TOPIC:

I was talking about the 650 at work the other day and one of the guys said that he had a couple sitting at his house and wanted to know if I wanted to see them. Are you kidding? Of course I do. So I ride out to see them today. He isn't even sure of the years, but they have been sitting beside his garage since 94. He has a SUZI GS850 she has a KZ200. They were out riding them, back in 94 and she dumped hers, didn't hurt the bike much but she got a broken finger. They haven't ridden them since. Don't know why they didn't sell them then,
They both need a lot of cosmetic work now. God only knows what shape the engines are in. I'm almost tempted to take them off his hands, for a song of course.
Could be a couple of fun projects, may be too expensive though. Anyone have any thoughts in them, or any info on the 850. The 200 intrigues me more though, could be a fun little town runner,,,

I missed out on a couple of 200's a couple of years ago. They look really easy to rebuild and I think they are pretty cool.

If they have been sitting outside that long they will be hard to get rid of. Be a nice guy and offer to haul them off and not even charge him for the service! Hopefully he has the titles or whatever is needed to register them.

Well, on the 850, you have to watch out for dodgy alternators and regulator/rectifiers. All the early GS's through to the first engine redesign with the GSXR's in '85/'86 were for shite. One phase of the alternator goes out and then that places an unbalanced load on the rectifier and...poof...the magic smoke comes out.
Mechanically, the 8 valve GS's are pretty much unburstable....although that one may need intake valve stem seals on it by now. Not a big job....just tedious.
The KZ200, of course, is prone to cam bearing/cam chain problems. Be prepared for this if it's a high miler or has been run consistently with sludge in the crankcase instead of oil.
If the guy just wants 'em gone and is willing to give them to you, then the price is right if they're not all beat up.

My first bike was a KZ200. It was a really cool bike. I go 6', 225lbs and it had no problem hauling me around. I will say, though, that I saw a picture of me sitting on it and it looked pretty small under my frame. I'd go for it (still looking for a new one myself).

I'll think about it for a few days. Don't know if I'm up to it or have enough time left to do a couple complete rebuilds. It would have been a lot more tempting back in '94.
Ride safe.