Hi from Ottawa, Canada

Hi folks, just tuning in to your fine site. Not a KZ owner just yet, but I have owned a couple of GS1100s (dodges tomatoes.....).

I am 53, born in 67. Not the summer of love, more like the autumn of regret....

I started on a CB650 in 1987 which soon went far away due to numerous mechanical issues, so I consider my first bike to be a 1983 GS550E, which barely won out over a very pretty and oh so green KZ650 which was $200 more expensive,(it was lot for me back in 94). Since then, I have owned a GT380, GS1000S with an 83 1100 motor, an XJ900 Seca  which I brought back from the dead and still miss, an XJ650 Turbo Seca, an 83 GS1100E, an 83 XS650 (still have), and a Bandit 1200, which I stupidly bought at auction and which convinced me to sell my immaculate and never to be replaced GS11.

I blew up my Bandit most excellently at about 160mph a few years ago and I am getting it back up to snuff to send it off, since it is now something of an irritation. I really should have kept my big ol GS since it was plenty of bike and had a cachet the Bandit never will, but I was convinced I needed radials, six-pots and something newer. Too bad.

Anyway, I became interested in bikes in the mid 80's, and I had a friend with a stash of early 80's mags chock full of tests of the big bruisers of the day, so I came to have a great affection for the big KZs, GPzs, Spectres, LTDs, Katanas, GSes, and CBs. I was a huge Kawasaki fan, but had a great respect for the GS line as well, and considered them natural rivals. It could have gone either way, but time and constrained funds saw me in the seat of that 550e back in 94 and I was off to the races, so to speak.

Lately I have had a hankering for another classic litre bike. Once in awhile an XS11 will come up for sale, but they don't quite do it for me. 

Currently in my area, there is an 1100 LTD and an 1100 Spectre available. The LTD is an 85. The Spectre an 82. The model year is irrelevant to me after all these years, but is there anything which would recommend one over the other? Mileage is similar. I have always liked the Spectre paintwork.

Cheers for now.



 

Welcome Mac from a fellow Canadian.
I won't hold it against you for liking Suzukis.
Some friends, and my brother, ride Suzukis.

Hope you find something you like.
I'm neither an LTD or Spectre fan, although the colours on the Spectre were nice.

 

Welcome. I have no advice on either, other than I have read the 1100 LTD has a really good head. 

If it were us, we'd choose the Spectre.  Mostly because of the shaft & slightly more forward-leaning seating position offered by the flatter bars compared to LTD buckhorns.
 
Our Ridin' tends toward higher mileage touring these days.  100 ~ 150 miles one way for lunch, 800 miles round-trip to a weekend event plus Ridin' while there type of stuff.  Rain is a fact of Ridin' life and, a few hundred miles of wet Ridin' is hard on chains.

OP & slmjim aren't too far apart in age.  slmjim's had two lower spine surgeries over the last 30 yrs.  The sit up & beg seasting position of cruiser-type bars enforces a slouched riding position that results in far too much weight on the lower back, especially if no windshield is present.  For slmjim, some forward lean, some weight on the wrists is far more comfortable, whether a windshield is present or not.

We're not familiar enough re: the finer technicalities of Spectres to offer a meaningful opinion vs the LTD.

We've been lusting after a touring-dress Spectre for a while...

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

Hi from Alberta. I just looked them up, and for sure the Spectre. That LTD just looks uncomfortable to ride. That Spectre appears to be in great shape. Although I could help notice the '75 KZ400 available near you. Would be in my shop already if it was closer. 

Welcome from Toronto, I ride an Ltd. I changed the handlebars, they are lower and wider now,its the best thing I did.