Featured listing: 1978 Kawasaki Z1-R for sale in Germany

Kawasaki's KZ series has a very special place in my heart. My first motorcycle, and the third bike I had ever swung a leg over (including the MSF course Suzuki TU-250) was a 1982 Kawasaki GPz 750, the younger brother of today's featured 1978 Kawasaki Z1-R.

1978 Kawasaki Z1-R for sale on eBay

As a car guy who came to bikes late in the game, pictures of Reg Pridmore hanging off the side of a Z1-R on the way to the '78 AMA Superbike Championship were my formative introduction to motorcycle road racing. Pridmore's bikes reminded me of the GPz, and with their big, wide seats, tacked-on number plates and the DIY-looking oil cooler on the rear fender, they made it seem like with just a few simple tweaks, I could be hanging off the tank of my bike, too.

The Stardust Silver Z1-R pictured here was originally sold in Germany as a Z1R-Z1000S, which means it has a 4-4 exhaust, as opposed to a 4-1 system, and an extra set of passenger pegs. With no hyperbole, we can say that it would be next to impossible for this bike to be any cleaner.

This Z1-R was recently treated to a no-expense-spared restoration, down to new frame paint applied using original factory methods, and NOS master cylinder parts, which you must obtain either from an acquaintance with a backlog of OEM Kawi parts, make yourself or do without.

From the eBay listing:

Please look at our other items for sale, we are dissolving the remainder of our collection of bikes and parts here on Ebay. This is one of 5 rare motorcycles we will list this coming month here on Ebay UK

This 1978 Kawasaki Z1R-Z1000S is one of a handfull of bikes left from our collection which we have been dissolving this past year due to continued health related reasons which in turn require us to consolidate all our personal items and to scale back from multiple locations to just one

This is not a 'normal' motorcycle in 'average' condition so the text describing it and this sale's particulars might be somewhat different than what one would normally see written in a listing here on Ebay. If you dont care for long descriptions, please feel free to just skip to the photo album link here below and enjoy the images. If those images raised your interest level i am sure you will take the time to read the remainder of our description as posted below:

https://goo.gl/photos/HjzT2YCQzxttAbuGA

Please do take the time and look at our Seller Feedback Rating to see what previous buyers have consistently been saying about us in the past 17 years about every single item we have sold here on Ebay

There are really no guidelines as to what the value of this fairly rare Z1000S in this exceptional condition might be worth in the current international market place, so all we expect is a reasonable and fair offer that both, we as the seller and you as the buyer can be satisfied with and the motorcycle will be sold

We will not scoff at any offer made with serious intentions of buying this bike, though we might reserve
the right to wait out this adverts month long posting time before considering offers that we deem on the lower side. Thanks for understanding.

Details:
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A 1978 Kawasaki Z1R-Z1000S rarely if ever comes up for sale anywhere. This model is as rare as the KZ1000 Vetter Mystery Ship and probably just as collectible. In any good Kawasaki collection a Z1R-Turbo, the Vetter Mystery Ship and a Z1000S are definitely 'must-haves'

Those enthusiasts who would like to come and see this bike in person are very much invited to contact us for an appointment. Everyone is also invited to go to our dedicated Online Photo Album to view over 100 high quality digital images of this very special bike and to see what sets it apart from 99.9% of all similar bikes offered for sale here on Ebay or anywhere else.

A couple of things might be of interest: Frame and frame attachments are professionally painted in the correct black, just as was done by the factory in 1978. The cost of this restoration was never an issue and many of the spare parts used on this motorcycle are NOS items, such as the nowadays impossible to find complete front mastercylinder assembly or the correct original tinted Shinkolite windscreen with rubber-lip. Probably over 200 hours in total were spend building up this Z1000S and it has only been run 449km (280 miles) since.

This motorcycle has its original german title present, with the 22 Liter tank actually noted in the title under special equipment, which is very unusual for a Z1R but I guess was necessary back in the late 70ies, since Kawasaki Germany wanted the S model to be fully homologated with these add-ons and compliant with german registration rules and regulations.

The frame has the correct european side-stand mount as well as the special provision for the safety switch
behind said sidestand, mounted inside a special sheet-metall enclosure which is bolted to a special tab
welded onto the frame at the factory. The "Side-Stand" handlebar cut-out switch on the left side completes the german frame and component differences to the other Z1R bikes produced for other markets. This small switch was used on multiple Kawasaki models across multiple years in multiple european markets and is an original Kawasaki spare part.

The Z1000S difference is solely made up by the extra rear footpeg mount, of which there are 2 on each side versus one on all other Z1R's i have ever seen. One to carry the special 4-4 exhaust bracket and one to carry the actual passenger footpeg, both in their original rubber dampeners.

Tony Sculphers book on the correct restoration of a Z1R and a small folder with memorabilia come with the bike. This book has a 2 page paragraph dedicated to the Z1000S with 2 pictures posted. Multiple original sales brochures in different languages as well as both owners manuals, the german and the english language international one are included. The original zippered pouch is present for the owners manual, the original key is present and the Kawasaki toolkit is present under the seat in the tooltray. The kickstart lever is present and mounted in its correct location underneath the seat.

I do not think there is a need to go into extreme detail on every component on this motorcycle, the images in the photo album say more about what level of condition this motorcycle is in than words could ever do

As mentioned before, we have prepared such an online photo album showing this motorcycle in detail in more than 100 high quality images (with and without the bodywork mounted) that might be of interest to a serious collector. The copy and paste link is available again here:

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https://goo.gl/photos/HjzT2YCQzxttAbuGA
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We can be reached at the phone number posted below at the times listed if you are interested in more details. Please leave a message with your phone number where we can reach you and a time when it is best to call, should we not be able to pick up. You can also write to us here through Ebay of course.

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An 500 pound paypal deposit will secure this vehicle until the purchase details can be sorted out properly. Crating this motorcycle for international shipping is available as well at reasonable cost, as is help with sorting out all the details involved with shipping it overseas

Please live and let live, no fun-bidders/offers who are not buying at the end, no jokers, no hassles please.

Just selling some honest items for a fair price, getting out of motorcycles alltogether so when all is sold there will be no more from us. Please see our posted pictures for more details of what you are buying .

Thanks so much for looking, if you have any additional questions we can be reached by phone between the hours of 18.00 and 22.00 GMT ( Greenwich Mean Time ) at ‪+49151-7184-8942

The Buy-It-Now is set at £16,500, or about $21,300, which is a big chunk of change, but not wholly unexpected for a rare bike in this condition. The ad is live for a month, and the seller will entertain offers. Don't take our word for how nice this thing is, take the time to peruse the enormous photo gallery below!