1983 z650

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Travelling through Germany earlier this week and I found this 1983 z650 on Mobil.de It's been stood a while but seems to be all there. Hopefully its just clean the carbs, new battery and a service to get it back on the road. These are not much bigger than a 550 of the time with the power of a 750 apparently.
 

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I seem to remember that if it had the German flag after the Z650 badge, as this one seems to have (although it looks a bit worn), it was restricted to 25BHP. If you’re thinking of buying it, check it out and see if it’s been derestricted.
 
I seem to remember that if it had the German flag after the Z650 badge, as this one seems to have (although it looks a bit worn), it was restricted to 25BHP. If you’re thinking of buying it, check it out and see if it’s been derestricted.

The German registration document states 49kw@9000 which equates to 66hp. I believe older bikes that are limited are easily derestricted, usually by removing washers from the rubber inlet manifolds or removing a restriction on how far the throttle could be opened. More modern bikes are limited electronically but its usually easy enough to replace whatever unit that restricts the power with a unrestrictive part.

I bought a grey import restricted FJR1300 from France a few years ago and had to take a stanley knife to the inlet manifolds to remove moulded in washers and get the power back up to 144hp from a restricted 100hp. Then I ended up selling the bike because I was only getting 1200 to 1500 miles out of a rear tyre and got fed up with paying out for new tyres every couple of weeks.
 
I have just completed the NOVA registration and it took 20 minutes, was fairly painless and no VAT is payable for importing the bike.

Next step is to MOT the bike, insure it on the frame number, print an import pack off the DVLA web page and send everything off to the DVLA to get the bike UK registered.

The DVLA seem to require more and more info and apparently it is getting difficult to import newer vehicles but at the moment older stuff is usually straight forward-ish.
 
Nice bike. Good find. :thumb

There seems to be a lot of very good condition old bikes to be found in Germany.
Montana Motorcycles often have some immaculate stuff for sale.

You may have a bit of a wait with anything posted to DVLA due to the virus hysteria causing a massive backlog.
I'm still waiting for my XT550 registration to be sorted, which I posted in February, and a car V5C posted in May.

By the way, you don't need to get insured to register it.
That only applies to NI residents.
 
Nice bike. Good find. :thumb

There seems to be a lot of very good condition old bikes to be found in Germany.
Montana Motorcycles often have some immaculate stuff for sale.

You may have a bit of a wait with anything posted to DVLA due to the virus hysteria causing a massive backlog.
I'm still waiting for my XT550 registration to be sorted, which I posted in February, and a car V5C posted in May.

By the way, you don't need to get insured to register it.
That only applies to NI residents.

Some of the more sought after bikes don't seem to command the premium prices they do in the UK now and the German TUV means they are often more standard. My z650 is fitted with a aftermarket exhaust that is recorded on the Reg doc.

Thanks for the heads up regarding not having to insure a bike to register it in the UK outside the Northern Ireland, one less hassle and expense :)
 
I had one of the early single disc versions, it was a great do-it-all bike. I stuck a screen and handlebar muffs on it for winter and used it to commute, tour and just for a blast. It even hauled a sidecar with wife and 9 month old first baby to the IoM in TT week. It’s a bike I grew to love rather than one I bought because I instantly lusted after it. Good luck with it.
 
I always liked the Z650 but no matter how you dressed it up it simply wasn’t the Z900 most owners really wanted 😀

There are plenty of examples where the smaller sibling was the better bike but if you owned a Z650 in 1980 you almost certainly would have admitted you’d have sooner had the full fat version.
 
I always liked the Z650 but no matter how you dressed it up it simply wasn’t the Z900 most owners really wanted ��

There are plenty of examples where the smaller sibling was the better bike but if you owned a Z650 in 1980 you almost certainly would have admitted you’d have sooner had the full fat version.

I would certainly make room in the garage for a Z900. After Honda released the CB750 and changed motorcycle design forever the Z900 raised the bar again and I would say the Z900 was far more beautiful than the CB750 but of course that's subjective and a lot of motorcyclists from that era regard both bikes as excessive.

By the time Kawasaki released the Z650 their flagship bike had evolved into the Z1000 and I expect most buyers would take the Z1000 over a Z650 which was really Kawasaki's middleweight flagship bike and it hit the mark there.

Whatever way you look at it the seventies and early eighties were a great time to be a motorcyclists going from low powered staid leaky European machines to CB750, Z900 into GL1000 CBX1000, GS1000, Gpz1100 and many other incredibly machines right up until Kawasaki released the Gpz900 which changed the game totally again. The Europeans have only really caught up with the Japs and overtaken them for design and innovation in the last 20 years imho.
 
Most of the bikes coming from Japanese manufacturers do nothing for me at all these days,
Most IMO look hideous.
Kawasakis new z900 is a nice looking bike,
But as reworked retro style bikes go,this would be the one for me,don’t know if it’s ever going to get built:confused:
 

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Not everyone would have preferred a Z900/1000 over a 650. I was very happy with the package of the 650, but then I’ve never been a massive fan of massive bikes and in 1980 the Z1000 seemed massive.
 
Not everyone would have preferred a Z900/1000 over a 650. I was very happy with the package of the 650, but then I’ve never been a massive fan of massive bikes and in 1980 the Z1000 seemed massive.

At eighteen I would agree,
I had an early gpz 550 ,my mate had a z650,
We were cool:D
A couple of the slightly older lads had jotas,mirages ,z1000 etc,the bikes seemed huge:D

Nowadays,most middle aged blokes are not interested in anything less than a 1000cc,
Hence the price difference between a 750 kwaksuki and a 1000 plus.
 
Z650

I bought a new Z650C in 1978. loved it, handled well, went well. fitted me perfectly (5'6")
sold it 2 years later and bought a new Z1000 st, shaft. only kept it 3 months, hated it.
uncomfortable, vibrated, ugly square tank. didn't handle as good as the Z650.
 
I think that with the Z900 v Z650 the 900 was already an iconic bike and a lot of potential purchasers would have had a poster of one on their bedroom wall hence my reason for saying I’d have chosen the bigger bike.

By late 1982 I went from a twin shock GPZ 750 to a Unitrack GPZ 550 because the 10mph loss on top speed was more than compensated for by the better handling 550 but soon sold it for a Unitrack 750 because it handled as well as the 550 but had that power back. The 1100 was a wobbly turd amd I wouldn’t want one even as a classic now :D

The 650 that’s the subject of the post is a lovely looking bike but I’d be looking to put spoked wheels on it if it was a keeper because they just look right on older Japanese 4 cylinder bikes :okay
 
The 650 that’s the subject of the post is a lovely looking bike but I’d be looking to put spoked wheels on it if it was a keeper because they just look right on older Japanese 4 cylinder bikes :okay

The original 650 had spoked wheels and it did look better. It also had a single disc so it didn’t stop better. I’d have the spokes and an extra dose of anticipation in the braking department.
 
I think that with the Z900 v Z650 the 900 was already an iconic bike and a lot of potential purchasers would have had a poster of one on their bedroom wall hence my reason for saying I’d have chosen the bigger bike.

By late 1982 I went from a twin shock GPZ 750 to a Unitrack GPZ 550 because the 10mph loss on top speed was more than compensated for by the better handling 550 but soon sold it for a Unitrack 750 because it handled as well as the 550 but had that power back. The 1100 was a wobbly turd amd I wouldn’t want one even as a classic now :D

The 650 that’s the subject of the post is a lovely looking bike but I’d be looking to put spoked wheels on it if it was a keeper because they just look right on older Japanese 4 cylinder bikes :okay

I have always thought the Gpz1100 was underrated, it doesn't feel a lot bigger than the 750 and you actually seem to sit in it rather than on it. The rear swinging arm bushes are a weak point and even the tiniest wear does wreck the handling on the 1100. Quite a lot of bike for the money nowadays though prices are going up. The last of the proper hairy chested 2 valve air cooled engines that evolved from the original z900.

I reckon if you have a few quid sat doing nothing and you found a nice Gpz1100 and a low miles GL1000 (which also seem cheap at the moment) you will double your money in the next 5 years and have a couple of ridable heavyweight classics to enjoy.
 
I remember test riding a mate’s GPZ1100, thinking it was nice and comfortable, and dead smooth. Then I looked at the speedo and was doing a ton, on my unfaired Z650 that would have been an event.
 
I have a 1984 GPZ1100 that sat in the garage for 22 years and is now almost ready for the road again. I remember once taking it to 150 and thinking never again! it was all over the place, so I'm not expecting too much when it goes back on the road, hopefully within the next couple of weeks once the forks come back from re-chroming.
I also managed to but a 1978 Z650 a month ago which was a non runner, managed to get it going in an hour but it needs a new starter clutch which will be next on the list once the GPz is on the road
I've decided rather than spend the best part of 10k to change to a 1250GS to spend the money on bikes i remember growing up in the 70's, so now looking for a CB750K as a project but they are making ridiculous money just now.
 
I've decided rather than spend the best part of 10k to change to a 1250GS to spend the money on bikes i remember growing up in the 70's, so now looking for a CB750K as a project but they are making ridiculous money just now.

Great thinking. :beerjug:
 


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