1977 Kawasaki Kz1000a Complete Restoration For Sale

[kawah1c]

Originally Posted by Jeff.saunders

Out of the last 10 or so nice bikes I've sold, all but one left the USA. Three went to Norway, two to Northern Ireland, one to England, two to Japan and one to France.

I'd guess they were standard bikes in original colours, Jeff ?

[Jeff.saunders]

1 KZ900 to France - all original w/4-4 pipes
3 1973 Z1's to Nils in Norway for restoration
1 very nice 73 Z1 and 1 restoration candidate very early 73 Z1 to Northern Ireland
1 1973 frame & engine cases and a few misc parts to England
2 1974 Z1A's in original paint w/4-4 pipes to Japan (two different customers)

[kawah1c]

That's what I thought. European and japanese people want standard bikes.

[steell]

Originally Posted by kawah1c

That's what I thought. European and japanese people want standard bikes.

I think that's better said as "Motorcycle Collectors want standard bikes".

Most of the members at 750turbo.com are British, and they don't seem to concern themselves with keeping a bike stock

[DrKayak]

Great thread, lots of valuable information. In my search for a Z1 I see a ton of people that do not get what drives the value of these bikes. Found a 74 last week local and I was desperate to get a chance to make an offer on it.

It turned out to have a factory replacment frame with NO VIN and he had anodized the engine a brown color. Pluss he had seen one go for $10k on E-bay and his was "way nicer". Saw the same bike weeks later posted for $2,500 and it still has not sold.

[Jeff.saunders]

Originally Posted by spyman

I've sold many items international. The added expense and the inability to be able to communicate quickly is a deterent to me. I don't need to sell this bike.

It's your choice, but you are just minimizing the amount you could get for the bike if it does sell. You need as many people interested in the bike as possible - and a bidding war to get the best price - one over the reserve price. If your bike does hit reserve, then you may be leaving money on the table when only domestic USA bidders get involved. Exchange rates in Australia and Japan are very favorable to their currency at the moment - and that's when the bidders in those countries come out and look for nice bikes. The Aussie economy is in much better shape than the USA economy - they are buying tons of bikes from the USA. One of our customers just shipped 50 bikes back to Australia this past week.

A $20-$25 wire transfer fee is the only incremental international charge - if you take a foreign draft in US Dollars, then you really have zero added expense. We've had zero issues with international communications. In fact, all the bikes I've sold on and off ebay to international customers have gone very smoothly.

[spyman]

today is the last day of the ebay auction...Kawasaki : KZ1000A:eBay Motors (item 270469808404 end time Oct-25-09 18:00:00 PDT)

ends at 9:00pm est.

[gpzrocker]

Originally Posted by Jeff.saunders

If you put it on ebay, I suspect the bidding wouldn't go over $7-8K.

High end of Jeff's estimate, you should be pleased.

[danielroca]

yea you definately got a lot of bids on that bike nonetheless. Its beautiful man. I'm new to this forum. Just got my KZ a short while ago. Seeing bikes like yours gives me lots of ideas and inspiration for my own.