New 82 GPz750 in the Stable

I picked this up Friday, something I'd been watching on Craigslist for a couple of weeks. High mileage with 52K on the clock. He had the tank, side covers and seat off, tried running pods and couldn't get it to run right (never heard THAT before) and was moving so he had to sell it. He was asking too much for it and didn't get calls. So I offered cash and said I could pick it up that night. A deal was struck. Got it home and washed the cobwebs off of it. The pics look a bit better than the bike. Missing a few small stock bits. Mirrors, grips. The hard to find/expensive parts are all there. Someone got 'red happy' adding accents to the stock paint on the oil cooler, shock springs. Let the games begin. Not sure what is up with the brackets on the top front of the frame, near the front of the tank.

Nice find...

Thanks, I'm trying to sort out what red pieces are factory and which are not so I can return it to stock. The grips need to go, I've got the stock airbox and boots along with what appear to be the original BS34s. I'll have to recover the seat.

Very nice, looks quite unmolested. The widgets at front of tank are cable clamps, quite often go missing. Aftermsarket Fork brace is a good part to find.

Looks all correct to me, apart from the badly done seat cover. Like the GPz550 twin shocks, some had red wheels, earlier ones black. Tourque arm, rear shocks etc also had red detail. Not sure about the oil cooler-that colour is a bad match (now) anyway.

52k isn't really high miles, mine has about 47k on it. Judging by the condition of it I suspect it has been looked after.
Nice to see it doesn't appear to have gone down the road on either side, looking at the pipes and footpeg rubbers also the original front fairing and fender is a good indicator to any previous front end impact damage.

Nice find. I went to Stafford Bike show recently a, massive UK event with 1000's bikes. Didn't see a single twin shock GPz there, first time in years of going. Certainly getting very rare now.

Thanks for chiming in Tyrell. It does in fact have a red torque arm. I'd have bet big money (and lost) that someone freelance painted that one. It looks out of place to me, but hey, whatever was stock will stay. You believe the brackets on the front frame were stock? It had one garage flop that broke the turn signal lens and scratched the stator cover. Pipes are completely unmolested other than the ravages of time. The black chrome doesn't seem to do as well and traditional chrome for aging. The header pipes aren't dented, could not be happier about that. I'm starting to wonder if this was a european spec bike. I haven't seen one like this here. I'm certainly not a GPz Oracle but I've always paid attention to them. One of the tech heavy dudes on KZ650 says the brackets on the frame aren't stock, but again I wonder if that is a euro spec thing. The paint on the top of the tank is kind of hosed. Some mottling possibly from a wet tank bag sitting on it too long. There is a thumb sized hole rubbed in the white stripe on the tail piece. Had to be something that was strapped on the back or a bungee hook is my guess. When I look at the tank I'm thinking "Leave it stock or wet sand and clear it?" I'll noodle on it for a while.

Nice bike! And glad to see you want to keep it stock!

Those shocks look aftermarket. The stockers should have adjustable damping via a collar at the top.

If you think it is a Euro import, then check the frame VIN...17 digits = North American and 13 digits = non-North American. The wheels look like non-North American...you may even have a Japanese domestic market import. Nice find on the pipes...very difficult to source, as it the stock seat cover. I concur with Nessism regarding the shocks...those ain't original.

Sure looks like a euro model exept for the rear fender that looks us and it has probably been paited, the lower stripe should be dark blue, not black as it looks on your pix.

Any how a really nice find.

Mcdroid wrote: If you think it is a Euro import, then check the frame VIN...17 digits = North American and 13 digits = non-North American. The wheels look like non-North American...you may even have a Japanese domestic market import. Nice find on the pipes...very difficult to source, as it the stock seat cover. I concur with Nessism regarding the shocks...those ain't original.

It has a 17 digit serial stamped in the neck of the frame so it must be a North American build.

Scuba, the lower stripe is navy blue. I think it is the lighting and my phone camera that darken it up.

BTW, I'd guess that those odd frame handles were added by a previous owner and were used for some sort of transportation 'tie down'.

Agreed on the shocks, looks like aftermarket R & R street shocks...pretty good actually.

The 'black' should be really dark blue when it gets the light, as pic 3 shows. I bough some graphics from Imageworks UK (good) and , before fitting, complained they were black, not dark blue. But dark blue they were when fitted, Lots of wrong colour stripes on gpz's, usually far too light blue. like a bottle of navy blue ink in a bottle looks black, but on white paper is blue.

81 GPz etc had the 'dark' colour on the top, 82 models on the bottom.

Mcdroid wrote: BTW, I'd guess that those odd frame handles were added by a previous owner and were used for some sort of transportation 'tie down'.

Agree. If the hardware holding on the handles uses weld nuts in the frame it's OEM. Loose nuts, someone added it.