Well i have three pistons waiting for the back cylinder to burn out, the one i had got wound up on the road at night when no cops were around as it had no reg and it flew according to them, dont know what there handeling is like though, i never got to ride it far back then.
I don’t remember the Xz 400 being sold as a new bike in NZ . We got the xs400/250 twins and the xz 550 . I thought the xz 400 were all used jap imports. Along with most of the pocket rocket 400 sport bikes . It always was a bit of an oddball
richynuts,
Dec 22, 8:48am
Im pretty sure the xz400 was sold nz new. though just ex japanese domestic stock. like the cbx400, cx400, vfr400 gsx400 impulse, rg400, gb400/500, nsr250, xl400. We got a few nz new 400cc bikes, like fz400 over 8k, vfr400 was around 10k. The Ns400r my dream bike at the time I had the option to buy the last nz new one in stock for $8500. I was going to Australia the following year so decided against it.
marte,
Dec 22, 10:11am
Yep, ZX400 sold NZ new, just that the engines were put in in NZ so they never stamped the engine serial # on the engine, just the first 2 letters which was the engine model. It's supposed to match the frame serial #. The 400 was black & gold, while the 550 was white & blue or red & black.
They had 2 electric plugs that were the same under the seat & one went to the 'black box' computer & I don't know where the other one went, but if you mixed them up, and it was easy to, you fried a copper track ( & God knows what else ) in the black box & often that was the end of the motorbike.
gunna-1,
Dec 22, 10:11am
I cant find it, but the kawasaki and suzukis came up h1 h2 750 and the gt,s, mind you safety is low on my priority list, wich is why i am lured towards them in the first place, cant find anything standing out for the mvx 250 yet.
apollo11,
Dec 22, 10:21am
Nice, I'm jealous. And a nice part of the country for a ride too.
The head gaskets will be a worry then, the bike didnt have any cylinder heads on it, not sure if they cause fault or not, its probably a lost cause because the head bolts are gone to, that go down into the barrel, and thats only to see if it will fire without any pipes on it, i bet the pipes will cost an arm and a leg.
Have a BB1060 kit to go into 1 ape 1 rainy day , or there is a low km 2009 gen2 engine option that will fit in either bike . Will need Gabro to make me a hybrid ecu chip for that to work . AF1 forums keeps me inspired and poor . Best part of the country to be living with covid and other virus strains on the way .
marte,
Dec 22, 4:41pm
I saw a rotary engined motorbike at a garage sale once, 1990 odd, old & parked under a tree, I should have asked what they wanted for it, wouldn't be surprised now if they had said "$50".
clangie,
Dec 22, 5:20pm
keep an eye out for seller "albid" hes my old man-just finished restoring a gt250 to new standard. hes built a few t250 t350, had a t500 etc, he did have a whole lot of parts aswell. he hat his cylinder heads bead blasted and looked like new. he was listing the gt250 for sale as hes had enough and was selling all the bits and just going to keep his honda cb350
rectech,
Dec 22, 7:08pm
Kawasaki put out a 750cc triple two stroke which was a strong contender for worst bike in the world. Said to be only safe when garaged with keys removed
xs1100,
Dec 22, 8:05pm
hahahaha $2k wont even buy the frame these days
trogedon,
Dec 22, 8:19pm
I've still got my Yamaha SR500. I wanted one since my late teens and test rode one in my early 20s - it had 2300kms on it. I got mine in '96 - should finish it.
gunna-1,
Dec 22, 10:00pm
I wouldent go anywhere near the h2 750 kawasaki without at least 10 grand for spending money, but i did see a clean gt550 for about 6 grand a while ago, the kawasaki h2 750 go for ridiculous money, but i havent seen a gt 550 for sale in a couple of years, so no idea what they fetch now.
gunna-1,
Dec 22, 10:03pm
Cheers for that, i,le keep an eye out, the 250 is in a rather sad state so i will have to pull the motor out from under the bench and make sure it still turns over, been looking for stuff for over five years now.
kazbanz,
Dec 22, 10:37pm
Betcha a chockie fish they weren't sold nz new. To be clear--The XS 400 parallel twin was a yes. XZ V twin was a no same with the Spada 250 Honda's RG400 was,ZXR400 was,VFR400 NC 30 was, RG400/rg500 was. But a whole bunch of others weren't sold new in NZ. Guys like Red Baron. Mt eden Motorcycles even Shaft motorcycles were bringing them in used by the container load from Japan.
bwg11,
Dec 22, 10:43pm
I was always under the illusion that the 400 class was an aberration caused by the Japanese vehicle taxation system.
kazbanz,
Dec 22, 11:11pm
To a degree it was. but here in NZ--and other countries we got the full HP (not restricted to 180km/h) versions of the bikes. jap market had limiters fitted. The grey import 400's basically created a race class here in NZ. F3 suddenly had heaps of used 400's --and the only big change was fitting "cheater" boxes so they weren't restricted at the top end
apollo11,
Dec 22, 11:15pm
I think the 400's and 250 two strokes were limited to 59 hp. And one of my 400's was limited to 180k top speed- a simple matter of pulling a small metal tag off the back of the speedo needle.
richynuts,
Dec 23, 12:15am
Around 1994 the domestic 400's were restricted to 53hp
wembley1,
Dec 23, 12:19am
Useless piece of trivia: If you wanted to convert a Yamaha XT500 to a road bike, the Titan double leading shoe front wheel was almost a bolt on conversion. (You had to file off a lug from memory).
PS Saw a very tidy Kwaka Mach III at the VTNZ the other day getting a WoF
apollo11,
Dec 23, 12:28am
OK, mine would have all been before then (59hp). It didn't make sense to me that I could get an RGV250 putting out 60 peaky hp but couldn't ride a Suzuki 400 Impulse with 45hp (what I learned to ride on). How many learner riders got caught out by the two stroke powerband?
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