'81 KZ550LTD in Pittsburgh

Hey all, I'm a beginner rider with a newly acquired '81 KZ550LTD last week. I was skittish about the 550cc at first, but I've been impressed with how easy it is to learn to ride on this bike. As far as I can know, the bike is pretty much stock.

Mechanically the bike feels solid like tank (in a good way) but I expect a 30 yr old bike to have some issues. I'm looking forward to learning to ride and work on this bike and I expect I'm gonna need a lot of help from you guys.

Cheers.

Welcome to KZR. 550's are great bikes. Good luck with it.

Novocain wrote:

Hey all, I'm a beginner rider with a newly acquired '81 KZ550LTD last week. I was skittish about the 550cc at first, but I've been impressed with how easy it is to learn to ride on this bike. As far as I can know, the bike is pretty much stock.

Mechanically the bike feels solid like tank (in a good way) but I expect a 30 yr old bike to have some issues. I'm looking forward to learning to ride and work on this bike and I expect I'm gonna need a lot of help from you guys.

Cheers.

Hello, Steve, and WELCOME to KZR!
Glad you're here!

Anxious to help out with the "new" bike.

Looks well preserved, and in stock condition (imo, a good thing.)

How many miles?

Hope you also have or may soon acquire an official Kawasaki Service manual for the bike (best tool in the box).

Would urge taking the MSF motorcycle riding course.
Besides saving lives, it's also fun.

Good Fortune!

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationNo eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationHere are two of several FSM's listed on ebay when searching KZ550 service manual.

Would opt for FSM instead of aftermarket.





Good Fortune!

I took the MSF riding course last July and it was a ball . I would really urge you to take it .

Novocain wrote:

I was skittish about the 550cc at first, but I've been impressed with how easy it is to learn to ride on this bike.

Definitely take the course if you can. I took it out here from the local tech school.

I've always thought to 400-600cc bikes (older ones mind you) were a great place to learn. Not too small, not too large.

Best of luck!