Then,.....there is was, jumping off the screen and running right over me, pipes blaring loudly under all that gold and black/burgundy paint. Kinda made me wonder what my 1300 Voyager might have looked like as a teenage kid as it was growing up!
Yes, the engine has been repainted with a slightly brighter-than-stock gold color, but I like that. Also, being an '82, it was the burgundy version as opposed to the champagne version option. Only available in '82 and not very common. Of course, the Vetter fairing was added, and may not stay in place. I will ride it a while before deciding. After all, my purpose or this bike is for local short runs and a few bugs won't kill my diet! The seller has all of the original equipment for it, except the passenger grab rail that goes around behind the seat. I found one on eBay already.
The pipes look OK for it's age, but somebody painted flat black over the factory black chrome. My sandblaster also does ceramic coatings, so I will see if his material can withstand exhaust temps and maybe have him coat the whole exhaust. Otherwise I may just have Jet Coatings do them in their permanent ceramic coating.
The rear tire shows a need for replacement, but I'll use it up with a few burnouts, first.
It has a super-soft seat that feels like a gel padding. Not stock at all. Wondering if it might be a Russel,.........?
An interesting feature of this 1982 Kawasaki KZ1100D Spectre is it's center stand. Once it is lowered to hold the bike up, it has a key lock to lock it in the down position for anti-theft.
Bike has 35,583 miles. Started right up even when stone cold to my hand. Owner said it hadn't been run in almost a month now, and he wanted me to see how it acted like that. He thought it was a bit more temperamental when cold than it should be, but with carbs instead of fuel injection I thought it did quite well until it warmed up. With choke on it fired up immediately. No smoke, even when goosed hard.
I had him ride it back and forth in the street for me to listen to, but I never feel comfortable riding anybody elses bike, so I didn't ride it. I sat on it and tried all the controls with the engine running and all was fine. Rear wheel had very little overall gear slack with the engine in first gear and on the center stand. That's a REALLY good sign! So many KZ's are driven so hard it wears the driveline loose.
Only two small scratches in the paint and both are on the black sections, so that will be easy to fix.
The left handlebar does appear to be slightly higher than the right side, so it must be bent upward slightly. The owner didn't even notice it until I pointed it out (or,.....DID he? Heh, heh, heh!), but I guess I'm just a bit OCD about such things. No big deal,........it can easily be bent back down without any damage.
Brake rotors are in excellent shape with lots of beef left. Pads are about half gone.
The Spectre was Kawasaki's response to the Yamaha 1100, and both bikes were little hot rods with factory loud pipes. It has a nice gentle rumble until the throttle is moved at all! Then, I just hope there aren't any cops around! And, those are the stock, factory installed pipes! Just about the opposite of what my 1300 Voyager sounds like!
Another guy was supposed to show up to see the bike and possibly buy it today, but he never did, so when the owner called I was there within the hour and I gave him $200 to lock the deal. Will give him the rest when I go pick it up next Wednesday. Cindy and I took the sidecar rig to go see it today, so I couldn't ride it home. Of course, we sat and talked bikes for a long time. He just bought a Honda Valkyrie, so I had to drool all over it, too. It has Cobra straight pipes, so it was even louder than this little 1100 Spectre!
When I get the Spectre home I will be lining up my two Voyagers next to each other again and will pose this new little guy in front of them. With the same paint scheme it really does look like an adolescent 1300 Voyager without its last two "undescended cylinders"!!!
WOW trikebldr, you found a real gem this time. And I also sat many a mile behind a Windjammer in my youth.
Nice toy!!! 
..................Tony 
Man that IS rare to see the inside of a tank that old looks that clean ! Ya got a good one there Bruce ! Enjoy being retired ,and go out riding all ya can