New guy, new bike.

hey guys, been on the site for a few weeks, been lurking and saw some threads about bobber KZ's, so i went ahead and built a bobber out of the '78 kawasaki kz650 when i saw it had been done, and done well! so thanks to you guys!

anyways, heres where i started, bone stock derelict, stored in a barn for 20 some years...





heres my first chop, and mock up of the vintage tank and fender i found on an old pile of sportster parts at a buddys farm.




so i got the tank on, and everything rigged up so i took it for a spin, six hour ride and she held up awesome, decided it was worth going the whole nine with it.





yes, thats a liscence plate for a seat. temporary parts are great, it was actually quite comfortable.

anyways, on with the build. got up in arms with it, decided it was halfass and lame, and that id better get something done. so i started the hardtail, and built my taillight mount and liscence plate bracket, and initial seat bracket.





the morning after, seat arrived in the mail. vintage Le Pera springer seat, since shes hardtaili figure i should try to keep my spine intact. anyways, heres pics of the mockup





got a rear seat bracket made, and the fender mocked up then welded. built a front seat bracket and bolted up the springs, then moved some wiring around and built a box to contain that rats nest of wires and relays... then fresh coat of paint and shes ready to roll.






done like dinner... for now. gotta eat egain sometime, lol. shell never be completely finished methinks.





so thats where i got, i LOVE my KZ it runs amazing rides amazing and im proud to ride it, i love to tell people "no its actually a 78 kawasaki" when they ask if its a cb750, im a honda guy originally and i think this bike is amazing, lots of power for a 650, couldnt ask for a better project. thanks for the inspiration and good information guys! may not be everyones cup of tea, but im in love with this bike and what ive done with it so far.

ooooh I sure hated to see that nice stocker cut all up. But 2 each their own and you did a pretty good job at that. Tank looks a little odd to me but hey who am I to say. Long as you love her!

sweet, yours turned out alot better than mine.. way to go:woohoo:

Okay since nobody else has said it yet I will.....I've got first dibs on all your unwanted, unneeded stock parts that you removed. Trust me they will find a good home and I can probably fund some of the other mods you might want to make. PM me if you have any interest in selling the stock stuff.

Jim I think you bike looks better. I can't really say I enjoyed the show here man. I stopped watching OCC for a reason. I thought you would of at least kept the values of it being a japanese street bike.... but now it looks like a quadruplet harley. Good luck!

thanks guys, didnt stay very japanese with it, but then i dont usually, my streetfighter was pretty german in style as well, im just a big fan of a simple effective bobber.

anywho yeah gringo ill PM you with what i got left and such.

Locozuna wrote:

ooooh I sure hated to see that nice stocker cut all up. But 2 each their own and you did a pretty good job at that. Tank looks a little odd to me but hey who am I to say. Long as you love her!

+1 a stocker in that good condition hacked up Well, it´s your bike so my opinion is pretty much insignigant here...

Love the final turn out....love it so much made it the back ground of my laptop. I'm doing something similar to my 80 kz440 but with a little more of a rat look to it.

Interesting bike, nice work with it. Pretty sure I saw that one on craigslist last year, almost went and bought it, then the other three bikes decided I shouldn't :laugh:

thanks guys, wow dude i cant beleive you made it your desktop hahaha its mine right now too, i got some new pics of it after some work too.






anywho yeah it was a "nice stocker" but the paint was destroyed from thirty years of neglect, it had been dumped and the bars were crooked, tank was dented to hell, the seat was HIDEOUS and the rear fender was cracked, the only part of the bike that wasnt rusted beyond recognition or messed up was the frame and the side cover panels, everyhing else was pretty much boned. if it was really that nice i wouldnt have cut it up, trust me im a resto guy as much as a modder, but this thing was beyond help.

I love it!:woohoo: You have given me insparation! Ive been wondering what to do with my 77' 650. Ive cut the rear part of the frame off like you did and tore the seat cover and foam off to the pan. cut the back of the pan off and painted it. it is quite comfortable like your licence plate seat. anyway, I have been debating on making it a true hard tail by modding the frame and I think I will do it now. I can see the beauty of both keeping a bike stock and modifying them too. Like you my bike had a lot of little stuff wrong that it would have nickeld and dimed me to ruin. I find cheaper ways of making it look good (at least to me) anyway. nice build.

Wow! I am liking all the KZ Bobbers popping up here!

I am just glad to finally be getting some work done on my project.

GREAT JOB!