kpke wrote: ↑Thu Sep 16, 2021 10:21 am
I was going to mention in my previous post something to the effect of
Are you one of those people that when you get done with it you sell it?
The problem with selling it is you may never buy another one again at the ridiculous prices they are going for.
If it puts smiles on your face when you ride it, why not keep it?
It's a very nice bike.
lost1750GTV wrote: ↑Thu Sep 16, 2021 2:27 pm
What kpke said - I am looking forward to the day when I can ride it, polish it etc rather than redoing what I keep thinking was done.
Thanks guys. Sorry, my response is going to be lengthy...
Actually I’m normally one to hang on to stuff forever. I still have my first car (42 years and counting!), still have the Corvette I bought myself as a college graduation present, and have a number of bikes that I’ve owned for over 20 years. The problem with this packrat nature is I don’t have time to maintain everything. Hanging onto old stuff also keeps me from experiencing other fun stuff.
With this RZ500, I thoroughly enjoyed all the time I spent working on it. I don’t remember getting frustrated with it along the way as often times happens. Steady improvement was made along the way and I’m extremely happy and proud of with what I ended up with. I DO remember a boat-load of buyer remorse the day I bought it (maybe even the whole next week!), but this bike has surpassed all of my wishes when the decision was made to buy it.
What is happening with the RD/RZ500 values is certainly coming into play, but possibly not in the way you might think. Sure, I stand to make a few bucks if I sell it now and that’s great, but I actually liked the situation better when these bikes had lower values. That probably sounds strange, but two things come into play when values are elevated. First, I feel much more apprehensive about riding the bike and possibly damaging it, and that diminishes the enjoyment. Second, spare parts prices elevate proportionally with the bike values. This means the bike ends up costing more to maintain as parts wear out from use or just plain fail from old age. When I’m hunting for a part on ebay or somewhere, I enjoy finding good deals that I can work with. Those days are long gone with this RZ500. Parts are rare and there are many people looking for them with bigger wallets than me.
I will always have my RZ350 to put 2-stroke smiles on my face. I am sort of an OEM guy, and I have all the parts to transform the 350 in bone stock condition if I wish. I have very few spares the 500, so it doesn’t exactly “fit” with the rest of my vehicles. I love when I can find the original dealer brochure for a vehicle and it matches what I own. Honestly, I think this RZ500 belongs out on a track competing in vintage racing, but I doubt I will ever give that a try.
The bottom line is, you will likely see this bike up for sale soon as I “thin the herd” a little bit. I just bought a new(er) Triumph Tiger 1200 so need to make room and time for it. I have two Kawasaki H1-500’s I would like to restore someday, my Corvette could use some work, and of course my Chevelle needs nearly EVERYTHING done to it after so many years of neglect (I still plan for it to be my daily driver when I retire). LOL. I will never run out of projects!
I am going to struggle coming up with a selling price for this RZ500. On one hand, it’s a resto-mod with a rebuilt title. But on the other, it runs great and I think it looks fabulous too. Any advice on value would be appreciated. I’m leaning towards a worth at about half of what the prime OEM examples are bringing.
