TOPIC:

After wanting a KZ1300 for over thirty years, I have finally bought one. More about that later.
My previous two bikes were:

Yamaha XS1100, bought new in 1978. Fabulous machine, particularly the engine. No longer have it.

Yamaha XJR1300, slightly modified, bought second hand last year. Due to circumstances, had to sell it a few months later. Great looking bike, in my opinion.

Other Vintage ride which helps me relive my high school days, a KZ1000 D-3

Also for the longer rides with the amenities, a K1200GT

OK, this is aimed more at Bill for his post #565 (over a year ago!). Our roads around here are just fine for riding, so don't abuse that Valk anymore! Just send it to me, or, better yet, I will fly out there to get it! And, you've made a couple of other disparaging remarks about that bike (just pokin' at ya, Bill!), so I will clear some room next to my bed for it, and I sleep on the second floor!

When I picked up my '85 Voyager last summer at Texas Best Used Motorcycles, they had an absolutely beautiful red and white Valk in mint condition for $6900. It's a good thing my little trailer would only carry my Voyager! It also had a custom exhaust of six separate straight pipes made for it! Oh, the sounds! And, he actually let me take it out for about 1/2 hour! HEAVEN! My buddy who was with me thought about it for weeks afterward, too!

Anyway, here is my all-time favorite bike from my past. There is a long story behind this bike and it has been posted over on a Gold Wing forum. Bill, can we link to threads in other forums? To be short, it was my final grade when I graduated from GM Institute in '78. If anybody is interested I can even copy/paste the story here, or in a new thread.

The basics: '76 GL1000, bought new. Weber 40 IDF carbs, Chevy/Toyota/Fiat ignition system, Norris cams, Wiseco custom pistons, modified Kerker 4-into-1 exhaust. 182hp at 10,500rpm for 30 seconds on the dyno for the grade. The assignment was to take a production engine from any vehicle I chose and get 3hp/cu.in. out of it without pressurizing it. Only pump gas could be used, but that ended up including Sunoco 360 and aviation gas, too! It is technically a 61 cu in. engine, so I fell 1hp short, but since I did all of the hand work myself, they gave me that one horsepower!

Other bikes? Yeah, I got a couple



The red GL1100 is no longer with me- I sold that to buy my 1300. I still have the rest, although the 1200 Standard actually has paint now. Had an 80 XS1100 as well a few years ago, but sold it because it was a POS. Still miss it some days, though.

1300's new garage mates: just finished restoring these two,it's taken me a good few months over the summer and early Winter.
The Kettle / Water Buffalo is a nut & bolt concours job, 9000 miles from new (I like working on these old Suzuki's as they are not too complex)
CBX C - Ive tried to keep the CBX as close to concours as I could. Quite nice to compare the sound against my 1300: my mates say my Big Zed sounds like a Lancaster Bomber





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Currently working on a couple of other bikes (including my 1300) wish I had a bigger garage

Hi Tim,

By "nut & bolt" I'm assuming that you mean a thorough restoration.

In any case that Suzuki 750 is beautiful.

Congratulations!
Bill