Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Who can tell me about this/these?

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/320880506038 ... 500wt_1287

I might be looking in attempting to discuss the purchase with the minister of war and finance. Looking at finding something to tinker with. Who can tell me what about this model?

I know so far just by a very brief interwebs search this is one of the first 550 with a mono shock/swingarm, dual front disks and rear disk. What are parts like to find? What fun things from other models might be able to be swapped out/into this bike and so on, so fourth, blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda.

Mate i have the 82 750,parts are hardish to purchase here and postage is expensive from the states,somthing like that would be ideal for a parts bike unless your rich and keen.What i have learnt to do is look up that model on ebay and see parts availability and for the 550 they are fairly plentiful compared to the 750,but for that price you will get your money back if you ever part it out ,or you may find another and build one good one,i have even heard of blokes buying a complete bike the same swapping parts over and reselling the bike and somtimes bettering their money.Good luck

Great little bike - this was the best small-capacity 4-cyl bike back in its day. Based on the earlier Z500, this bike eventually morphed into the first GPz600R (well, the motor did anyway ) - the internals are almost identical, the 600R though was water-cooled.

One of my mates had one of these as his first bike, before he traded it in on a 750 Turbo. I rode it up and down the Clyde a few times - always had a ball riding it. They love a good rev. The rear shock didn't have much in the way of adjustment, but when new it worked OK.

You would be up for some new diapghrams in the carbies, this is why it is not running at the moment. You can get these easily enough. Bodywork is hard to find as HBbear says - this model was only around for 2 years. You would be able to replace the rear shock with something better no probs. Some parts can still be had - but they are not thick on the shelves at local wreckers, you would have to hit US ebay for parts ....

For $300 - bargain. Heaps of fun and you will be surprised just how fast you can peddle one of these babies - they do 160+ without raising too much of a sweat

Those Fork tubes look pitted and rusty... something to watch out for could be an expensive fix

Looks like I might be having a crack at it. I've still got the 7 so it's not like I don't have a bike, and I could take my time playing with this one. I might just have to sell some other stuff off to fund it, you know, to keep the wife happy.

dutchy wrote:Who can tell me about this/these?

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/320880506038 ... 500wt_1287

I might be looking in attempting to discuss the purchase with the minister of war and finance. Looking at finding something to tinker with. Who can tell me what about this model?

I know so far just by a very brief interwebs search this is one of the first 550 with a mono shock/swingarm, dual front disks and rear disk. What are parts like to find? What fun things from other models might be able to be swapped out/into this bike and so on, so fourth, blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda.

great little bike ...

I had one (after the Gpz2fiddy and before the Gpz750 a long time ago)
did nothing bad...just went...and went

i only traded it ...for more power

Dont hang around and think about it,obviuosly the urge is there so press the god dam buy it know button then worry about things

jacobb wrote:....Those Fork tubes look pitted and rusty... something to watch out for could be an expensive fix....

they do look a bit dodgy - but you can get replacement tubes from here for about $220 per leg. This is actually pretty cheap compared to OEM prices from Kawsaki !!

I had a ZR550 which used the same motor, was a great bike and copped a flogging and just kept comming back for more.

There is also this one, little bit more in nthe $ dept, but not as rough looking

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Kawasaki-GPZ ... 43aeab26fe

that's very tidy for the price !!

That does look the goods but it's be way painful getting the bull buy past the missus

I like the idea of the cheap 550 that I can pull apart and get to know a little more ........... intimately.

Damn auto correct bullshit. I'm sure you get the idea.

I am getting some gear from these guys and they are great, takes me on average 4-5 days in the post... anyhow, fork tubes for $150 each (tarozzi) should be able to get them both in for $350. You don't pay tax on them either so it should work out a little cheaper.

http://www.wemoto.com/bikes/kawasaki/gp ... _-_single/

You know you want to... Do it!

thats a good price - not sure on postage from Qld but it would be a minimum of $30 I reckon.....so thats $470-odd bucks sourced here, vs $350-odd from the UK ! Good saving anyway you look at it.....

I think I might spend a bit of time on that wemoto site tonight....