1980 kz1000st Thoughts?

Been stored out in the weather lots I see.
But at that price you can't go wrong.

If you do buy this, I might have some parts. Same black & silver. What a shame to dismantle this bike! PO ruined the top end, broke head,
something got in to the cam chain area. Still only needed the head. I have the stock airbox also. 11,400 miles
check these pics out

Hey Steve! What the heck is up with that factory Vetter deal???
The light frame was pretty rusty. Someone put a 7" Harley visor on it. It was siting on the garage floor for 15 years.
Here is the pic I took.

If you want to flip it, it not a good choice, lowest value of all KZ1000s

Because the frame is wider, it is sought out by guys who want to put wider, modern, chain-drive rear ends on.

One little quirk is that for some reason, the end of the output shaft will break off. It's the output shaft of the motor, before the shaft drive. It will cause a ticking sound that you can hear when pushing the bike around without the motor. The end of the shaft, with the locknut, will just be loose in the housing. It doesn't seem to cause a major problem, and many of them are like that. SOme guys just leave it broke (but remove the broken piece and nut, I think).

You have not driven to get it yet, John? If you got him down a couple hundred already, it should be a done deal!

BTW, luv'd my ST. You like that 5gal tank. Should be able to do 200-250+ miles on a tank...

So, did MaKawi make the crossover pipes for the big bikes also? ...or are these mod'd SR 650 pipes? ...from this PIC in the ad:

car5car wrote: If you want to flip it, it not a good choice, lowest value of all KZ1000s

Well yes I will eventually flip it. But my real intention was to get it in good running order and let my son ride it. He is more excited about it than I am. His older brother has an 81 kz1000J1 with an 1100 kit, cams and 29 smoothbores. It's a beast.

No I haven't ridden one yet. This would be my first KZ1000. I've owned 2 750's and a 550.

!Seymore wrote: You have not driven to get it yet, John? If you got him down a couple hundred already, it should be a done deal!

BTW, luv'd my ST. You like that 5gal tank. Should be able to do 200-250+ miles on a tank...

So, did MaKawi make the crossover pipes for the big bikes also? ...or are these mod'd SR 650 pipes? ...from this PIC in the ad:

With his work schedule it's been hard to hook up. Hopefully tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon he can get off work and I can run down there with my trailer and cash. Otherwise it will be Saturday.

Kewl... well, keep us posted and get some fresher PICs. If everything is still ok... compression, carbs, tank, ect... that's a good deal!

Just noted: missing airbox and plug wires. Hope he got all the parts or it could(?) come down more...

jdvorchak wrote:

car5car wrote: If you want to flip it, it not a good choice, lowest value of all KZ1000s

Well yes I will eventually flip it. But my real intention was to get it in good running order and let my son ride it. He is more excited about it than I am. His older brother has an 81 kz1000J1 with an 1100 kit, cams and 29 smoothbores. It's a beast.

No I haven't ridden one yet. This would be my first KZ1000. I've owned 2 750's and a 550.

Right now kz1000shaft is up to 5k on ebay, so maybe I am wrong. Value depends on condition.

Well that was a real disappointment. Drove for an hour through St. Louis rush hour traffic. only to find a rusted pile of what used to be a really nice motorcycle. The carbs had been off for who knows how long so the cylinders were had evidence of rain water. The carbs were frozen solid and nothing moved. The headlight wiring had be all cut not unplugged. The brakes were free so I decided to kick it up into 2nd gear and see if I could rock the engine. Won't go into second gear no matter how I tried. Would go to 1st and neutral but no up shift. The coils and wires were not there. He had no other parts. Also noticed there was no oil showing in the sight glass.

Needless to say I walked away. I told him that I was not interested at any price. I'm just glad he didn't offer it to me for free. I'd have probably taken it! tried to get it running and end up disappointed and parting it out. No big deal..There is always another one that would suit me.

Buy it for $300.
It probably has $1000 in parts
I bought a parts KZ1000j for $275 because I needed rotor and stator and sold cylinder head for $250