Just want to make a small survey...

I just want to make a small survey about how much people have spent or are still spending on restoring their kz's. I'm from australia and I have a z500, I'm torn between restoring it and selling it and spending the money on either a car or maybe a newer motorcycle. i love my kz but as I'm still a uni student, I need to make a decision that won't tie me up financially as well. I would love to hear what you guys think. heres a pic of my z500.

Nice bike...we never got the Z500 in North America...if you have disposable funds, then keep the 500...if you require reliable, carefree, efficient transportation for the next several years, then buy a new bike...but remember, once bitten by the Kawasaki bug, there is no cure and you'll rue the day that you sold your Z:)

Mcdroid wrote:

...but remember, once bitten by the MOTORCYCLE bug, there is no cure and you'll rue the day that you sold your Z:)

There. Fixed it for ya.

Just be realistic. I know I cannot do without a car/truck. I just can't. The motorcycles are luxuries. As for restore it and how much can and will go into it you have to also answer that. How available are replacement parts for it? There are a few models here that things like gaskets are getting scarce. Seems funny but supply and demand will demand a premium for those hard to get items. As for making it reliable again I'm not familiar with the model but generally if you do it right I believe these older steeds will carry you far and reliably. Price for fixing one up as opposed to a new one here seems to favor the fixer upper. Plus insurance and peace of mind for not leaving a somewhat portable $10,000 machine unattended. Seems you have all the info to make your own decision. Nice looking bike!!

I vote be realistic, realistic as in if you decide to get ride of the Z, you better be trading it in on a 76 Ford Faclon GT. IT would only be right.

Just my .02
Brandon

the best suggestion is to make a list of what the bike needs and the cost of the parts/reapairs you want to do, and also list them as to how important they are, kind of a what needs to be done first list.
Then look at the cost of a new ride,

Then the hard part, look in the mirror and say do I really want to sell the bike

haha, you guys certainly don't make it easy for people to get rid of their kz's I've done some work on the bike: carbs balanced and cleaned, valves reshimmed, new cables, new horn and bled the brakes and finally managed to fix the oil leaks, not it just oozes a little... and got some people to help with it (for a fee) and I daresay its rather reliable now, I'm using it as a daily rider, there are some issues with the engine that certainly need to be resolved if I do decide to go for a restoration. one of my major gripes is that the engine is not perfect cosmetically, (there is one chip on one of the fins?) and one of the carbs is missing the extension for the drain line to be attached so I can't put a tube on it.

The thing is I can do simple repairs myself but would probably need help if I were to do a full restore and that would push the cost up. In an ideal world I would keep the bike AND get a car but I don't know if thats possible. I guess if I were to chance across a dirt cheap parts bike or engine that I could swap that would be perfect.

A lot of people here won't agree, but I think the only Kawasaki's worth restoring would be the ones you get your money back on, and I think that narrows it down to 2-3 models. The original first year H1, H2 and Z1.

If the bike runs good, looks good, then keep up with the maintenance and ride the wheels off it.

If you can afford to keep the bike and insurance/tags go ahead. If you need reliable transportation go for something newer.

I guess it really boils down to what you mean by "restore". In some circles that word means make it completely as it was the day it rolled out of the dealership. That means hard to find New Old Stock part, reproductions won't do, nor will repainting. If that is your intent, it is usually a costly proposition particularly for models of low production runs (I don't know if there were as many Z500 models made as Z650, for example).

Many of us are satisfied making a reliable rider that's clean and gives us a classically styled motorcycle that is not available in the OEM market right now. To be honest, I've not kept track or tallied what I've spent on either 650. I just bought parts as finances and time allowed and spread it out over the period of a couple of years each. I had the advantage of not having to rely on them for my sole means of transportation.

Well, adri4n, I vote to keep the Z500. Do as suggested by many and fix the old girl up as and when necessary. Of course do your preventative maintenance as you go along and you'll have a nice dependable daily rider. Not a 100 point resto....just a nice daily rider. I believe yours has electronic ignition so that's one major worry out of the way about cleaning/setting/timing points. The other possible problems are: 1)checking/shimming valve clearances which should be done every 5,000 miles or so and 2) that pesky cam chain tensioner that needs looking at every month or so to make sure the cam chain is suitably tensioned.
The rest is all just normal things: oil and filter changes, air filter changes, drive chain lubing and adjusting, etc.
With proper maintenance there's no reason why the old girl wouldn't see you through to graduation.
One last word of advice: drive the bike as often as possible, ideally at least daily. Old bikes do NOT like to be left sitting for days on end. They get cranky and then all kinds of problems crop up with starting, etc.
My +.02 worth....

yeah that is a neat looking little bike youve got there,other than the rubber things on fork legs!:laugh: anyway id keep it and fix it up as you go along and ride the wheels off of it!

Thats a real nice looking bike you got there.

When I bought my 750 a few years ago it cost money (about $1000) the first year to get it safe and reliable. Things like tires, chain and lights and I think I got all the gremlins out of it that year. Other than that expenditure is just routine maintainence costs. I could spend a fortune on it if I really wanted to get it into show condition but I prefer to spend the time riding it