A 2022 Revzilla review referred to the 1979 Kawasaki KZ650 as a prince when it said, “Kawi’s king gets a prince.” As in, the king being the company’s king of the hill, the 900 Z1, introduced a few years earlier. This prince of a bike is listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Menasha, Wisconsin, and they’re asking $1,400. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Lothar… of the Hill People for the tip!
You certainly can’t get a 900 Z1 for $1,400 anymore, and I’m not sure if you ever could get one for that amount of money. But, you could do much worse for a very nice-riding street bike than a four-cylinder KZ650. The KZ900 followed up the incredible and still very desirable and expensive 900 Z1 in 1976, and again with the KZ1000 and Z1000 in 1977. A 650 wasn’t meant to be competition for a motorcycle that size, but Kawasaki wanted a 500-cc-sized bike that could compete with 750s, and they achieved that with the KZ650, for the most part.
$1,400 is a crazy low amount of money for so much motorcycle here. The only issue I see with this example is that it’s wearing a Kerker 4-into-1 exhaust rather than its factory twin pipes. You may be able to track down used pipes on eBay or elsewhere, but they may not be as nice as the rest of this bike looks. And that aftermarket exhaust may not be an issue at all if a person likes modifications like that. Hagerty is at $2,600 for a #4 fair-condition example and $3,600 for a #3 good one. I’m not sure why this bike is only $1,400.
Kawasaki made the KZ650 from 1977 through 1983, and they were known as the Z650 in other countries, or the KZ650 here. The ’79 models in the U.S. had an air injection system, which was supposed to help with emissions. The seller says this one has only traveled 22,800 miles over the last 46 years; that’s not a lot of use. The next owner will want to change the front fork oil, check out the steering head bearings, and, even if they don’t need it, replace the fork seals and bushings. Oh yeah, and new tires, as always.
The engine is a sweet Kawasaki 652-cc four-stroke DOHC inline-four with almost 40 more horsepower than a Subaru 360, at 64 hp and 42 lb-ft of torque. Backed by a five-speed manual, the seller says it runs and rides well and has a clear title. I love a motorcycle with both a belt and suspenders – kick start and an electric start. Would you take a chance on this bargain basement-priced KZ650 sight unseen?
Good thing this isn’t any closer or you might have started a domestic dispute here, Scotty-I’d’ve found a way to get this sweetheart in my garage. Yes, the new ZX-6 with double the HP would most likely spew unseen exhaust fumes in its face, but this little brother to the ferocious 900 has more in history and less in electronics to worry about.
A bike like this will school a youngster in the realities of riding for instance just by its ability to go anywhere anytime-like from the heat of I-99 over the foothills to the freezing wet marine layer around Monterey (Laguna Seca).
Wonderful find Lothar and great write up as expected, Scotty. Thanks for sharing and reviving those sublime motorcycle memories.
d Scotty-“I love a motorcycle with both a belt and suspenders – kick start and an electric start.” OMG-that’s perfect!!!!
I’m glad that my ’79 XS750F was both kick and electric start. When I bought it, the electric start was not working. The seller handed me an internal gear and shaft and I don’t remember asking him why it had been removed. Well, I opened the case to find out that the alloy casting had been damaged, so it would remain just a kick starter. As a kid, I never minded that, but no way would I go for that now.
Hmm, Lothar again, son of a gun,,,I must be submitting my tips to the wrong place, they never get picked, and I’m not submitting 32 finds a day in order to get picked, so I’m not wasting anymore time with that baloney. I’m upset because not all finds conjure up happy memories. I had, HAD,,, a good friend, Al, his dad was an old teamster trucker, and Al was Quad Graphics 1st driver. Talk about cut out of the same piece of tarp, Al and I had a lot in common. Naturally, we trucked together, he had a snowmobile we did a lot of riding, and okay, I’m getting to it, he had a KZ650 like this, only a LTD, I think,with a fairing and we did a lot of riding. It was a bit low on power, but an excellent cruiser. Al went in for a minor surgery, and ended up coming out the back door. He was 47. So don’t give me that motorcycles are dangerous crap.
When I say 750 is the bottom end for a road bike, the KZ650 is tolerable because it has its cousins( 900&1000) roots, and late Soichiro Honda was on to something in 1969, with the in-line 4cyl. motorcycle. It became the standard of the industry. $1400 bucks only shows, no interest anymore.
So Jesse and Josh should limit each reader to one submission per day Howard?
Well, I think something should be done. Have you looked at the tips? I swear, some of these people post 20 tips a day! I’m not going to call them out here, and I’m sure the tip line is a busy place, but yes, I think many have sent in tips, and never got printed so some limitation is needed. I myself have sent in dozens of tips, and just recently, Scotty wrote up a snowmobile I sent in, otherwise nothing, FOR YEARS. And cool stuff, like Daves Oliver tip, not $800 Chevy Corsicas. Not sure how to take your comment, possibly negative, but as paying members, I feel we should have at least some say so in the operations of the site.
I respectfully disagree on that 750cc floor. I’m 5’4″ and 150 pounds, and I try to keep my bike’s weight under 400 lb if I can. My current built is a Chinese 400 single. It’s about 185 miles to NYC from here, and I’ve ridden it there and back a couple of times. It’ll do a steady 70 on the Taconic Parkway and get 60 mpg. My old R90/6 might have hunkered down a little better, but I’m having fun with the 400.
I owned a ’78 KZ650 I bought new back in the day. I immediately had an RC Engineering header put on it, sound suppression cut from the air box, and the carbs properly jetted.
I got a ticket on it for 117mph in a 55 zone. The State cop that wrote me up said I was going a bit faster at points, but that was the highest speed he could get a lock on.
Low on power? Not much. And for their time they were the best handling Kawaski made. Not much different than my old R5 Yamaha. Think about your line and the bike takes it.
Nice. In my backyard I’d be making a visit. Kawasaki’s are great bikes. Went into a dealer in 1982 to buy a enduro, went home with a new GPZ 550. Zero riding experience, took it to work that night. 22k miles later in 1987, sold it, like my SS Impala to pay a mortgage and baby formula.
KZ’s are desirable and that’s a fair price with the mileage and work needed. Parts can be tough.
As for 750’s being the floor, even at 6’3” I could go 2-300 miles easy on my 550. And any leaking AMF Harley I came across could only dream of keeping up.
At least Harleys didn’t wave at Jap bikes then. Every time I ride my KLX 250 now its wave city from them. Ridiculous. And I still have to pass the slow dentists on them
One of the best looking, and best overall, mid size bikes ever. Its on my list!
best
bt
I had the SR version of this bike, my first street bike. It had a Kerker muffler—what a great sound!
Nice bike! I had one the same year and color as this one and a ‘78 650 Blue one, they were both great bikes.
got 1 now – sorta.
Same everything but… ’78, 2 cyl, KZ750B, oem pipes.
To look – the color, seat, disc, gauges… its exact twin.
the 750 was known as ‘the least maintenance needed” bike made (@ that time). Some thing abt the intake?, lack of choke? IDK/remember. I’d take 2k$ for it.
Glad to see a ‘regular bike’ on here. I scroll past the usual fair here (tiny displacement) except when the ‘collectables’ (harleys and indians) come on, almost as much as the lill Japanese 1s do. For me? just like the 106 inch WB cars, the 5, 650 – 900 cc bikes are ‘right sized’.
For the bias on ‘tip’ providers? I think the site went way too puterized long ago. Dont mean I wont come tho. 8^ )
One Happy Camper
(cept somea my posts dont show they’ve been written/posted).
Bought a 79 KZ650 in 1981. Cycle magazine showed a 100mph 1\4 mile time. Advertised to beat any 750 right out of the crate. Kawasaki took a bit of leeway with that claim, but it was still a hard charging bike. Drooped it on it’s side in the rain, replaced the mangled mufflers with a 4 into 1 setup. Rejetted and it was ready to go. Sure seemed faster but might have been the louder exhaust. Put thousands of miles on that KZ. But you can’t beat the styling of the old KZ’s. Simply beautiful and purposeful in one tight package. Good price on this featured bike, and of course it’s a long way from West Texas.
I’ve owned two of these. The very definition of the Universal Japanese Motorcycle. Needed to warm up a bit before taking off, about the time it took for a smoke.
At that price, it’s probably a good thing that it’s so far away . . .