Kawasaki Z900rs Cafe
I'm on the fence in buying this bike. I have the money, I can afford the insurance. Finding a parking spot is a bit more of a challenge.
The bike is used, with 150 miles on it. No warranty left. Power is decent, handles well, smooth running, sounds great. This to me is one of the nicest looking bikes on the planet. $10k out the door. New ones are $12k list ++
My main issue is I really want a shaft drive bike, but cannot find the perfect fit. The V85tt almost works, but hesitate due to the service end of it being a Moto Guzzi.
Make no mistake, I love this bike. It is not really a cross country bike however. And the chain sloshing oil and the cleanup is annoying. This bike fits a niche of fun and accolades, and could easily get me dead or ticketed. Knowing that, restraint would be key. Oh how I crack me up sometimes. Like having a cannon and not firing it. LOL
So here it is
Here are the specs
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Duals sports are lots of fun too. This is mine. I eventually need to finish the BMW project. Since I really do want shaft drive, I bought a wrecked BMW R1100rs for a dirt bike conversion. I started on making a custom steering head to get rid of the telelever front, and have some inverted forks for the swap.
I almost bought a KLX250 fuel injected, but just didn't like the way it handled for some reason.
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Thats a sweet ride. I have thought about a bigger bike for longer rides, but hate the thought of higher weight and CG. Im too old to pick up a heavy bike. My Dualsport is a KLX400SR. It is actually a re-badged Suzuki DRZ400S, back when Kawi and Suzuki shared some models. It is about 80% dirt and 20% street. Stock gearing it will do 90 but it is working over 65.
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I owned one bike in my life. It was a '70 something Suzuki 380 GT. I scared me on that bike so I got rid of it. Never did find out just how fast it would really go. Sure had fun on it, but I knew I'd just keep pushing the limit.
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had a suzuki 185 in high school, had a fellow turn in my lane and hit him head on, flew over handlbars, cleared a row of mailboxes and ended up about 20 yards away in a guys front yard. bent the frame 90 degrees right behind the forks. sat up and looked down to see my leg bone sticking through my blue jeans, lot more to the story but I haven't been back on a bike since...........
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I've got a rare bike Honda made for one year, CB1100F. You might remember "Fast" Freddy Spencer, won the world championships in '82 and '83. Well he had two main mechanics, one was a guy named Charlie MacDonald the other was Mike Velasco. Charlie wound up here in Alaska in the early 80s just when my bike came out, and we became friends. After I blew it up he rebuilt it for me, and stuffed it full of HRC parts he had left over from the Suzuka endurance races. "Kaz" Yoshima hand-bent a one-off pipe for me, designed to work with Charlie's engines. The thing is an absolute beast. My reflexes are nowhere near fast enough anymore for me to justify riding it, so I found a buyer in SFO that wants to pick it up this summer.
I'm thinking my next bike will be a street legal XR650R. You fall over, you just kick it back into shape, put on new levers and keep riding.
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"Kaz" Yoshima hand-bent a one-off pipe for me,"
WOW!! That's amazing. Take a look at the my new post, New Motorcycle Nostalgia
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tomh. Nice 'hawk. I know a guy with one just like it.
Nanuq907 My brother had a CB750F super sport. I think it was an 82? Great bike.
MrMag00 The more I look at that Kaw, the more I like it. Good buy!
I really like the ZRX 1100/1200's too.
Dang, for some reason I find myself looking up old bikes for sale now. Anyone have an old RZ350 they want to get rid of? 🙂
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Nanuq907: 31514408599835/comments/31514431160219
I've got a rare bike Honda made for one year, CB1100F. You might remember "Fast" Freddy Spencer, won the world championships in '82 and '83. Well he had two main mechanics, one was a guy named Charlie MacDonald the other was Mike Velasco. Charlie wound up here in Alaska in the early 80s just when my bike came out, and we became friends. After I blew it up he rebuilt it for me, and stuffed it full of HRC parts he had left over from the Suzuka endurance races. "Kaz" Yoshima hand-bent a one-off pipe for me, designed to work with Charlie's engines. The thing is an absolute beast. My reflexes are nowhere near fast enough anymore for me to justify riding it, so I found a buyer in SFO that wants to pick it up this summer.
I'm thinking my next bike will be a street legal XR650R. You fall over, you just kick it back into shape, put on new levers and keep riding.
https://us.v-cdn.net/6031683/uploads/MI9T4PF6IROB/img-9819-jpg.jpg
https://www.bcsportbikes.com/attachments/xr2-jpg.97037/
https://us.v-cdn.net/6031683/uploads/Z01AI9MFHCVD/charlie.jpg
" My reflexes are nowhere near fast enough anymore for me to justify riding it"
Ain't that the truth. Same goes for the dirt riding.
On the plus side, the traction control on this Z900rs is pretty slick. When I test drove it, I pegged it in mode 1. I could feel the wheel lift slightly, then gently put back down, as I hanging on for dear life. I used rain mode yesterday, and have not turned off the traction control for the full blown experience.
Here in lies the problem though. Once accustomed to all the safety stuff like anti wheelie, anti skid, traction control and such, getting back on an older bike may be problematic. But I suppose with all the years of manually driving, my "reflexes" are still intact, just slower. I doubt if they ever go completely away.
After the break in I may turn all the auto stuff off and goof off. Sure would hate to road rash this gem. But as we all know, if you drive em, they always get some battle scars. Already banged the mirror. I'm sure the cowl will take a rock soon enough.
I need to figure out what type of wax to use. Some of this newer wax destroys clear coat faster than others.
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Fast Freddie!
You guys may like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU_RQy26CGk3 -
MrMag00: 31514408599835/comments/31514431419419
https://forums.gunbroker.com/discussion/comment/11247555#Comment_11247555
" My reflexes are nowhere near fast enough anymore for me to justify riding it"
Ain't that the truth. Same goes for the dirt riding.
On the plus side, the traction control on this Z900rs is pretty slick. When I test drove it, I pegged it in mode 1. I could feel the wheel lift slightly, then gently put back down, as I hanging on for dear life. I used rain mode yesterday, and have not turned off the traction control for the full blown experience.
Here in lies the problem though. Once accustomed to all the safety stuff like anti wheelie, anti skid, traction control and such, getting back on an older bike may be problematic. But I suppose with all the years of manually driving, my "reflexes" are still intact, just slower. I doubt if they ever go completely away.
After the break in I may turn all the auto stuff off and goof off. Sure would hate to road rash this gem. But as we all know, if you drive em, they always get some battle scars. Already banged the mirror. I'm sure the cowl will take a rock soon enough.
I need to figure out what type of wax to use. Some of this newer wax destroys clear coat faster than others.
Meguiars Ultimate for painted surfaces, Ive detailed vehicles all my life and its the best I have found for ease and quality. 303 Aerospace protectant for plastic/rubber, water based, DO NOT USE Armor all!!!
Plexus or good old lemon pledge for clear/tinted plastics, headlights and helmets/visors. Bugs wash off easily.
Nu-Finish cleans chain lube off wheels great, but use sparingly and carefully as it eats rubber and plastic.
Gentle automotive wash like Rain-X with Carnauba or Meguiars. Do not strip wax off like dish soap does.
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What do you think of the Meguiars Ceramic? I bought some recently and noticed it is not real slick after application, but it does bead the water well on my Mini.
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Darn it, now you guys have me jonesing for a ride. I miss it. Being vertically challenged and living on a gravel road I haven't been brave enough to attempt to ride the 750 Shadow sitting in the barn. I might need to reschool myself on the fine art and trailer it to a location more hospitable to riding. See if I can handle it. Growing up my mom and dad had a wild hair one year and bought, what I think, were Honda 50's, for my sister and brother. Not sure, but as I was the oldest they decided to splurge and got me a Honda XR75 trail bike. I loved that thing. Rode it all over the farm. Not the conventional thing to get a girl, but I wasn't the conventional type. Lol.
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MrMag00: 31514408599835/comments/31514439755163
https://forums.gunbroker.com/discussion/comment/11247118#Comment_11247118
Got any photos or movies? My H2 with the peaky power band was fun. This 4 cylinder is smooth and has a much smoother power band. So as an old fart, is very enjoyable.
I don't know how to upload a video
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JasonV: 31514408599835/comments/31514465310363
https://forums.gunbroker.com/discussion/comment/11247177#Comment_11247177
I don't know how to upload a video
You need to have a youtube or other video hosting account and load it there, then provide the link here. They are free, but can be a pain to setup at first.
For pictures just click the picture icon at the bottom left of the reply window and browse your computer for the picture.
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susie: 31514408599835/comments/31514457679515
Darn it, now you guys have me jonesing for a ride. I miss it. Being vertically challenged and living on a gravel road I haven't been brave enough to attempt to ride the 750 Shadow sitting in the barn. I might need to reschool myself on the fine art and trailer it to a location more hospitable to riding. See if I can handle it. Growing up my mom and dad had a wild hair one year and bought, what I think, were Honda 50's, for my sister and brother. Not sure, but as I was the oldest they decided to splurge and got me a Honda XR75 trail bike. I loved that thing. Rode it all over the farm. Not the conventional thing to get a girl, but I wasn't the conventional type. Lol.
Well, I hear about "Barn Finds" all the time, is this how they get started? That Shadow should be plenty easy to manage on dirt roads. Also, dirt is far softer than pavement. I learned on the dirt, all my sisters learned on the dirt, so no worries.
Start out by pushing it around. When you can roll it around easily, you are ready, It isn't an Xr75, but the basics will still work. Pictures please 😀
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no expansion chambers in this picture. I am not sharing my youtube channel on gun broker so no videos. I can email a video I suppose.
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