Older Bike Opinions Wanted From All!

[MaineKawi]

Im thinking of a little pet project for myslef to work on! I want to buy a bike somewhere in the 80's, with a bit of kick, maybe 400-600cc. If anyone knows (preferably Kawasaki) of any older bikes that are decent, for around $300-$500 (give or take). Give me some advice. I want to work on it during the last bit of winter

Thanks

[michiganarft11]

I like the idea of the pet project. I bought a '93 ZX-6 the first week in Jan. and have been working on it getting it ready for spring. Kinda frustrating when there's snow and it's cold and you can't ride it though.

[MaineKawi]

Ya I know exactly what you mean Michigan. We have 3 feet of snow up here, and I think the hedgehog died this year

Had any other experience or heard anything on other bikes?

[michiganarft11]

Groundhog?

Grew up riding a Yamaha X400 around in the yard, along with dirt bikes. This is my first Sport bike, I'm pretty excited.

[MaineKawi]

See what had happend was.......the hedgehog.......well......I grew up in Canada.....so....your groundhog, is like our hedgehog! Sure!!!



I've been looking around, and have noticed that I prefer the look of the early Kawasaki's. I found a nice '83 KZ440 $400 on ebay Im going to bid on! Hopefull all goes well

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...at egory=6710

Check out lemme know

[Anonymous]

IF you do take the old bike project on you should consider the cost involved with Dry film lubricants and Thermal barrier aplications. getting everything ballanced then yo uwould have an old bike with an old redline of 8k now turning 16-19KRPM's. If you need some addresses for the stuff or want me to send aor write back in the forum ...I'll tell you which magazine, month and date even the pages...it could be quite interesting!!!

[michiganarft11]

Well you're excused for being Canadian, I know it's rough getting acquainted with our foreign American culture eh.

Bike looks pretty good. If it's close to you, I would definitely go look at it b4 you bought it. Doesn't really look like it needs much work at all. The info said that the tank needs work. I got a brand new tank, never even had gas in it, for $135 shipped from a junk yard in Florida.

Good luck

[bikeaholic]

i've always wanted to find a old KZ900 laying around to fool with

[MaineKawi]

Hey thanks ljangell, and Michigan. I noticed that Americans really dont have any hockey hosiers eh!

Hopefully I get the bid, I mean for $400 for the bike and a few hundred more with some TLC I could have it running smooth!

Thanks again fellas

[Dommer]

Get one of those old street legal two strokes. They were awsome.

[Anonymous]

Kawasaki used to make a couple bikes that were two stroke multicylinder like a 500 or something an dthen they made a 750 3 cylinder 2 stroke...and it was the FASTEST BIKE that I have EVER been on! It was geared for the race track, Campbell Industrial Parkway in Oahu, Hawaii. You could come out of a Z turn and start shifting and it pulled the tire off the ground in every gear! It was awesome! The first time that my buddy said try this I was like okay, it's fast, but pulling wheelie coming out of a turn was a big surprize for me...I was doing pretty good at the end when I finally managed to figure out where the power rolled on at...I will NEVER forget the bike! I weighed about 126 pounds and I was setting almost of the gas tank for the entire course...going from 4th to fifth down the straight you couldn't keep the front wheel on the ground unless you rolled back on the throttle..it just pulled that hard all of the time when it got to its power point! You find one of those 2 strokes and you'll never get the grin off of your face!~

[diversity48]

hopefully some of the old timers here could give me some info/feedback on the 1968 kaw 160 2 stroke single i just bought. looking for any info on the model. kinda resembles a bridgestone of the era. any recomendations for a parts source? 1300ish miles and mediocre cosmetics but runs well. a bit amazing when you consider it is 40 yrs old. of course this one is nothing like the widowmaker that came out a few yrs later!!

[gpzrider]

This thread has been dead for 4 years, let's leave it that way. Post in the vintage section and you'll get a response or two. And, welcome to the forum.