1983 KZ 750 LTD Shaft Drive - New Member From Nebr

Greetings!

I found (and bought) a 1983 KZ 750 LTD last month that'd been stored for the last 16 years. It has 10.8K miles on it and is in very nice shape.

We've spent some time bringing all the maintenance up-to-date, replacing fluids, tires, battery, and removing/cleaning the carbs. The bike went back together this last weekend and started after about 15 seconds of cranking after new gasoline had been added. Actually, it started on the third attempt - the first two attempts on Saturday evening took place when there was too little gas in the bike (about 1/3 gallon).

After adding 2 gallons on Sunday, we were all set.

Here's a link to the intial start-up.

Here's a link to the initial ride away.

Here are some photos after I trailered it home and washed it.















We were very fortunate to find such a great example of the KZ 750 LTD.

Gary

Wow very clean kz750f. One year model bike.
Must have been kept in a climate controled garage.

Welcome new member. Nice Bike how much did it cost.

Customize It wrote: Welcome new member. Nice Bike how much did it cost.

That's actually the best part - the bike was advertised on Craigslist.com for $50. I responded to the ad and the seller got back to me and said he'd raised his price to $100 because of the overwhelming response. He also said I was first in line and he needed to get the bike sold quickly because of an upcoming move.

So I bought the bike for $100 and the seller threw in an HJC helmet and a 2" hitchball and mount from U-Haul. I figure my net purchase price on the bike was around $50.

Of course since then I've put another $750+ into the bike to replace items like tires, fuel lines, battery, plugs, filters, fluids, and to bring all the maintenance up to date. I need to find a replacement speedometer because the one on the bike is damaged from something falling on it while in storage.

With any luck the bike will be with me for a long time or I'll be able to find a good home for it.

Gary

Nice bike,welcome to z-jungle!

Thanks for the warm welcome.

I'm looking forward to getting to know the bike better and to taking advantage of the accumulated wealth of knowledge of the members here.

Gary

I say you made out I see them for sale for 2000 to 3000 dollars in that kind of shape. Especially with low miles. NICE SCORE!!!
O and welcome to forum.
I had some major pfoblem right did not charge fuel, leaking bad, both tires flat?
Was it a little old lady?
Wife mad at cheating exhusband?
You gat a title at that price. You can not even but a frame and title under 150 dollars.

I would not let that one go.

Customize It wrote: I say you made out I see them for sale for 2000 to 3000 dollars in that kind of shape. Especially with low miles. NICE SCORE!!!
O and welcome to forum.
I had some major pfoblem right did not charge fuel, leaking bad, both tires flat?
Was it a little old lady?
Wife mad at cheating exhusband?
You gat a title at that price. You can not even but a frame and title under 150 dollars.

I got the title, the owner's manual and the tool kit along with the bike.

The tires were dry-rotted and flat and there was no battery. The speedometer was crushed and the front turn signals had cracked lenses and some corrosion in the sockets. The air filter was also so disintegrated that if we had tried to start the bike I think we would have sucked it into the engine in pieces. Other than that....it was complete and in very good shape. It really was an incredible find.

Rather than let our enthusiasm get the better of us and try to start it with old oil and gas in it, we changed all the fluids, drained the tank, and pulled the carbs off to be thoroughly cleaned. We also sprayed fogging oil into the cylinders and rolled the bike around in gear to make sure the pistons and rings were free.

All the prep work paid off as the bike started right up once we put it back together and got a couple of gallons of gas in it.

(I was kind of curious how much a bike like this might be worth in this condition. It's nice to know I could spend a few more dollars on it without being underwater.)

Gary

Nice bike man! I haven't seen that model LTD before. Looks like it shares half it's parts with the Spectre, I recognize a lot of it. Thanks for the pics.

Del_Herring wrote: Nice bike man! I haven't seen that model LTD before. Looks like it shares half it's parts with the Spectre, I recognize a lot of it. Thanks for the pics.

I'm actually completely unfamilar with older bikes in general and with the KZ 750 in particular. My first motorcycle was (and is) a 2009 Ninja 250R (you can see it in the background of at least one picture.)

Since I'm new to all this, I have a lot to learn.

I like the fact that the bike is in very good condition and is completely stock.

Based upon what little I know after doing a ton of reading the '83 KZ 750 LTD shaft drive model wasn't widely sold. As someone noted earlier - it's a one year only model. That could make finding model-specific parts a challenge. But I'm hoping some parts are interchangeable between years and models. My goal is to keep the bike completely stock and just to enjoy it as it was designed.

I'm happy to share the photos with the group.

Gary

Well, I have a 750 Spectre. And just looking, you have the same seat and grab bar as me. The Spectre's are also shaft drive's and were 82 and 83. I'm guessing the LTD Shaft has a lot in common with them, it certainly looks that way. As for engine parts there are a lot of similarities with the other 750 fours.

One of our tips is always that kawasaki.com has parts lists (with exploded assembly views) that you can lookup by bike, and then they show what other years and models used the same stuff, which is astoundingly nice resource.