93' KZ1000 Police cafe' project

otakar wrote:

Hay Rick, can you tell me what the diameter of your front rotors is? I am using those forks with a different wheel, calipers and rotors and was wondering before I start putting everything together. I am putting the fork-tubes on a narrower tree from a GPz1100.

I havent pulled the front wheel, so best I can tell, they are about 11 7/8", + - 1/16". Looks like the bolt pattern is about 7 1/2", again + - 1/16th". Hope this helps out. If you need more accurate measurments, let me know and I'll pull the wheel off to get more precise.

So I took a chance on a set of 81' LTD side covers on e bay, they looked like a perfect match, but no go. I havent seen any CSR, or police covers that have been decent yet, and these came up. The tabs are just slightly off, causing the cover to be lower in the rear, oh well. Now I am back to the idea of no side covers and hide the electrics up under the seat. So if anyone needs a set of 81' side covers, in good shape and all the tabs are good, pm me and we'll work out a deal.

On a different note, I've started with ideas for a solo seat, and have made some cardboard cut outs, but the stock tank is hideous, and I will postpone the seat til I find a tank I like. I have been scouring images and e bay, and because the tunnel in the tank is so wide, selection is limited without some serious mods. I have noticed that BMW "R" tanks have a pretty wide tunnel, anyone ever put a BMer tank on one of these? Heck, I have been wanting an R90 for a long time, maybe now I can have at least a tank :huh:

Hey, I also got a free cop bike project! Yours looks a little more together. Mine's going to be my touring rig, I already have a racer.

The tank from an early GPz1100 might fit the police frame, but don't quote me on that.

I have been scouring every source I can think of, and literally looking at hundreds of tanks to find one that will for 1, fit, and 2, accomplish my vision for this project. I was talking to a buddy at our vintage bike night this week about tanks, and he says "check out one of my XS tanks". I thaught "duh", I am a Yamaha guy and never even looked at an XS tank, I guess I couldnt see the tree through the forest. I went to take a look at it this morn and to my suprise, not only was it in almost perfect condition, but it was pretty durn close to what I have been wanting. And the best part is that he just gave it to me! Man I like free! The only thing that I will really need to figure out with this tank is the petcocks, the stock ones hit the frame, but I am thinking that a stock RD400 petcock will probably clear just fine, or maybe just splurge and stick a couple of Pingles on.

Whaddya think? I need to play with the seat design a bit, but this is the general idea, and I am diggin the way the seat will sit so low...

Any chance you have a heal toe shift lever you don't need any more? Thanks, Mark blipco@yahoo.com

blipco wrote:

Any chance you have a heal toe shift lever you don't need any more? Thanks, Mark blipco@yahoo.com

Sorry man, I actually just sold it on e bay

I did spend some time re working the seat profile, and came up with a design that it hitting home with me. I am now starting to really get enthused about this project. Winter is approaching, so I should be hitting this a lot heavier durring the un ridable months. Here's a piccy:



Now I just need to start carving the foam for the seat mold....

Ok, havent been on in a while, but here is my progress on the seat:

Started with a block of mold foam, roughed out the shape, added some controll lines


Finished carving the shape of the foam, and got it hard coated so I could finish shaping



The positive is all done and primed, ready to lay up the fiberglass to make a mold off of it.


Here is the lay up proccess, and the finished mold


Behold the mold!



Voila! Layed up the fiberglass for the actuall seat, it worked out like a dream! I couldnt wait to see how it will look, so I trimmed the front of the seat just enough to sit close on the bike, but I will still need to do a little trimming on the front section to sit up where I designed it to go. Also go more of the framed de tabbed.





I have the vision for this project at this point, and the more I look at it and think about it, the more excited I get. It has a long way to go, but hopefully I will have a powder coated rolling chasis by springtime

Nice work, that!

A little more progress. I now have it down to the frame, and time to weld up tank and seat mounts, also some mounts for the rearset brackets. Once that is done and all the remnants from the tabs I eliminated are ground smooth, I'll get it to the powder coaters and all purdy'd up. I think I want to add a lower loop brace on the swing arm, any sugestions for size/shape? Pictures? I'm also going to "X" brace the frame on the down tubes above the swinger pivots.

I have decided to stick with the cop theme and paint the tank/seat white and black, with gold pinstripe to seperate the colors, and gold lettering on the seat that says "To Protect, and To Serve". Whatdya think?

I have never been a real Kawi fan, but this project is really making my socks go up and down :woohoo:

That bike has a awesome stance to it, at first I couldn't see it with all the cop clothes, gonna be a good "ject" keep post em!

Got to a little more grinding this weekend, also cut and fit the X bracing and tacked in place. Hopefully I can sneak in some time to weld it solid, and also weld on the rearset mount tabs. With all the stock bracing and gussets on the police frame, this rear X brace should give it a lot of lateral stiffness, making it one stiff mo fo!

Good job on the X brace! I take it you aren't planning to run the stock airbox anymore?