Kz650 first motorcycle and project.

Hello my name is Gage, i am from Washington state. I'm 17 years old, and i am a long time surfer of these forums. Always been interested in motorcycles. And I've been looking for a project bike to fix up for my senior project this next year.

I recently came across a free KZ650 in pretty rough shape. i have seen a few of these cleaned up pretty well. And well eventually i hope i can make mine look as good as some of the ones ive seen, i can hope :lol: . I'm pretty inexperienced with motorcycle engines, i have pretty much no clue on how to work on them! But half the fun is learning! So i will be asking a lot of questions

I'm a little bit confused on where to start :woohoo: When i first got to the bike i automatically realized that the back tire wasn't spinning, my father and i tried to mess with the break but to no avail. So as you can imagine it was pretty hard to get to my house because we had to straight up lift it around.

there's a picture of the bike i picked up for free. Its in pretty rough shape as you can tell, but free fits into my tiny budget :laugh:

Great find and free at that! I pushed my first 4 cylinder bike home for 2 miles when I was 15....with partially stuck brakes. Had been sitting under a tree for years but was riding it around the neighborhood within weeks. Stick with it and you will get it all sorted out. Lots of help and good people on this board.

Gage, welcome and good luck. I would start by making it roll-able. a rear wheel with no motion can be locked/frozen brakes or, frozen wheel bearings. motion limited by chain by bike in gear or trans/cl. problems. little steps. G

Welcome to the forum Gage .... looks like you've got yourself a GREAT first bike and project !

My 16 year old just got his first bike/project a few weeks ago and we're already underway with it (1978 Kawi KE125 enduro).

If I might ad my two cents worth .... the very first thing you should do is buy a service manual ... not a Clymers or Chiltons, altough those are helpful. But a factory service manual. They are readily avaiable on Ebay.

Next step is clean, clean, clean .... you'll find lots of things right and lots of things wrong with this process.

Good luck and keep us posted !

Welcome to the group Gage, you have a good bike to start with. The 650 has a good following and there is enough of them around to keep you in spare parts if you need any.

The stuck rear wheel may not be a real big issue as it could be caused from a few things, some are simple to fix, others a bit more involved. So go get a factory manual and I would also get a Clymer manual to go along with it. The Clymer is a bit easier to read for a new guy than the shop manual, but both will work fine together.

Your bike looks like a 78 B2 model, is it?

Great find Gage. Wish you the best on your restore efforts. I too picked up a KZ650B just yesterday. I posted under the "New Members" area. Keep us posted on your progress.

OKC_Kent wrote:

Your bike looks like a 78 B2 model, is it?

That was actually one of the things i was curious about, the person i got it from was unsure. But he does have a clean title so that's a plus. When i get to my dads house where the bike is being stored, i will check the year on the frame.

We ended up getting the back tire to roll. but the tire has a few slash marks in it, so its a still flat. We cut the rusted chain and pulled it out, and fiddled with the brake a bit more, so it rolls now! :laugh:
gage

i found a running but rough kz 650 for my 18 year old nephew last year and he has been slowly monking around with it ever since he ask's for help sometimes but he is doing most of it on his own because unlike most of the kids that have grown up with computers and video games he finds them really boring and would rather be doing something with his hands so i salute you and offer my help any time you need it. by the way welcome