personal opinion

posted as a reply in the classifieds

Personal opinion warning:

Parting out, scrapping, etc is DISQUSTING. c'mon if you claim to "love" these bikes you wouldn't do that. I can't come up with one single worth-while bike for sale or trade that isn't chopped dropped stretched or parts only. WHY? because everyone wants top dollar or nothing. Back when I was trying to source a 440 dodge motor for my barracuda, I found a guy who "couldn't give away" a motor and wouldn't take my $150 offer. what happened he tried to humiliate me on a forum and made a point of posting a picture of his $50 scrap receipt.

I'm the NEW generation I want a nice bike, want a kz. stock ish good looking, cant find them, and probably soon prices will be out of control, supplies will be gone and I won't be able to find, or afford one if I wanted to.

Scrap them out part them out... theres always a way to get a title or re-vive an old scoot if the will is there... but when they are all done they can't be enjoyed anymore. And with the way prices are already it's becoming hard to justify getting what I've always looked up to as a kid. Just remember if you've got a modified bike, it suits you, you got it for you, others might not like it. put it back or take a low-ball offer. if you "love" these bikes, you will if you don't go ahead and destroy them. I grew up with a father, and then a father-in law who were always strapped to a kz 900 or 1000... 90% of them now are priced out of reality from me. a lot of that is due to parting or scrapping.

It's like I told the wife, if I blew the motor in a camaro, mustang or barracuda, I can get another 350, 302 or 318 from the junk yard from the millions of trucks made through the years, but it seems like if something goes wrong on a bike motor it all gets thrown away, what a tragedy

Although I can see where you're coming from, there is no denying that people can do what they want with what they legally own.

Perhaps you should widen your scope a little? Narrowing your choices to one or two models is not only restricting your options, it is also limiting your ability to enjoy life to its fullest. Note that I am not saying it is wrong of you, only that it has a price - in more ways than one.

If you could see yourself on a ZR750 or 1100 Zephyr, you could have a bike that looks very much like a Z1, is better in every measurable way and that will cost far less when in the same condition. It may not be the "real" deal, but what that is is basically up to your definition.

I'm just saying that it's mighty hypocritical to start to start a wide-spread genocide of a certain type of bike cuz "it's worth more as parts" especially when those part mongers are the ones citing an apparent love of that vehicle.

Nonetheless the other models like the zephyr are simillar and yeah "better" but that's like the difference between the 68 camaro ss and the 2012 model at the chevy dealer, the old one has all the better you can get IMO. besides the z1 900 and 1000 kaw have the kicker and the new ones don't to me that'd be a negative.

Besides if the core of this site had the thinking that the newer bikes held a candle to the kz model line it'd be call kz like object rider. I'm not just confining myself to one choice though, I'm stuck dealing with my little 550, a sheep in wolves clothes, no matter how you dress it up, it is only what it is. Even the wife, after taking it for a spin had to let me know, it's nice but not a 900. and that's the case. I grew up seeing these things, know 9 different bikes rotting away and never to be ridden again and at least 40 that were stripped of parts and junked. Many of these people are personal friends and claim to want to see them on the road, cash in hand nope, no difference. One even went thru the trouble of hoisting his Z1 into the attic of his barn to not get any questioning about it. Just wants it to rot in the attic.

and to be honest I don't see a single upside to the zephyr from the old originals.. no kickstarter, con. same type of horsepower, same kind of torque, upgraded shocks and an allow swingarm. hardly "better in every aspect" not to mention priced like the kz models and only can ever find the square bodied ones around at all.

Here's a personal opinion, if you want MY bike you'll pay what I want for it. I don't care how I or anyone else has modified their bike the price is the price. While you are complaining about modded bikes and the prices asked step back and look at the prices of "correct" bikes and bitch because nobody's giving them away. Either get deeper pockets or stay on the 550.

I don't see a problem with parting bikes, the parts are obviously going towards keeping many other bikes on the road.

No I'm "bitching" because instead of being resonable and selling a bike that is usefull people have to go and buy it for a piece or a part and start destroying it to "get back an investment" or build a bike and not sell it in a week so they decide it's a better idea to get rid of it now by parting it. if you loved a series of bikes or anything for that matter you'd try to keep what you can in tact. not rip them apart cuz money's a little tight or you are tired of looking at it.

As for the 550, how'd I even get that? Pure dumb luck, it was on it's way to the junkyard, cut in half in a misguided attempt to bob it. I SAVED it, not parted it, because it's a crying shame to get rid of a nice piece of machinery due to a few dumb things. a few months of easy work and two hours in court to get the title (and btw Indiana is supposedly a title in hand or parts only state...) and I have a machine worth it.

And "parting" a bike that was WRECKED, or OTHERWISE DESTROYED isn't bad, but I see on here people parting out ridable bikes, or bikes that are running and moving. besides that, 90% of everything on these rides are reproduced new.

Like I've said, everyone on here acts as if they want the next generation to see, and enjoy these machines, how can you say that if you take on a project and have to have a parts bike or several parts bikes to make it work? APE makes the majority of the motor parts, Z1 carries the rest, scrapping them or parting them to part is IMHO a HUGE dis-service to anyone who actually cares about these machines. And yes, parting a bike might help someone else keep one on the road, but if you add up all the bikes parted by members of this website I bet you'd have one hell of a dent taken out of the kz population. Years ago, before everything was available aftermarket, you had to do what you had to do. Now though, c'mon you're kidding yourself, if the bike is fixable, it's worth the effort. I seem to remember someone on here recently picked up a "parts bike" to repair as a project. Chances are the vast majority of people out there would have already stripped that thing down and sold off the parts.

Buy em, Ride em, Break em and Sell em Its still America right??? I Think :huh:

ride them, break them and fix them is fine by me, that's not the point hereign, it's simply parting out fixable rides that shouldn't be happening now, like I said, think about how many bikes have been destroyed just to fix an issue that could be repaired without destroying a bike that could go to a good home

You say destroyed, I say recycled. Stripping one good bike could put 10 other runners on the road. It's only a lump of mass produced metal and plastic in the end, do with it as you see fit.

and drive up the prices of these bikes so far that a normal joe wont be able to afford it. whereas once again, the parts are being made and you can keep eleven on the road instead of just ten.

Obviously, the demand for the old metal is still there otherwise there wouldn't be a community like this, places like Z1 enterprises and APE wouldn't exist and kawasaki wouldn't have made the 90s line of zephyrs (which were a step backwards, if I wanted a modern bike I'd rather have one with the more powerful, better geared ninja or concours motor instead)

Reality sucks sometimes. I can't afford some of the things I want because of what other people do all the time. I can't afford a 'Cuda because my timing didn't work out to make that possible. I "settle" for and learn to enjoy what I can afford. I have no control over what other people do with their money or their property. Nor do I want others to have that kind of control over me. Wishful thinking is just wishful thinking. Good luck I finding what you want and I hope you can afford it when it shows up.