Me, the new guy
Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2019 6:35 pm
Cheers from stateside Colorado. After a year of attempts, I've managed to sign up to the Zed club. I've been with Kawasaki since 1971 when I traded a 1939 Mercury sedan for a '69 H1 500. Little did I realize...So I went on a near death love affair with the Mach III until 1975, when I went to Sports Center and bought a brand new Z1 900 for $1,995 (1,525 BP). Those were the days. It was sold when I went into the Navy for 20 years. I then bought a '74 model and rode it until I got the Ducati bug and traded it for a beautiful '85 750 F1. Wish I hadn't sold that one. Then in '05 I found a chopped up 1/73 Z1 street racer. Why do people cut these things of beauty up into junk??? 2 years later I had a fully restored '73. But,I needed cash for a '49 Vincent Rapide so sold the early Zed to a Japanese collector. Yea, the Vincent is another I wished I hadn't sold.
After that bout of trades and sales, I found a nice '71 H1 with 480 original miles that had been stuck in a potato cellar for 30 years. Ugly would be a complement, but it was all there and 100% original. Fully restored, and is a real keeper.
Now I'm completing my '75 Z1 that had been sitting for 10 years. A previous owner (a kid, really) had rattle-canned the thing- EVERYTHING- flat black. But it too was mostly original with 44,000 miles and the price was very right. It's almost completed, the tank and ducktail having decals applied as I write. Even a complete tool bag WITH the elusive feeler gauge. The only thing it lacks are correct shocks. These too will eventually show up.
So that's me. My other rides are a Cafe'd out '75 CB400f(dyno'd out at 54 rwhp!), 1984 BMW R100CS, the '71 H1, and my '95 Yamaha XT350 Cheers, All- Richard C
After that bout of trades and sales, I found a nice '71 H1 with 480 original miles that had been stuck in a potato cellar for 30 years. Ugly would be a complement, but it was all there and 100% original. Fully restored, and is a real keeper.
Now I'm completing my '75 Z1 that had been sitting for 10 years. A previous owner (a kid, really) had rattle-canned the thing- EVERYTHING- flat black. But it too was mostly original with 44,000 miles and the price was very right. It's almost completed, the tank and ducktail having decals applied as I write. Even a complete tool bag WITH the elusive feeler gauge. The only thing it lacks are correct shocks. These too will eventually show up.
So that's me. My other rides are a Cafe'd out '75 CB400f(dyno'd out at 54 rwhp!), 1984 BMW R100CS, the '71 H1, and my '95 Yamaha XT350 Cheers, All- Richard C
