Hello from Nashville, Tn.

I'm brand new here, I've been lurking about from time to time but I've decided to get serious about getting my old friend back on the road.

I have a 1980Kz1000st, I've owned it since 1988 when I bought it at a police auction in Oklahoma. It had a mismatched tank and was missing a few cosmetic parts but it was ridable after a little work. I rode it for several years in that condition (added superbike then drag bars) to the point of it needing a full resoration . The enigine still runs to this day, or at least it did three years ago when I cleaned out the tank and carbs.

My plan has always been to set it up as a cafe bike but as I get older rear sets and clip ons aren' in the plans no more so I guess I'm looking at something between Cafe and sport tourer. Originally i thought modern tires and upgrade the original suspension/exhaust/etc...

Then last fall I scored a 1974 Suzuki GT750 barn find about five miles down the road from me for next to nothing. I started out riding two strokes both Suzuki (TS100 then T350 then a few GT750s) and Kawasaki (went straight to the H2, owned a few would love to one another) and the water buffalo is still one of my favorites.

The Suzuki got me back to looking into bikes again and I started looking at adding modern suspension to the GT750 but in the end I decided that it would be wiser to get my KZ back on the road first as it will be far more useful (ridable?).

Looking for ideas online has me thinking about upgrading the front suspension and swing arm on the shafty mainly for more modern wheels and tires as opposed to going faster, I do believe that the stock suspension with upgrades would most likely be more than enough for my needs.

I'm not even sure that a shaft swingarm swap is even possible with out major modifications . I am a guitar builder by trade but I grew up working on hot rods and bikes so I have some mechanical aptitude even better I know when I'm getting in over my head. With age comes (some) wisdom.

I've been looking at the Kawasaki Councours, damn near bought one because it is pretty well what I'm interested in turning the KZ into. Is there any chance that parts would interchange (the mono shock seems to be a possible problem though I'm sure there may be more that I haven't found yet).

attached is a coupe of pics I took when I got the GT750. I will proved more later.

Sorry to be long winded., any and all advise is greatly appreciated. Thanks for having me here!

more pics.

Let's try this again...

New member. I've had my Kz1000st for 20+ years. Looking for help/advice in getting it back on the road.

Thanks in advance.

Welcome. I don't know anything about shaft drive KZ1000s but it should be doable to convert from shaft drive. Is it worth it? That is a question you'll have to answer for yourself. I don't know about turning it into the equivalent of a Connie either. I have an old KZP that I was going to make my long distance tourer and due to several issues with it I purchased a 2016 FJR instead. While I love riding the cop bike there is no comparison to the FJR in terms of comfort, smoothness and technology.