How much would you spend?

[daffyduck]

Bought a Kawasaki GT550 for under £500 recently. Now it needs a new exhaust. Can't find a second hand one anywhere, and it appears only Motad still do a system for this bike.
They want £332 for it, so would you spend that amount on a bike which is not worth much more?
Or you cut your losses and sell off the parts.
The centre stand is beyond repair, so may need to be removed and then I will need to buy a paddock stand for future service jobs .
Your thoughts please.
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I tie it up, put it in my pocket, and nobody knows it's there
Live to Ride, Ride to Live.

[arry]

Depends on how naff the rest of it is. If it needs £1500 thrown at it to be serviceable and you're only after a cheap hack, then no, I wouldn't get involved.

If all it needs is the exhaust and the rest of it is alright then I'd say £800 to have a working, interesting bike with a nice exhaust isn't the end of the world.

Ultimately it will come down to how tight you want or need to be; knowing that most on here are as tight as a duck's butt, I'd suggest the advice you'll get will be GTF would they spend that sort of cash.

[ocatoro]

money or patience... depends which you've got more of I suppose.

theyre a cool little bike though.. probably worth the effort.

can you not get one fabricated?
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CBT - 17/09/12 * Theory - 23/10/12 * Mod1 - 05/03/13 * Mod2 - 25/03/13 * BOSH!
Current - None but shed project H100 (first bike )
Past - ER5, '93 ZZR600, '92 CB400 SF, ZZR600 (again), yellow Monster 620, Blackbird - black Monster 620ie - '96 ZZR600

[Rogerborg]

That's a tough one. What's your planned use for it?

I assume not cheap London commuter because of the (likely to be extended) ULEZ, but I'm prepared to be shocked and awed.

If you're keeping it and nothing else needs done, I'd probably go for it. Worst case, if you bail on it sharpish you can sell the system and get some money back, or try and flog the whole thing to the Shoreditcheratti as "perfect base for a custom cafe track bob race scrambler".
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Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[pompousporcup...]

you could buy a hobby mig for much less and weld up the current one..

looking at exhausts ebay, its the norm.


From experience, i wont buy an old Kawasaki again

[daffyduck]

The front tyre leaks slowly, could be the rim or valve.
a tiny oil leak from No.1 cylinder.
I've already replaced the rear shocks as they were useless.
I've covered about 150 miles on it and it rides fine.
Planned to use it when the weather was shit to keep my VFR looking good, as it appears to hold it's value.
It's no looker. the charge display light circuit has been bypassed and is kept permanently off by putting 2 double A batteries behind the battery.
Picked up a set of original indicators for £30 which I plan to fit.

Is there anyway of fitting return springs to the front footrests?
____________________
I tie it up, put it in my pocket, and nobody knows it's there
Live to Ride, Ride to Live.

[Courier265]

Depends really, if it's a well maintained machine, low mileage YES

If the bike is a high mileage piece of junk forget it...

Checked Ebay just now and oh dear, nothing what so ever.

OH and as for your front tyre leak, bead seal will cure your leak.


How bad is the exhaust??

[Polarbear]

If I had one of those in reasonable nick I'd want to do it up. I had the 750 version many many years ago and liked it. Nice little shaft drive.

That said I suspect parts won't be easy to acquire when something goes if you are trying to keep it anything like original. It depends on what you want from it. I don't think using it as transport to keep your VFR good is really viable. You would be better getting an old Bandit or Divvy, something with a good spares supply and flogging that on.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[ScottT]

There might be other options

https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071017144701AAgeg3c

If that's the case then there is this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KAWASAKI-Z550-Z400-Z500-MOTAD-EXHAUST-COMPLETE-/322787734457?hash=item4b27a5f3b9

[ScottT]

Or read this:

https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=196411

[M.C]

[bamt]

Your effectivley down in the bangernomics area, where a set of new tyres or a full tank of fuel is a significant proportion of the bikes notional value.
However, unless you are lucky, pretty much anything at that price point will have something wrong with it. I'd probably be happier buying a £500 bike and spending £500 to fix everything, than buying a nicer looking £1k bike that is an unknown in terms of what needs doing - but I have no idea what the parts supply is really like for the one you have (are you going to be waiting weeks to get hold of anything that breaks?)


The other, minor, thing is that I wouldn't associate the cost of a paddock stand with this bike. A stand is an investment in making your life easier on all future bikes.

[BLB_Rich]

I can understand your conundrum.

I've just ditched my 2001 SV650 as a whole host of problems/repairs were identified that would've cost at least 75% of the bike's value. Yes I liked it but it was that stage where starting afresh was better.

If you like the bike enough to ride it then go ahead & get your exhaust & any other small things. It depends if you enjoy the classic bikes and the effort that goes into keeping them going.

[Pie-Roe]

If it's broken at the 4-1 join you can bodge it with building layers of expoxy and jubileed can fix.

I did several times, my problem was grinding the exhaust out cornering too badass.
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[daffyduck]

Bought the item on eBay for £110. Let's hope it fits, and now all I have to do is sort the centre stand.
Not looking to spend a lot on it as it's only going to be used when the weather is shit and I have to use it for training.
Otherwise, the VFR will be out on the road.
Thanks Scott T for the link. Top Man.
____________________
I tie it up, put it in my pocket, and nobody knows it's there
Live to Ride, Ride to Live.

[M.C]

[daffyduck]

Bought the second hand Motad, and its in much better condition than the one that came with the bike.
But I can’t get anything to fit. I need another pair of hands. The weight of the silencer is not allowing me to align the down pipes. If I am able to align the down pipes into position, the bracket for the silencer does not align with the pillion footrest bracket.
I’ve read the fitting instructions which I downloaded from Motad, and that’s no help.
I’ve taken all the down pipes out of the silencer and fitted them to the cylinder head, hoping to then be able to connect them to the silencer, but that didn’t work either as you can’t align the pipes to the collector box.
Any ideas? I’m loosing the will to live with this bike!!
____________________
I tie it up, put it in my pocket, and nobody knows it's there
Live to Ride, Ride to Live.

[P.]

Hammers. Lots of hammers