1979 KZ 1000 LTD vs MK-11

Some letter will be there, along with the manufacturing date, which is usually a year earlier than the model year. Whichever letter it is, plus the model year will tell you exactly what you have. If it says A and it was manufactured in 1977 or early 1978, could be a 1978 KZ1000. B means LTD, but the A changed from the KZ1000-A2(original KZ1000) to the KZ1000-A3(MKII) for the 1979 model year.

Alright, I should have the bike at my house by wed of next week, so I will def get pics of it up for ya'll, I'm going to go down there today and check out the vin to figure out which bike it is. What do you think a good price on a 79 KZ1000 with 40000 miles would be? I appreciate all of you giving me advice and your input.

dman3998 wrote:

The LTD was made in the US with left over parts from 1978 models! and you can never tell hardly from the trim. The pic that the Gringo put up has the 78 decals on the bodywork. but it is just as likely to be a 79.

Ummmm..... no the LTD in 79 was quite a bit different than it was in 78 and not made from left over 78 parts. The pic of the bike I put up has the correct 79 decals on the bodywork. On the black 79 LTD's the stripe pattern was the same as 78 but the colors were different. 78 models used red and silver stripes where 79's were teal and gold. The other color option in 79 was a green metallic with a really different looking decal in shades of gold. Here is a close up pic of the 79 stripes.

Kingchiefa wrote:

What do you think a good price on a 79 KZ1000 with 40000 miles would be?

Difficult to answer w/out seeing the bike and assessing its' condition. Many factors go into valuing a bike, including (really) time of year of the sale and geographic location (not to mention all the physical attributes of the bike).

Mcdroid wrote:

Kingchiefa wrote:

What do you think a good price on a 79 KZ1000 with 40000 miles would be?

Difficult to answer w/out seeing the bike and assessing its' condition. Many factors go into valuing a bike, including (really) time of year of the sale and geographic location (not to mention all the physical attributes of the bike).

The bike is in good condition, if it had been laid over the frame is still good, checked that while I was test riding it. She runs great, the chrome is good well polished, I'm buying it during spring, it has 40000+ miles on it, the paint is good, the seat appears to be the original due to wear it has torn a little. I'm paying 1500.00 for it.

Sounds like a fair price to me, I just bought a MKII in similar condition for about the same.

For $1500 it's definately not a MKII. My guess it's either a LTD or a 1978 KZ1000A. So many times wrong years are somehow advertised on motorcycles.

RonKZ650 wrote:

For $1500 it's definately not a MKII. My guess it's either a LTD or a 1978 KZ1000A. So many times wrong years are somehow advertised on motorcycles.

Why wouldn't it be a MKII?

Because they're rare, the guys say they go for $4-6000. I'm so happy I got a good one off some old guy for $1700. :woohoo:

RonKZ650 wrote:

For $1500 it's definately not a MKll. My guess it's either a LTD or a 1978 KZ1000A. So many times wrong years are somehow advertised on motorcycles.

I would tend to agree with this opinion- seen a lot of bikes that were mistitled( in the US only) due to someone reading the date of manufacture as the model year - my 79 MKll was made in late 78. As far as the $$ well,anything's possible but typically MKll's do sell for more than $1500 due to the fact they are more rare having only been avauilable in 79-80.

If the sidecover badges don't show KZ1000 MKll or KZ 1000 LTD then it's quite possible this is a 78. Also,check out the pics in this thread of the 79 LTD and you'll see the differences in rocker cover,countersprocket cover and dyno cover from the 73-78 Z1-KZ engines.

Maybe I am getting the same deal?
I will find out tonight, I'm going to get some good pics and look at the vin.

The Gringo wrote:

Ummmm..... no the LTD in 79 was quite a bit different than it was in 78 and not made from left over 78 parts. The pic of the bike I put up has the correct 79 decals on the bodywork. On the black 79 LTD's the stripe pattern was the same as 78 but the colors were different. 78 models used red and silver stripes where 79's were teal and gold. The other color option in 79 was a green metallic with a really different looking decal in shades of gold. Here is a close up pic of the 79 stripes.

You are correct, I was kind of tongue in cheek, the reason I said that is the 79 LTD uses the 78 A2 repair manual with a 20 something page supplement manual. about Half the parts on the LTD fit the A2. I did NOT know that that decals depended on the color. I thought the decals from the Green were the official 79 ones. you try to learn something new every day. that is my one new thing!