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.