1985 GPZ600R, finally (almost) complete

[Speed addicted]

As promised this is my 1985 GPZ600R, bought nearly 19 years ago as my first bike.

I decided last year that it had enough time being a handy garage shelf and that I wanted it to be one shade of red for the first time in my ownership.

This is it before I started taking things apart, looks better in photos than in real life.



Brake calipers were horrible

I spent an awful lot of time rubbing things down and re-spraying.

Oil cooler from German eBay (after suggestion on here)

Giving the forks a tidy up

Got the exhaust cheap as it was dented, turned out to be where the stand goes.

Got all the fairings sprayed properly.

I found an old stock bellypan years ago, the old one was melted by the exhaust, so I fitted heat shielding and spaced it out.

Bought seat covers, they’re an unfortunate shade of red so will get re-done when I have more spare cash


And finally, the end result



(More to come once I work out the resizing thing)

[Speed addicted]

[gareth_r]

[cmaguire]

I always liked those because they were the first proper 600 sports bike, and didn't look st like the Honda.

Screen needs to go though, get a clear one that isn't the size of your front door.

[Speed addicted]

cmaguire said:

I always liked those because they were the first proper 600 sports bike, and didn't look st like the Honda.

Screen needs to go though, get a clear one that isn't the size of your front door.

It was on it when I bought it!
Think it’s standard sized, I might see about a more standard replacement though.

[Mr2Mike]

Looking great, not too many around these days and certainly not in that condition.

[myvision]

I like that. Nice.

[Biker's Nemesis]

Looks a great job, well done.

Are you going to do the wheels?

[podman]

Lovely mate, thats THE colour to have one in, id be very happy with that.

I can remember riding one back in , I guess 1986 and although I bought a jelly mould CBR600 in 1989/90, I thought back then i much preferred the look and sound of the GPZ, nothings changed on that front.

[Andy-SP2]

Very well done, it looks great

I had a blue and silver 900R (1984) back in 90s... The bike was great although rattled a bit and the front brake calipers seized

[Speed addicted]

Biker's Nemesis said:

Looks a great job, well done.

Are you going to do the wheels?

The wheels aren’t bad, they still have the tyre soap and rust off the back brake on them so look worse in the photos.

I got too excited and got it into the sun for photos without really washing it properly!

I’m well pleased, it’s taken ages because things keep getting in the way but once I get a fresh rear disc this week it should be ready to MOT.

[Speed addicted]

Andy-SP2 said:

Very well done, it looks great

I had a blue and silver 900R (1984) back in 90s... The bike was great although rattled a bit and the front brake calipers seized

I’ve always fancied the 900, I’ve been kind of looking at them for a few years.
There’s something about the big brutal 80s Kawasaki’s, only problem is that the prices are on the up and you can buy far younger/faster bikes for less.

[Wacky Racer]

Nice photos, thanks for sharing. The 600 was a very popular bike at the time.

I had a brand new GPZ900R back in 1986 in Red/Black. Very nice machine, probably king of the road back then.

[toasty]

Love it. I had one in the blue and white colours.

The previous owner had put a nice JMC swing arm on it. I’ve no idea why but it looked good.

[cmaguire]

Probably fairly pointless, Metmachex was the other choice.

[Desiato]

I had a red, blue and white one as my first bike, B666 EGC, seems like it hasn't been taxed since 2012 so probably gone to the dealers in the sky!

Lovely bikes, had great fun on mine.

[Speed addicted]

Desiato said:

I had a red, blue and white one as my first bike, B666 EGC, seems like it hasn't been taxed since 2012 so probably gone to the dealers in the sky!

Lovely bikes, had great fun on mine.

I dunno, mine hasn't been taxed since 2007 so it may well be loitering somewhere.

[Dog Star]

I had a GPX400R which was a Japanese import sleeved down GPX600R - very curious thing to be marketing alongside the GPZ as they were very similar bikes.

[Fire99]

A very handsome motorcycle.. Kawasaki really got it right with the styling..

[NITO]

I love them. Great job you’ve done there, well done.

Enjoy