Update 6.16.2014: First listed in late May, the seller has dropped his buy-it-now over $3,500 to $15,699. Thanks for the heads up Tony! -dc
If the RG500 that sold yesterday for $36,900 was too rich for you, maybe this tasty RZ500 is at nearly half the price. This one has 4,400 miles but looks very well preserved and is coming out of a collection. Preserved well enough that the things the seller points out are just to detail what isn’t 100% from the factory, like the original tires. Otherwise it sounds like it will need some reconditioning as it hasn’t been run in a while, but the seller sounds eager to work with a potential buyer.
dc
1985 Yamaha RZ500 for sale on eBay
from the seller:
1985 bike, remained 100% stock except SS brake lines and Metzeler tires. (personal preference), done at dealer pre-delivery. I rode it very rarely and it was last plated for road use in 1999. Since then it was stored at our family estate which while not explicitly “climate controlled” was an attached insulated full brick 2 story with mezzanine garage – and you can tell from the bike’s condition.
[…]
Here is the complete list of non-stock items and flaws I know about with this bike:
– The DOT3 fluid has seeped out of the brake reservoir and somewhat marred the black paint on the aluminum
– Does not have factory original Bridgestone tires or brake pads/hoses – replaced with Metzlers and Ferodos/Russell lines at pre-delivery
– Small scratch on “V4” sticker of cowl, RH side, visible from 3 feet, as missing “red”, white paint below it perfrect, not visible 10 feet
– Non stock chain, changed to gold DOD o-ring along the way to match wheels
– Original belly pan developed (and by developed, I mean, was broken during PDI) a crack. The crack got progressively worse, so I substituted the fiberglass reinforced belly pan from my 1984 rz500 when it was sold. This belly pan is 100% solid but does have a pro fiberglass reinforcement in the bottomOtherwise, this is about as close as it gets to “time machine”.
Nice bike. But I don’t think its going to fetch $19,399..00. Oh look, first post !!
[…] that's not a misprint: It is another 4,400 mile original a day after posting an RZ500 with 4,400 miles! No connection between the sellers, but these bikes do share the same fresh from the collection […]
I have owned 4 stock RZ500, bought all cheap, all looked and ran like new after resto. While I love the RG400 and RG500 Have to say I didnt like the RZ500 or the NS400R, others agree with me. I cant imagine some one will pay those dollars for it, but who knows. I would not go over 5K.
um..how “rare” are these bikes, they seem to come up all the time around my area.
I’ve got a 4,800 mile example registered in California, so there are probably more nice ones out there than most people realize, but still not enough to make them mainstream. I think that a lot of the recent postings are coming out with roughly the same mileage because some people didn’t want to trash them to within an inch of their lives, as opposed to an FZR600 or some other easier to find Yamaha. Sometimes I think that owning an RZ350 would be simpler for parts availability, etc., but then I kick my RZ over and go for a ride. The RG500 may be more “pure,” but the RZ500 just puts a stupid grin on my face with the V-4 intake noise and smell of injection oil. They are fun bikes.