Rod
CMS in Belgium ( I think) are a good source for a new set but they are very expensive...you gotta keep watching Ebay for a second hand one and hope you get lucky over time. Expect to pay a couple of hundred a side for decent ones. More for a really nice set....but it will add more than that to the bike's value.,
