Thanks to a friend on a motorcycle forum I inhabit, I am now the proud owner of a 1986 Kawasaki GPX750. Apparently these bikes were regarded as somewhat of an “ugly duckling” in their day, but they did put out 100 neddies so they can’t have been too bad.
Anyway, this bike was advertised on a “give me some money or it goes to the tip” basis and I was lucky enough to be first in. I went and had a look at it on Thursday and put down a deposit straight away. The bike has been off the road since November 2006 and has 77000kms on the clock. But, even through several layers of dirt and dust from having been stored for 3 years in a lean-to, the potential was obvious.
The bike is staright, original and complete. No sign of even a minor “drop” and I was confident that it would scrub up OK. So, this afternoon I headed back to Sydney with the trailer, parted with the “readies” and headed home. Along with the rego papers I also took away some servicing records that show, amongst other things, that the bike has, within the last 3000kms, been fitted with new brake pads all round, new fork seals, new fork oil and new fork springs.
So my initial assessment that the bike had been well looked-after was correct. On the way home I cruised by the car wash and gave it a quick “tubbie” and it came out looking like this..
To say that I am chuffed would be an understatement. I plan to take it to my mechanic’s first thing and get him to do an assessment of it and see where I go from there. Hopefully I can get it back on the road where I can use it as my commuter bike, allow my son to ride it and take the load off the VFR, thus making it last a lot longer.
It also means that, after 35 years of riding, I now have owned at least one bike from all the 4 major Japanese motorcycle manufacturers.
gearsau says
Love the before and after photos.
I have owned a Suzuki Katana 750( 1982),Honda Vf1000R (1984),Suzuki GSXR750(1985),and sort of owned a Kawasaki Ninja 900(1984) …Long story .
Never owned or interested in Yamaha.
Still have the Honda VF1000R.
admin says
I’m pretty excited about this job too. I don’t reckon it will take too much to get it on the road.