History

PART 2 : SEPTEMBER 2003 - SHOULD I RISK IT?

In late September I came across an ad in the CT Bargain News that listed a Kawasaki KZ650 for sale, "for parts or restore - first $300 gets it." I wasn't sure I liked the sound of the "for parts" part - usually when I'd seen that it meant that the bike was not running, and unlikely to ever be. But what the hell, I gave the number a call. The seller, a young guy named Matt, assured me that the bike ran just fine. He had picked it up a couple of years back with the intention of restoring it, but currently was working on a Mustang and really needed more space, so he'd decided to dump the bike. However, it "needed some work" and had no title and no registration. Well, that didn't sound too good - I was ready to hang up at that point. But Matt maintained that in CT, no title is not a problem with an older bike. This one apparently dated from 1979, and the missing title wouldn't be an issue. I was sceptical and told him I'd get back to him.

I went online and checked the DMV website - what do you know, it seemed like maybe he was right, there was a mention of registion of untitled vehicles manufactured pre-1981. I called the DMV to check, and got several different answers - nobody seemed too sure about exactly how this was supposed to work. Finally I got a positive answer from my local DMV office - no title would be required. All they needed was a bill of sale, and an inspection of the bike to check that the VIN matched.

So what about this bike? I really didn't know much about Kawasakis, though my "Guide to Classic Japanese Motorcycles" book had spoken highly of the KZ900 and 1000. 650cc was also a little larger than I'd been thinking for a starter bike. Still, maybe I should try to get some more information. I checked around online, and discovered that the KZ650 was actually a quite highly reviewed mid-sized bike, very popular back in the late 70's, and that a lot of people still rode them - and loved them, apparently. Hmmm ... well, the price was certainly right ...

I called Matt and arranged a time to come by and see the bike. I was hoping my friend Bret would be able to come with me and check it over with a more experienced eye - however, he wasn't free at the time, so I was on my own. I drove the hour-and-a-half to Willimantic to see the bike (how the heck would I get an unregistered bike that far back to my house if I ended up buying it? I didn't own a trailer ... oh well, I'd cross that bridge when I came to it). Matt took me out to a big barn/garage where he hauled a grubby-looking machine out from behind his old Mustang. Well what d'you know, it actually didn't look hlff bad. Dirty and pretty rusty in places, epecially the muffler, but it was pretty much all in one piece at least. Okay, let's give it a look. I'd read a couple of articles on buying a used bike, and had at least a rough idea of what major flaws to look for, and this seemed pretty solid. No obvious rattles, no excessive looseness in the steering, no signs of major bang-ups in the past (though a few scrapes on the engine covers), and the electrics mostly appeared to work. But did it really run? Matt put a little gas in the tank ("I keep it empty because otherwise it drips a bit") and started giving the bike mighty strokes with the kick starter ("the electric start doesn't work.") Nothing for quite a while, and Matt fiddled with the choke while giving me a running commentary ("Don't want to flood it, we shoud be able to get her going, she ran fine a few months ago") .... finally a cough or two, and then a loud and very satisfying ROAR that settled to a nice even rumble. Wow ... to my untrained ear at least, it sounded pretty damn good!

Matt asked if I wanted to give the bike a ride around his back yard - but at this point, with my lack of experience I was really afraid of wiping out on the grass (the yard wasn't paved) so I asked him to do the honors. He rode around a couple of times and the bike really looked fine. We shook hands, and money and a bill of sale were exchanged - hell, I was a bike owner!! Cool! Only trouble was, I couldn't get the bike home. I actually had driven up in the family minivan, with the hope that the bike, if I bought it, might fit in the back - but we got the tape measure out, and no such luck - it was just a few inches too tall. Matt had mentioned though that he drove a pickup truck, and with a little negotiation and a few extra bucks, he agreed to haul the bike down to New Haven for me the following weekend. Awesome! I drove back to New Haven with this unbelievable feeling of excitement - I had a bike at last! Now, all I needed was to fix it up and register it - how hard could that be ... ?