Buying a bike with electrical problems?

Hi All,

I found a 1977 KZ650 near me that appears to be in great condition, for super cheap! Of course I call and ask what's up with the price only to hear the dreaded "it has some minor electrical problems." Basically the bike will start, will run, will get you places, but may die randomly. It will start up after that, but can again die randomly. It was supposedly completely rebuilt ~2 years ago by the previous owner, and the electrical problems were present prior to the current owner buying it. Does this sound like something fixable? Or should I avoid the bike at all costs?

-Dybz

I vote to buy the bike and fix it. How many miles and what is the price?

11k for $800

I'd go for it. Electrical problems aren't so bad to figure out.

There are many good motorcycle troubleshooters on this website, so take the plunge & let us get to figuring out what's working or not....

Sounds like it just needs a new battery. Ed

A Factory Service manual will be your biggest helper. I has all the values every component has to be. Bob

owner says it has new battery/spark plugs. i'm going to check it out tomorrow unless i find something better on craigslist. if it's in good shape besides the "electrical problem" then i may just pick it up and ride it home.

Go ahead and get it, just start at say $600. You can always come up to an agreed price. Unless the electrical has just been gone through, most bikes of that age would need some electrical work. Should be cheaper than Motor work anyway. If you get it, get a manual right away and read through the Charging System checks. Search here on KZR for a pdf file version, or look in the File Base link at the upper right corner of the site. There is a bunch of charging system additional checks and info in the forum threads.
Good luck and post some pic's as everyone really likes that.

Maybe this will give you some incentive....

The link is a KZ650 website, lots of good info and parts links as well. As mentioned, there's many 650 folks here that will jump in and help as well... Bike in decent shape other then electrical, no brainer, buy it....

FREE OEM Service Manual to get you started (bottom right)...


KZ650 Kawi Service Manual

thanks for the comments/help guys. i checked out the bike today, and it ended up being a dud. the lady i talked to on the phone said it ran, and if it died it could be restarted. when i talked to the husband (who was showing me the bike) he said the bike doesn't even start. showed it to me, and although it does look good for its age with only a spot or two of rust that can be cleaned up, it doesn't run. had to say no for now since i can't tell if it's even mechanically sound. asked them to give me a call back if they get it running well enough for me to limp it back the 50 miles to my place.

If it won't run, you could still check compression. Then offer $300-400 and load it up!