TOPIC:

Rebuilding my KZ...

There are so many ugly in my opinion decals all over this bike. Even on the speedometer! Frame, shocks... too many!
I am leaning towards scraping them off, but kind of feeling guilty getting rid of something so original at the same time. Most of them look good on my bike, but I need to sand, paint, and so on...
I am not going to restore this bike to a 100% stock. Just want a clean good looking and great running bike.

What was your choice?

I think it boils down to deciding whether you're a purist or a customizer. A puriest would work around the decals and a customizer would probably take a picture of the decals to be replaced, and talk to a graphics shop about making new ones. The newer vinyl of today is a higher quality than the vinyl of the 1980's.

In my case, I've decided to spoof my KZ to look like a CBX with decals that mimick the CBX but denote the KZ1300 information. It will be fun to see the look on people's faces when they see my creation.

My take would be similar to Kawboys. I have one bike that I have customized to my liking , and two others that will be restored back to original- down to the last decal.
A bike that is restored to original will always fetch the best price compared to something customized - at least in the japanese bike world. The bike I seem to be changing quite regularly, and which is a big part of the hobby for me was the 1980 B model , which seem to be hard to sell sometimes, and generally don't fetch very good prices compared to the naked bikes.

So the formula then is - if you want to go to bike shows and compete, or are thinking of selling in the future- keep it as original as you can , and if done well , there's every chance to get back what you have invested- and had the fun doing it. If you want it to ride and make it your own, the decals are of no consequence.

There are two companies in England that reproduce almost all of the decals .

Just for interest, two bikes I watched on ebay , one in June and other in August sold for really good money . They were both 1979 models/ nakeds, unmolested originals.
The British Columbia bike sold for $6500 US. The Indiana bike for $7350 US. That is getting close to CBX values. It's a good sign.

One more thing to consider is that in British Columbia, if the bike is restored to stock condition, you can apply for a 'collector' plate (if you meet certain other conditions) which reduces your insurance premiums considerably.

Ive restored a few bikes over the past 7 years (since I sort of retired) - Ive gone both ways with decals, those that thought I would end up selling I put back to full standard / concours, paint finish, decals, warning stickers etc, and to be honest it has made them easier to sell. But if I intended keeping a bike for myself, I would choose my fave colours and ditch most of the the silly stickers.

Cheers Tim

I am one of those who want it original. Due to limited availability is had to be restored and the more original it looks the better. For me.

Original sells more easy, not that I ever would consider that, and has less trouble with authorities (especially here in regulated Switzerland) and police. If it looks like in the catalogue it must be OK, don't you think ?

best regards,
Holger