I have a 1985 ZL 900 Eliminator with just over 8,000 original miles. Bike is in excellent condition, but would like to bring it back to the day it rolled off the line. Any suggestions
yeah – get to work!
If the bike has been stored indoors and is low miles it should be pretty easy to bring it back to a nice shine.
The Kawasaki ZL900 Eliminator’s were from that strange limbo period of import motorcycles when they were trying to push big powerful muscle bikes but didn’t really know how to package them. So you see bikes like the KZ900, the Honda v65 Magnas, and the Suzuki Maduras which are by all accounts odd looking bikes. All of them cruise the highway like a dream but are generally unappealing to most of the motorcycling community. Through the years the Eliminators and Magnas have held their value fairly well – the Madura’s not so much.
However, to approach your question. The restoration process is up to you. There is a wealth of knowledge around here about taking care of an older bike. If the goal is a concourse restoration start by pulling the entire bike to pieces and see where you are. During disassembly you’ll always find dozens and dozens of things to repair, fix, update, etc.
