SELLING My 650. How much do you think?

Hi everyone,

First of all i have to say that it's been a great pleasure being a part of this forum. Unfortunately i will be moving and most likely will need to part with my cafe project.

This is what i have done to the bike since i got it in Sept 2006 when it did not start. Please tell me how much i should sell it for. If it were stock, it would be around $1200 i presume, but after putting 6K it feels wrong...

So here it is:

Kawasaki KZ 650-Custom1979


1 Gaskets, float needles, manifolds, o-rings $200
2 OEM Headlight assembly (chrome, stock) $55
3 Headlight bulb (extra bright) $25
4 Custom "cateye" taillight $60
5 Speedo and Tach covers (chrome, stock) $35
6 OEM gear shifer (stock) $25
7 Custom turn signals $30
8 Custom headlight brackets (chrome) $15
9 Top gauge covers (chrome) $15
10 Gas tank KREEMed. Glossy black ‘Dupont’ paintjob applied to the tank, rear tail and side covers: $200
11 Chin Scoop $120
12 K&N Air Filter $30
13 APE Extra-disk Heavy Duty clutch and push rod $115
14 Electronic ignition Dyna-S (DYDS2-2Dyna-S) $120
15 7mm copper core ignition wires $16
16 3.0 Ohm Coils $120
17 Irridium Sparkplugs $42
18 Throttle cable, clutch cable, oil change & oil filter $30
19 New Sprockets & Drivechain $100
20 Carb Cleaning $300
21 Tires GT501 100/90 19 and 130/80 18 $300
22 Steering head bearings $50
23 Aftermarket exhaust $400
24 Café Fork tube boots $15
25 Café headlight visor $20
26 Suzuki vacuum petcock $40
27 Black clutch and break levers $30
28 Black KZ1000 Shocks
29 Jet Kit $126
30 Black Café handlebar $40
31 2 black bar end mirrors $40
32 PROGel Grips $13

TOTAL PARTS: $3100
TOTAL LABOR: $2500+
TOTAL VALUE (Excluding emotional attachment): $5600

Thanks guys, and be [brutally] honest please.

Mileage: ~16K

The pictures are here-- www.flickr.com/photos/ka-50/



Post edited by: ZeeEuro, at: 2007/08/10 01:02

The values of the 650 are nowhere near the prices demanded by the 900/1000 line of Kawasakis. This is a shame as they are bulletproof reliable middleweights and for some riders (including myself) the preferred package due to the handling, size and power.

If you had put the same investment into a 900/1000 series you might have seen your money returned, especially with the very nice job you did based on the pics posted.

However it is still a 650 and the value of this middleweight hasn't caught fire.

If this bike were in my neck of the woods I would say the high end would be around 3 grand assuming that the motor still has a lot of life left and the overall appearance was nice. The low end would be around $1200 for a 650 needing lots of TLC.

I cannot say what you would get in your market but it will all come down to how and when you market the bike. Emphasize your time and show receipts and this might get the potential purchaser to pony up more than the average market price and of course, it never hurts to sell the bike during the peak of riding season which is now for most enthusiasts.

Good Luck and Cheers-Colin Firth -Ontario Canada

sounds like you did a ton of work to this old girl.
i don't want to insult you but like collin stated, the smaller cc bikes command a much smaller price then their big brothers.
i know i will never get half of what i think she is worth in just parts alone.
lets not even get into the labor aspect.
i would not even get $5 a hour for all the work i put in her.
you asked to be brutally honest so here it goes.
i would be willing to pay up to about the $2500 range because it looks like a nice ride

your only downfall where i think you will not get your money's worth out of her is i did not see any engine mods or repairs done.
i look for the basics like valve lash,carb work,chain and sprockets etc......
rings,pistons and cams never hurt neither.

like i said, i don't want to insult you but i read what your total investment was and i would not buy it for that price.
please don't hate me.
i only paid $600 for my first 650 and just bought one with a title off craigslist with a clean title (running) for $75

Post edited by: kawsakiman, at: 2007/08/10 01:41

after doing all that i think id find a way to just keep it....steve

Every bike I've ever owned, I've regretted selling. If you don't have to, dont. Especially after all the work in it. Just my 2¢.

I have to agree with what has been said so far. The problem with these old bikes is a lot of what gets spent is on consumable type items, that while needed to keep them in a safe running condition, don't really increase the value all that much. That said I would agree that if at all possible the best move would be to keep it and ride it like you stole it. That way you can amortize the bucks you put in over several years and many smiles and not feel bad about how much money you spent to get her to this point. Do what you need to do but thats my take on your situation.

It's extremely rare to recover the cost of the bike plus parts, forget labor.

Plus you apparently paid really high prices for some parts, for example

Tires GT501 100/90 19 and 130/80 18 $300

Those are easily available for ~$180 shipped to your door.

On the upside, the bike is still basically stock, and stock bikes sell better than modified bikes. The down side is you can buy a ZRX1100 for $3000-$4000, so it's going to be difficult to find someone that will give $2500 for a 79 KZ650.

I bought a '79 KZ650 recently, which is in decent shape but not near as clean as yours. In the course of researching a decent price, I gained some idea of worth. Here in south Idaho, a KZ 650 of that era is going to run somewhere around $1,000 +/-.

boise.craigslist.org/mcy/392624107.html

Example, this guy is asking $1,300 OBO for an 82 that he bought new, now has 6,600 miles. I'd guess your top end range would be $1,500ish. Good luck, and let us know how it turns out.

I was thinking the same, about $1500

Steell really put it in perspective for me by mentioning the prices of ZRX's. You know you can pick up a 1995 GPz 1100 for 2500-3000.
I hope you get a lot for your bike, it's nice. If it were me I would keep it.

I looked at your pictures.

You are going to be way ahead if you can keep the bike.

A lot of things people do to vehicles sends the wrong message to me as a potential purchaser.

You might have done many things to your machine to personalize it. And have driven it very gingerly and been scrupulous with maintenance.

But sometimes what people do to a vehicle diminishes its potential value. It conveys the idea that the vehicle has been abused.

Like a fart can muffler.

Or racing headers.

An IROC whaletail spoiler on a Honda civic really impresses me.

A chin spoiler on a motorcycle . . . I'll pass that bike as a "ridden hard vehicle."

I guess I would run from pretty much any sportbike purchase.

But that's just my view as a current cruiser who doesn't do much in the wheelie department anymore.

It is a clean bike.

But I bought my 12k 650 for 500. It was stock.

The maintenance items you do because it is maintenance. You don't recover those costs from a purchaser.

High performance clutch?

At 16k did it need that investment? Why?

After looking at your pictures, I agree with KaZooCruiser that modifying the bike might make some folks wary of buying it. If you put the original pieces back on (you did keep them I hope!) and get the bike looking as it did in the October 2006 pics, I think you will reach a much wider market when you try to sell it. While I'm sure the changes you made to the bike appeal to your personal taste, most folks who want a customized bike have their own ideas of the perfect custom bike, and no two riders' tastes are exactly the same. I suspect that the majority of folks who would sink $6K into a custom KZ650 would prefer to start with a more or less stock platform at around $1000 and spend the extra $5K on the specific custom items that suit their personal taste. Please don't mistake my comments for criticism of you or your bike as this is certainly not intended as an insult. I believe this would be the case for nearly all custom bikes, cars, etc. Ed