Kawasaki Zephyr?
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They are decent looking little cruisers, I see alot of them for sale at used dealers/ on the road here in JP. I rode a friend of mines, but it was a bit older. Which year are you looking at? I think it would be a good first bike, they are pretty tame and easy to handle, but the handling sucks in typical cruiser fashion. But, for a beginner, it would handle just fine. If they want more than $2.5k for it I would pass. It should be in great shape for that mileage though.
*edit* the 550cc model is the good beginner bike, not the 750 or larger.
*edit* the 550cc model is the good beginner bike, not the 750 or larger.
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1,839 Posts
Appears to be an updated KZ series bike.
If so,the engine should be nearly bullet proof and with decent low/mid range around town horsepower. May be somewhat buzzy and shift a little notchy,but not horrible so. Add air valves to the forks if you can and maybe Progressive fork springs if not already equipted
Brakes should be decent,but one peice of advice...BRAIDED LINES! Best mod you can do besides a pipe/filters and jet kit. Really this made my buddy's bike have a much better brake feel than the CBR I had at the time. Two finger full power stops from speed was cake with the steel braided lines and new pads.
I put quite a few miles on my brother in-laws 1981 KZ750LTD in the mid/late 80's and a friend of mine still owns the bike. It starts up quicker than my FZR and runs fine with over 40,000 mi. on the clock and with the jet kit and Kerker sounds mean. There are many more out there still going strong with much higher mileage.
If so,the engine should be nearly bullet proof and with decent low/mid range around town horsepower. May be somewhat buzzy and shift a little notchy,but not horrible so. Add air valves to the forks if you can and maybe Progressive fork springs if not already equipted
Brakes should be decent,but one peice of advice...BRAIDED LINES! Best mod you can do besides a pipe/filters and jet kit. Really this made my buddy's bike have a much better brake feel than the CBR I had at the time. Two finger full power stops from speed was cake with the steel braided lines and new pads.
I put quite a few miles on my brother in-laws 1981 KZ750LTD in the mid/late 80's and a friend of mine still owns the bike. It starts up quicker than my FZR and runs fine with over 40,000 mi. on the clock and with the jet kit and Kerker sounds mean. There are many more out there still going strong with much higher mileage.
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1,731 Posts
I've ridden one a bit. They're fun. The one I rode had a Kerker exhaust on it, and it was pretty torquey down low, but once you got into the midrange, my EX500 stomped the shit out of it.
That said, it was fun to ride. I really enjoyed it.
As an owner of a Zephyr explained to me, with a 4 cyl engine, you can have any mixture of the following:
Mileage
Horsepower
Reliability
You give to one, you take from the other two. The Zephyr gets decent mileage and is pretty low in horsepower for a 4cyl (very close to my EX5, except with a lot more downl-low torque), but it is bulletproof, as was mentioned. I've never heard of people having mechanical problems with these babies.
That said, it was fun to ride. I really enjoyed it.
As an owner of a Zephyr explained to me, with a 4 cyl engine, you can have any mixture of the following:
Mileage
Horsepower
Reliability
You give to one, you take from the other two. The Zephyr gets decent mileage and is pretty low in horsepower for a 4cyl (very close to my EX5, except with a lot more downl-low torque), but it is bulletproof, as was mentioned. I've never heard of people having mechanical problems with these babies.
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