TOPIC:

Hello everyone. I know this is a difficult thing to ask for a number of reasons, but I feel that this forum is the best place to get an honest and unbiased answer.

Today I went to look at a 1978 KZ1000 that is for sale in my area. The bike is in storage in an old hanger at a private airport about 20 minutes from my house. Anyway, the bike doesn't run and has some issues which I'll attempt to describe as accurately I as can. First of all, the bike has been repainted, and it was a poor attempt at best. The engine is heavily oxidized and one of the sidecovers is missing. As for the seat, it's an aftermarket king/queen with rips and tears. The tires are severly weather checked, the exhaust is not original. All of the turn signals are missing and the inside of the gas tank is pretty rusty. Chrome is just ok and the frame has some rust in some areas. The engine is not seized.

According to the owner, the bike ran 3 years ago when it was put into storage, but not very well. He wants $800 dollars for the bike and won't take a penny less. By the way, that was a direct quote. Ok, now that you've been kind enough to read my long drawn out post, can anyone tell me if this bike is worth the asking price, or is this guy crazy? Believer me, I understand that it's really hard to appraise a bike based on a description alone, but I just want to make absolutely sure that I didn't make a mistake by passing it up. Thanks so much for reading my post.

buy it.

id buy it but i wouldn't go more than a couple hundred.

sounds like a lot of money to me,got a picture?

I payed $600.00 for mine in this condition

sounds like a decent deal to me,look at the crap that gets listed/sold on ebay,look what sum guys here have paid for the smaller kz's in sad shape,this bike is local to you no shipping charges no surprise's,its a 1000 if he parted it out on ebay he probally could/would make more$$$, 800 is not alot of $$$ in my opinion for a kz1000,shit what do i know im paying 500buks for a set of shocks

i think my problem is i am not looking for a bike, they just find me, i have passed on 900/1000 for 2-300 dollars. for me a big kicker is not running, value just dropped in half, i was screwed a couple times as a kid on "it use to run great" and refuse to pay good money for a non-runner. also rusty, missing parts, repaint, and not a super valuable model just keep pulling it down more. maybe in other parts of the country it is different and the old stuff may be worth more?

i wouldnt do it!!! i think this guy is a scammer. i bought my kz750 ltd for 950. it runs great, has original paint in decent condition, is all original parts, and has a clear title. i think the guy is just holding out waiting for some poor dumb kid looking for the famous old z1000s and hopes theyll fall for his trap. sounds like a money pit, if you wait, you can find way better deals. i see decent z1s and z1000s go for 1200-1600 in great condition here in iowa. i say wait.

Thanks for all of the replies. I appreciate the input. Last year I found a '77 KZ1000A1 with original paint in very good cosmetic condition with 12k miles. I paid $1400 for it. Unfortunately I had to put another $800 or so in parts and labor, but it's more than worth it considering the overall condition of the bike. I feel very lucky to have found that bike. When I heard about this '78 KZ I thought that I might get lucky again, or at the very least find a decent parts bike. I was just really surprised that the guy was so firm on his price. It's not that I was intending on lowballing him or anything like that. If the bike had been in better cosmetic condition or at least running I would have gladly paid the $800. I'm definitely not a mechanic, but I know from experience how quickly parts and labor can add up. I live in Green Bay WI and any type of decent vintage bike is rare in this area. My main goal of posting here was to prevent regretting not buying the bike in the future. Thanks to everyone for sharing your thoughts. I don't expect to hear from the seller anytime soon.

IMO, politely tell the seller: "Thanks, but no thanks. Have a nice day." and just walk away. You already know the pitfalls of buying an old bike.
From your description what you're looking at is a parts bike. They're worth, typically, $100-$300 tops for a non-running big block Jap bike of that era. Heck, at the bike salvage yard where I work, we had a guy come in today to GIVE us a Suzuki GS1000 semi-complete non-running bike along with a non-running GS750 engine....
FOR ABSOLUTELY FREE.
As I've posted before, bikes are like city buses. If you miss this one, there'll be another along in 15 minutes or so....even though you may not think so.
Trust me on this.

Well, now I feel better about passing it up. Thanks for preventing me from making an $800 mistake!

$300 tops. Check back with him in six months with the $300 in hand. If he says no, ask him if he really likes it because it will be around for a long time at that price.