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my wife got me to thinking why in the hell dont we just go out and buy new bikes. well for me i love the simplicity of an air cooled bike, i love the challenge of building something to outrun new bikes when it shouldnt and last but not least they are hard to break! she brought this up when i told her i hoped to have less than 10k in my bike. she said the hyabusa is going for around $9500 why not just buy one. i had to buy a 12 pack after that comment. anyway why do you all do it?

Because new bikes are every were. I like when people give me a thumbs up, or stop and talk to me, and tell me about how the had one back in the day. Probally with all the money i have into my bikes i could have bought a brand spanking new one, but i didn't. Maby it's because there is nothing like cruising around on a 1970's superbike. Plus i love the look i get when i go cooking past all the young kids on there "crotch rocket's"

Rather than dunking all the money down on a new bike in one shot, it hurts less by paying to restore/customize an older bike a few dollars at a time.

Seriously though.
Sure it would be nice to have a new bike that you don't have to worry about just throwing a leg over and hitting the road, but anyone with the funds can just do that. Where's the fun (or individuality) in that?
It takes someone special (no, not Jerry Lewis telethon special ) to basically "create" something out of nothing, and not just everyone has the patience and persistance to do that.
We KZ (and other older UJM bike) owners are those "special" people.
The satisfaction from seeing the end result of all the time and money we spend in getting our bikes to where WE each want them to be, IMHO is something that just can't be bought off of a showroom floor.

You pretty much said it like it is,for Me too.

Bought My bike about 18 years ago and haven't stopped playing with it since.

i was going to buy my friends bike.
one night , the wife says to me " why don't you just build your own?"
( foolish, foolish woman)
she had a good point.
if i would've bought my friends, everyone would know where i got it from.
a new bike? no matter what you buy, they all kinda look alike and who the hell wants one more bill a month?
so i started assembling parts for the 1000 and ran across quite a few for the 650 while i was at it.
then i bought a 1100 to ride when i'm building the other two
( foolish woman!)
still, i have less into my three bikes then a zx14 that i wanted would've costed me.
i also love the looks and comments when i go on a run or to a gathering and quite a few people migrate to my bike. complements are like crack to me i'm such a attention whore.
bottom line is it was a personal choice to not have a crotch rocket or a harley like everyone else has.
i like being my own person and my bike reflects that.
no lemmings here.

Well, I believe in buying new for a daily driver/adventure ride thang- I plan on buying a new Triumph Tiger for riding serious distances with my woman on the back.

But I won't be giving up my Z1 either.

I agree, it is just plain cool to have something different. Everyone got a sport bike covered in plastic. Sure they may be faster then my Z1, but who cares. It isn't like you can speed too much where I live ... you will either loose your license or die. Too much traffic .. to many cops! Plus, you look WAY cooler doing a wheelie on an old Z1!!!

Side Note: I keep peeping an old skinny looking bike under a cover in my neighbors garage. This guy looks like he is about 75 years old. Part of me REALLY wants to belive it in an old Kawi H2 that he will sell to me for $500. I am going over tomorrow to introduce myself, pray for H2-ness!

810gpz750 and others who have answered this thread, its amazing, my wife and I went through this discussion last night, "why don't you go out and buy a new Z, it will probably work out cheaper", after 6 months and nearing the end of a near total rebuild I must admit it has cost a "few" bucks, but at the end what have I got ?
a part of Z history and not a plastic crotch rocket, and yes, mine will vapourise them up to a 160 kmh plus, after that I don't care.
The amount of joy I have had rebuilding cannot be valued, and talking via pm to some of you guys has been great.
At the end of the day my old Z will be still going and at my age thats all I want, having had H1's,H2's and big Zs since I started riding back in 1968 what more would you ask for ??
Sorry about the long post, hope I did'nt send too many of you to sleep, but thats how I feel about my old Zs.
Tony


Post edited by: Dr Zed, at: 2007/08/28 04:25

I got my kz1000 as a sentimental thing to start. My dad has had 13 of these bikes over the last 30 years. I must admit once you have one and start working on it, rebuilding, modifying, etc you become addicted. Who knew it would be so much fun to ride an old bike, let alone work on one?

BONUS: All of my friends have gsxr's 600's and kaw 636's all crotch rockets. They are all intimidated by the look and sound of the old Kz 1000.

i like being different, and i like the way people look at my loud, death spitting, asphalt tearing oldschool dragbike i built from the ground up with my bare hands.

its nice to be different.

Retro is cool, but if you really want to focus on your riding then go new.

I'm new to the retro group (bought my KZ900 in July) and previously have always been a sport bike rider (just sold my 2004 ZX10 a month ago).

I am an engineering junky and it just feels strange to work and ride this thing. The rear disc caliper on my ZX10 had more stopping power than the dual front of my KZ and I now have approx 80 hp, where as before I had nearly 180.

But... the new sport bikes have the potential to get you dead that much quicker. For me, I was either riding a little scared (my bike was modded -- sooo much frigg'n power) or over my head (sport bikes were designed for the track).

Personally, I'm not sure how long I'll continue to futz with this KZ. I am getting impatient and may stop by the Yamai dealer for a new R1 sometime soon

Post edited by: circusnuts, at: 2007/08/28 07:02

Post edited by: circusnuts, at: 2007/08/28 07:03

Its the restoration process that does it for me. Locating original parts, laying a fresh coat of original piant......making the bike look better then the day it rolled off the showroom floor. When you live in the north the winters are long, I can't just park my bike when the snow flies (this is what would happen with a new bike) When November comes that means I have 5-6 months to teardown and rebuild a bike, its work that I would not trade for anything......