Why no love for the 650 CSR?

I think the big issue with them is the buck horn bars, and the fact that they don't have the classic Z tail. The forks are a bit soft but that can be fixed.

They ride just fine, but are not setup for dropping into corners, that is where a middle weight bike shines the most.

As a owner of several KZ650's I have always shied away from buying them or the SR just from a styling stand point. Personally I don't think they suck but I think Kawasaki caved to the North American market on the styling front.

I think Kawasaki should have made a +800 cc model version of the classic KZ like Suzuki did with the GS850, that would have sold tons.

Just my opinion, but while they sold well back in the day, the LTD style bikes didn't age well.

This CSR seems to have been a bit of a budget cruiser.  Spoke wheels, buckhorn handlebars, with the turn signals attached, small gas tank, limited ground clearance.  If someone wanted to normalize one of these bikes, it would take a little more work than starting with a standard in the first place.  That said, if I were in the market for a new/used KZ, and if I came across a creampuff CSR, I'd buy it, then work to customize it to my liking.  It's not drastically different from other KZ's.  The core goodness is all there.

Nessism wrote:

Just my opinion, but while they sold well back in the day, the LTD style bikes didn't age well.

This CSR seems to have been a bit of a budget cruiser.  Spoke wheels, buckhorn handlebars, with the turn signals attached, small gas tank, limited ground clearance.  If someone wanted to normalize one of these bikes, it would take a little more work than a standard in the first place.  That said, if I were in the market for a new/used KZ, and if I came across a creampuff CSR, I'd buy it, then work to customize it to my liking.  It's not drastically different from other KZ's.  The core goodness is all there.

Exactly what I am doing, started with the cheapest of KZ1000's and knocking the Ltd out of it

Wookie58 wrote:

Nessism wrote:

Just my opinion, but while they sold well back in the day, the LTD style bikes didn't age well.

This CSR seems to have been a bit of a budget cruiser.  Spoke wheels, buckhorn handlebars, with the turn signals attached, small gas tank, limited ground clearance.  If someone wanted to normalize one of these bikes, it would take a little more work than a standard in the first place.  That said, if I were in the market for a new/used KZ, and if I came across a creampuff CSR, I'd buy it, then work to customize it to my liking.  It's not drastically different from other KZ's.  The core goodness is all there.

Exactly what I am doing, started with the cheapest of KZ1000's and knocking the Ltd out of it

Nessism wrote:

Just my opinion, but while they sold well back in the day, the LTD style bikes didn't age well.

This CSR seems to have been a bit of a budget cruiser.  Spoke wheels, buckhorn handlebars, with the turn signals attached, small gas tank, limited ground clearance.  If someone wanted to normalize one of these bikes, it would take a little more work than starting with a standard in the first place.  That said, if I were in the market for a new/used KZ, and if I came across a creampuff CSR, I'd buy it, then work to customize it to my liking.  It's not drastically different from other KZ's.  The core goodness is all there.
 

I like that. The core goodness is all there.    I don't know how reliable it is but I looked up some values on JD Power and found an 81 CSR considerably less valuable than the 77 B1 I should be getting later this year (which, unfortunately will need work to bring it back to the stock condition I prefer).  Then on a whim I looked up my 82KZ305 CSR and was stunned that its (supposedly) more valuable than an 81 650 CSR.  I don't believe that for a minute but it does show how little respect they get.



 

Hi, just to add, what makes this site great, is the help and info, members provide, info is here, search a problem on google, one of the replies sends you here, this patina special had a toasted harness, bent bars, busted tach, and more, but it had compression and a key, no papers, had about 15k miles, and about $2k later this came to be, all from the Kawi parts bin, via ebay and others, motor not touched, had this out the other day, runs great, with a a few mods, new stator, 775 reg/rec, gpz 750 ignition, electronic advance,  engine covers from a 700, as are clocks, these are geared for cruising, low end, 70mph=5000rpm,  and steady as a rock, I don’t ask a lot of questions, just do research, thanks to all

jwfels wrote:

Hi, just to add, what makes this site great, is the help and info, members provide, info is here, search a problem on google, one of the replies sends you here, this patina special had a toasted harness, bent bars, busted tach, and more, but it had compression and a key, no papers, had about 15k miles, and about $2k later this came to be, all from the Kawi parts bin, via ebay and others, motor not touched, had this out the other day, runs great, with a a few mods, new stator, 775 reg/rec, gpz 750 ignition, electronic advance,  engine covers from a 700, as are clocks, these are geared for cruising, low end, 70mph=5000rpm,  and steady as a rock, I don’t ask a lot of questions, just do research, thanks to all[
 

And you did a great job with yours. It looks like you took a lot of the CSR out of it. You changed the wheels, but did you change the rear wheel size too? (not sure if that's even possible)
 

looks like an 18".  650F or 550A. should be direct swap.

H1Vindicator wrote:

looks like an 18".  650F or 550A. should be direct swap.
 

So 16 to 18 is a direct swap?

Yes it is, had a 16 cast wheel on first, I’m tall, found the f2 wheel in Germany, not many sold here, also 750 cam cover, they flew first class dinner and drinks, $$$ shocks are kiwi part from the 70’s had on the 900, probably gained 2 inches or better, took it to beach today

Interesting, and it brings up a good point about the CSR, because I am NOT tall. I had been concerned about the seat height of the B1 I will be getting (2.4" higher than my 305CSR), although after some experimentation with my seat height I decided it probably won't be a big issue. But the H1 seat height definitely won't be an issue. 

Anywho, I find myself going to look at a cheap one this week that doesn't run but I have reasons to believe can be made to run. Its much closer than the 900 mile roundtrip I have been procrastinating about to pick up my B1, and if I can get the H cheap enough I figure 2 650s are better than one, even though I now realize that some of the parts I had hoped would be interchangeable will not be.