Thanks to Rick for the following:

A short while ago I had a message from a guy who was selling a Z650 on behalf of the family of a deceased friend of his. I had told myself that although I would really love a Z650 it was just not at all practical as I already had far too many bikes. Well, a short time later a friend asked if I knew where there was a nice Z650, I told him of this one in Warwick and although the guy wanted quite a bit for it my friend was still keen. So, I made a couple of calls and was told that the bike was a "minter". Being the usual sceptic I still wandered off down to Warwick to have a look - "Oh ye of little faith" the bike was indeed in superb condition, since my original call however the seller had had a couple more people round to look at it and they had thrown a figure of £4,000 on the bike! Well, in all honesty I think it may well have been worth that sort of money if you consider what a good Zed goes for but there was no way that either myself or my friend would come up with that sort of cash for it.

And the story behind the bike ? – Well, the original purchaser had a Z1b which he found was way too big for him, so he P/Exed the Z1 for this Z650B1 in Green. As you can see from the photo on the cover he also specified alloy wheels, British tyres and a rack and top box. The guy took delivery and for it’s maiden voyage he rode it down to Italy for a holiday. When it came home he decided that even this bike was still too big for him and with just 3,380 miles on the bike he covered the whole bike in Waxoil, filled the exhausts with oil, covered it in blankets and then parked it up in a warm garage!

The bike stayed in the garage until this year when the now "late" owners parents decided to sell it. Now, if you were a really ruthless hard hearted businessman you could have got a bargain, the parents dug out all the original paperwork for the bike, handbook, tools, warranty card, receipt, petrol receipts etc and seeing as they saw it was purchased for £1,397 they asked a family friend to try and sell it for them for £500. Luckily for them he knew it was in wonderful condition and may be of interest to a collector.

So, after a little pondering I went back to Warwick and had a further inspection of the bike, I could still not afford it but with a little juggling around of funds and with the hope that my bikes in the Stafford auction would sell, I took the plunge and bought the Zed - not for £4,000 but still a darn sight more than the original purchase price! I have to say it is nearly the most perfect bike that I own, I have ridden it just 10 miles and will not ride it again for a long time, I am not too keen on the wheels or the top box – but after all they were on it when purchased and I think they will be staying. And I know I was supposed to be getting rid of some bikes but when you see something as wonderful, clean and original as this it is just so hard to say NO!