Newer Bike or not?

Since I have had my shafty (which i love by they way) I have found the downside is parts.. every time i need a part its a scavenger hunt.
And every time i decide to check something out ..i find it needs work..yall know . rubber grommets cracked or missing,
cables obsolete or at least hard to find, wiring deteriorated. bolt/srews missing or wrong ect.. and lets not forget . a little fall that seams minor that ends up costing $600-800 and a bunch of time chasing the parts.
So i have overcome most of this and I feel Im back to owning a very nice 1980 ST.
Now Im asking ..Do I give and buy something newer, or stay with it.
The upside to a newer bike is less of these hunt and chase parts . But every newer type bike i look at just dont do it for me.
They all look like oh how do you say it?.. crap
I love the way the KZs look and ride and nothing new has that look or feel.
I just wish they would do a Retro KZ type bike for once.
Case in point I saw a 2006 Ninja 500 very very low miles ..like new for $2,500 But I just cant see me walking out of a restaurant
(by the way we are hard core..we never pass a Dairy Queen) and climbing on the little Ninja with pride.
Its just a cookie cutter teenager bike to me. And then theres the bigguns ..Like the 1600 Mean Street. Its cool but still I feel like its a Harly wannabee .
Maybe Im just stuck in the 70.s lol

I love my Vulcan too!

R

Truthfully.... I love riding my buddy's 2014 Triumph Bonneville!
Not as powerful as my KZ1075cc..NO CONTEST.... but the Bonny handles wonderfully.... effortless mountain driving, where as the old mid 70's designed KZ1000 is tubby feeling, top heavy and wants to fight be thrown around in a sporty manner. But alas, I love it! HA ha

Was kickin around the idea of a 2006- 08 ZZR600 Kawasaki ....... or Maybe a 2014-15 Honda CBR650 with ABS since I have a a bad habit of grabbing a hand full of front brake in a full out panic stop and don't want to end up on my head...... even was wanting to look at the Triumphs even though I never though about em much over the years....... that new 1200 Thruxton R really got my attention till I saw the 20,000+ dollar price tag.

I was going to buy a new bike about 6 years ago, but at the time it was pretty much a Crotch Rocket or a Cruiser, neither of which I'm really into. In the end I saw a 99 BMW R1100R for sale with the factory cases and only 3k miles. It was like new and people still ask me is that the new model when I filling up with gas. I love that bike, great all rounder from scratching to touring. There are not many new bikes that get my juices flowing and me reaching for my wallet. If they'd still made something like the ZRX1200 I could have been tempted, but I have 5 road legal bikes for less money than many pay for one new one.

If my KZ's were my only bikes, I'd definitely look for something else as a daily rider, because I wouldn't want to put all that wear and tear on them. However, if that's what you want to do, there is no doubt they can be very reliable and the little rubber parts etc. once replaced will be good for another 30+ years, so given the bikes are not that complex, you should work through them in time. I'd never sell my older bikes, but if I needed transport and didn't have my BMW or Honda XR I'd find a cheap more modern bike and keep my KZ if at all possible. You can pick up some nice bikes for $2-3,000.

I can't see me riding another bike.
Steve

IF I get a newer bike it will either be a Bonnie or a late '90s to early 2000's ZR7, especially since I learned they are basically a modernized KZ. I actually have the stainless headers from one on my bike right now.

I'd like to have a bike built in the last 10 year's I love my old bike's but new is new.
Modern bike's are simply better machine's overall.

Nice but I don't think that would be as bullet proof as the Z1/KZ's.
Steve

swest wrote: Nice but I don't think that would be as bullet proof as the Z1/KZ's.
Steve

Yes it would because it's a KZ based motor it's pretty much an updated GPz750 motor.

In case you haven't come to this conclusion yet, you need a second bike! I don't really understand how you haven't just ended up with at least another one somehow. Once I had one motorcycle in my one car garage, my wife couldn't fit the car in it so I got a few more! I have one KZ that runs and rides nice. It also has those issues that you were talking about. I also have a few kz's that were all in bad shape that I got really cheaply that I can justify modifying them into something different. Unfortunately I have limited free time and when I want to go for a ride I just wanna go for a ride. So I bought a modern bike.
I have a 2013 ninja 1000. -not a zx10, the fuller fairing version of the z1000. It's looks have grown on me but it's still pretty ugly. But the engine and handling are fantastic! It's fuel injected and doesn't care about the shitty gas we have now. I can leave it for a month and then just jump on and fire it up and go. I've had rice rockets before and the engine on it is way better with something like 80 percent torque available at 3000 rpm. It's based on the z1000 which was like Kawasaki trying to revisit what the Z1 was back in the day. (the first year 2003 was 30th anniversary of z1 and they even have 4-4 pipes) They had the right idea they just didn't do it right. If I didn't already have project bikes and I didn't already have my ninja paid off I would get a z1000 and strip off all the transformer looking shit and plastic etc. I would put a round headlight on it, and make a nice retro looking thing that Ma Kawi should have made. I will probably still do that if I find one cheap enough- the earlier ones (2003-2006?)are pretty available for like 3 grand give or take so it's only a matter of looking hard enough to get a cheap one.
If you got a second bike you would have something to ride when you had something to fix on the shafty. Obviously don't trade in the old girl, they're not making any more of them. And in the end it's all up to you. A great thing about motorcycles is you can always sell them if you don't want them anymore. Even "'bobbers'' find new homes!

As for me, I could have bought a new truck when I was rollin but chose to keep my 69 Ford. I keep things.
Steve