KZ1300 for cheap

[850 Combat]

Oh, I know that one for a fact. The drive for the water pump was a convoluted affair that had a few gears and shafts in the process. One of the gears was NYLON, and prone to getting brittle if overheated. Mine actually lost two teeth AND cracked, it's a wonder that the bike did not overheat. The dealer that was doing the work could not find a replacement gear, I managed to get one from another 1300 owner in Canada, who claimed to have the last such gear from Canadian sources (his brother-in-law worked at a dealer).




To give you an idea about the condition of their charging systems, they use the same stator as most of the GS bikes.
Yep, the R/R is the same, to, but might have different electrical connectors.

Both of those parts cross-reference on many of the stator supply shops.

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Too bad. I like them. Nothing exceeds like excess.

 

[tatu]

Why do you think that there are so few survivors? I suspect that there may be fatal mechanical issues that take them off the road.

I think there was also lube/cooling issues too, the A2 came with a larger sump.

Gs1000s was faster and handled better, my mate Mark had one and on Mad Sunday '86 I had to wait for him after the mountain (both times). Mark was not exactly known for his slouching around.

 

[jeff.saunders]

Lots of unique parts on these bikes. They are very difficult to get parts for. They are not something you would want to rebuild.

 

[Guest]

They are not something you would want to rebuild.

Slated for the scrap heap of history. In museums and books.

 

[Montanaman]

I liked those big bikes - back in '81 I knew a guy who rode one of those everywhere, and he would go touring with the Gold Wingers -

They'd be riding, and talking on their radios, and right before they got back into town, they'd be feeling rowdy, cranking up the speed a little, and when they got to the last big uphill on I-90 he would say "Lets go Home" into the radio, twist it wide open, and it would look like the Wingers hit the brakes - I'd like to have a nice one of these -

 

[Guest]

I always thought that was a great looking bike, but oh so heavy. I'm surprised to find it had all those issues in an otherwise great bike.

 

[GS1000G Shopper]

Too bad. I like them. Nothing exceeds like excess.

I agree. I had looked at one of these a while back, but the liquid cooling was a big negative in addition to the other factors noted here. There is a website to get info and help with problems:
http://www.kz1300.com/tech.html

EDIT
I see the see owner is bailing out as of December 2012.

 

[Flaggo60]

I always liked those. A real tank on the road, but that motor should go forever. Bet its a real pig to pick up though......

 

[evan132]

Heres a cool old video of Arto Nyquist doing a few stunts on one, I think its been posted before.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmIZd8C-oOA