Kawasaki Zephyr 550 Review

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Kawasaki Zephyr 550
★★★★☆
4.4
100.0% of users recommend this
  • Build quality

  • Reliability

  • Value For Money

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Vlad's review of Kawasaki Zephyr 550

“After owning an 1981 Z750 in early nineties I recently...”

★★★★★

written by Vlad on 12/01/2004

Good Points
Comfortable, light and agile, fast enough. Fuel gauge. Low seat. Great looks. Excellent reliability.

Bad Points
No centre stand. No passenger hand grab. Passenger position uncomfortable. Foot pegs a litle high.

General Comments
After owning an 1981 Z750 in early nineties I recently bought a 1993 Kawasaki Zephyr 550 in perfect condition (never dropped) with 24000Km on it for CAD2500.



It's a very fun ride, light and fast enough. It took me less than a week to get comfortable enough to push it to the speed limit (arround 180Km/hr). It's very comfortable for a rider my size (175cm/80Kg) and I had no problems making 500Km+ day trips. Riding position is great (upright) except that footpegs are a litle high for my taste (bent at the knee a bit too much). Like it was already said, pay attention to the trousers.



Passenger seating position is a different story. Footpegs are even higher. My wife has nothing to hold on to except me which might be beareble if the seat wasn't at an angle towards the rider. My arms hurt after just ten minutes of riding through the city and my wife refuses to go with me on trips longer than 50Km.



Otherwise, no problem touring at 140, even without any fairing. I haven't had a hart to drag my knee on it yet, but I'm pretty sure it would behave well in tight curves.



Neither me nor the previous owners had any problems whatsoever with this bike, and I know that one of them used to ride from Toronto to New York (~1000Km) quite frequently.



It looks timeless and with proper maintenance it will turn heads for decades to come. It's so nicely designed that I haven't had an urge to change or add anything.



It's the only one I've seen so far in Toronto, which also makes it unatractive to thieves.



Oh, yes, the centre stand. Four-in-one is great, but cleaning and oiling the drive chain alone is hard without the stand :(.

  • Reliability

  • Value For Money

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Trocar's Response to Vlad's Review

Written on: 19/02/2004

I have the other 550 zephyr in the Toronto Area
<br>
<br>Mine is a 1991 that could not be sold until '93 because of the court battle regarding the name.
<br>
<br>Fantastic bike. Runs perfectly, has 19000km on it currently. Since it my first bike I have little to compare it to, however I think it is really well set up.

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Vlad's Response to Vlad's Review

Written on: 17/02/2006

I sold my Zephyr to a friend in August 2005 with 47.000Km on the odo. Let's just say it did not depreciate in value by a single cent. Thanks to a great carburetor cleanup and tuneup by my mechanic it was running better than ever too. I only wish I could have kept it for my wife...

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Vlad's Response to Vlad's Review

Written on: 17/02/2006

I'm sorry to hear about your problem plumbum, I hope you got that Zephyr cheap. Unfortunately it's probably in worse shape than if it was ridden hard for those 13 years. The tank is repairable, but it will take time and money as welders are reluctant to work on tanks (some will outright refuse it). I wouldn't even try to start the engine before it's taken apart and thoroughly inspected. Only then you will know if it was worth the money you paid for it.
<br>
<br>You can find help on many Zephyr related questions at http://www.zephyr-zone.com

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Plumbum18's Response to Vlad's Review

Written on: 14/06/2005

Well it sounds like you have all had better luck than me. I recently bought a 1990 zephyr 550 with under 5000 miles on it. It had been sitting in a garage for 13 years though. I started working on it and found rust holes in the gas tank. I'm currently trying to fix it but it's very difficult. A new tank costs $715!!! it's rediculus. but if i can fix it then i may be able to get it going. You don't know of any discussion forums for zephyr's do you.

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