Classic Bike Values

Even among GPz900's there are differing degrees of 'classicness'...

the later 17 inch front wheel model handles better but has less power
and is less sought than the early 16 inch model with more horsepower.

In a similar way the later Z900 is worth less than the earlier Z1.


G-S

 

I have a red flowerpot on my head...

 

I remember three allied soldiers billeted in our house. I was about 18
months old at the time.

Theo

 

ENERGY DOME thank you!

 

Add $3.50 to $446 and your almost there!
Nah, 50c short....... walk away!
MikeH

 

In aus.motorcycles on Thu, 07 Dec 2006 03:52:34 +1100

Hell yeah. Aside from it being an injoke, it was a seminal bike. I
remember when it came out, we were gobsmacked.

It was as important and desirable a big bike as the LC250 was a small
bike.


being first of anything doesn't make a bike a classic in my opinion.
What does is that at the time and later people thought "that's
impressive".

The LC was *the* 2 stroke boy racer in a way the previous RDs weren't.
I remember the ads "Factory rearsets" because at the time if you
wanted your 2 stroke to be a proper boy racer you had to buy
aftermarket stuff. The LC came set up like a real racebike. And it
was fast and watercooled and it was absolutely the most desirable 250
and you didn't get anything better till you got to the real big bikes.

Sure, the RZ and RGV and KR were better and faster, but the LC has its
place in history. As does the RGV which was the final and the best.

The GPz900 was Kwaka's first watercooled bike, and it was a bombshell
when it hit. Swooping styling, faired, fast, a whole new type of bike
for kawasaki and to some extent for everyone. The original aircooled
GPZs had been big in their day but this was something special.

Classic isn't "first" it's "if you were there at the time, was it a
bike everyone thought was brill? And 20 or 30 years later, do they
still think it was?" Influencing a lot of other bikes is also a good
marker, eg the LC.

Zebee

 

you must be new around these parts then

 

The CB450 of 1965 is clearly a classic.

Boxer

 

The GPz900R was the first jap bike to combine 4 valve head, liquid
cooling, single shock rear end and full fairing.

It was the first 'modern' bike.


G-S

 

Ummm, the Z1300 was watercooled, and that came out in 1978, six years
before the GPz.

Didn't it, Hammo?

 

Yup; I agree.

 

Well spotted IK!
The KR250 might've just snuck in before the GPZ900 too but it'd be a
close-run thing.

 

Well, they both came out in 1984... it'd take someone who was paying
more attention at the time than me to remember in which months the two
went on sale.

 

It lacked the 4 valve per cylinder, the monoshock and the fairing.....

Had a 27 L fuel tank though [1].

Hammo
[1] Well most countries did.

 

I don't know if it was the first Jap prod bike with a four valve head, but
the TX500 Yamaha in 1973(a production bike) had four valves per cylinder
long before the GSX1100 was produced.

Al

 

It was a DOHC two valve motor with a rev limit of 10,000 a really
interesting bike that took on the brits and won with 200-300 cc's less.

Boxer

 

Funny bloke that Zebee

 

Yep; there was a TX750 too... (but Yamaha don't like to talk about
that......)

 

http://www.tobyfolwick.com/tx750/i/gmtx750c.jpg

http://www.tobyfolwick.com/tx750/i/txad0304.jpg

A nice looking bike with a very poor reputation. I remember them well.

Boxer

 

DO yuo remember the little 300 cc honda twin with the pressed steel
frame that went rather well ? ( normally black
a Hawke I think