My first 440 "cafè'ish" build.

Looking really good. Any plans for the tank?

Thanks random and PM replied..Thank you to everyone that has commented on my build!! You guys and the forum have seriously been a HUGE help for me along the way. The bike probably would've still been on the table if I didn't sign up here.

GPzMOD750 wrote: Looking really good. Any plans for the tank?

You know I'm not quite sure yet? Since the location of my rearsets brings my knees more towards the taper of the tank, I dont think I'll need to do'em. Plus it'll reduce the small amount of gas the tank already holds (not much, but it counts) Soon as I redo the rear cowl and seat pan(get rid of the overhanging lips) so you can see that "line" that I sorta winged, it should be more appealing? Lol. If anything, I've been keeping my eye out for a tank that doesn't slope down so much in the rear.

Mini update.. I've been tossing the idea around of running dual disc up front since A] I'm running the forms to allow it. and B] should be an upgrade if it's as easy as adding another rotor and line? Gonna start researching it religiously after I finish the exhaust. I think I read somewhere that spoked wheels with discs get laced differently depending on single, dual and diameter? Am I wrong? I found a pair of 650 rotors maybe for sale on eBay, I posted in the ebay/craigs thread in regards to them. This'll be a later upgrade.
Don't know how I should have the end of the muffler look?
Flared out tip..the inside tube is gonna stay there in hopes of keeping the noise down a bit?


Your standard reverse cone..


Gonna need some opinions, comments and or cheerleading for this next one? Lol
So I had this crazy idea of having the inside(baffling, pref. tube) being able to slide in and out on like a solid choke cable and some sort of track/slide inside the can that can be mounted externally on the frame or something. Picture this, when shut first pic above(should be quieter also) all the exhaust would run down the center. When pushed open, a vast majority of the exhaust would run on the outside of the (strategically placed) baffles and exit like in the pic below. Essentially the path of least resistance?


There's a lot to take into consideration I know, biggest one being on how hot the outside of the can will get when running opened and not sure how big of an impact for a re-jet? I'd jet it for open though. So basically when riding closed, won't be deafening to neighbors and such. Then while running open, should be a non baffled exhaust, freeway riding?
These aren't the best pics for examples, I'll try to post them tomorrow. It'll be a reverse cone with the smaller end welded to the center of that tube in the first pic, so the 4 tabs you see there now won't be visible.

ed

trying to make anything move able inside a muffler is going to be a tough job because of carbon build up.

sounds good in theory ,but not so much in everyday application.

imho,

leon

531blackbanshee wrote: trying to make anything move able inside a muffler is going to be a tough job because of carbon build up.

sounds good in theory ,but not so much in everyday application.

imho,

leon

Thanks Leon I was thinking the same at first also, so I started looking around the shop at exhaust from customers cars. Few had them vac actuated diaphragms that rotate a valve higher up in the rpm range, then the electric cut outs. Not what I'm needing since all of those "rotate". Opening it shouldn't be too much of a task since it would essentially be assisted from the pressure of the flowing exhaust? Closing it on the other hand...well not sure yet? Now if you think about it, it actually would be better to be used everyday, otherwise it'll give the carbon a chance to build up more from no movement..catch 22? That's why I thought of using a solid rod type cable. But those are a little dinky in diameter so the next cable I thought of was the ones used for the parachute release on drag cars but would need to think of some genius type mount/holder/cradle gizmo to make it happen...Then it hit me! A B&M shift cable. The ones used on auto trannys. Uses the same thickness rod inside, but the sleeve can handle some heat and most of the traveling area of the cable is sealed. Gonna guess I'd only need it to slide max 2" or less? I know there's gonna be a lot of experimenting with this and I should be able to come up with something with little to no money spent..lol who knows, maybe it'll work? Hahahaha! Monster garage will open later this year.. :whistle: On a side note though, I found a right hand 650 caliper for my future twin disc upgrade that's likely more of a feasable goal :laugh:

So installed some new ebc pads up front and still waiting on shoes for the rear. I have no idea why I thought I had a CSR front front wheel?? It's just a 400, so the dual disc is on hold till early next year. But now I'm a little concerned of another potential life threatening issue on hand?! :huh: Few days ago on my normal route to work and I'm going up a grade on the freeway and for some reason I was surrounded by idiots with there signals left on and some pressing there brakes constantly with nothing else closely around to pose a danger?! Anyways..so I accelerate a little more to get out of the wolf pack and I start to get this gnarly speed wobble??? At first I thought it was just the normal skinny rubbers following the traction lines on the freeway, but it started getting more violent (I'm exaggerating a little on the violent, just was the first time experiancing that on the kz) so a little puzzled of potential causes, I start trying to look at my front and rear wheel, no wobble or out of true (as far as my eye could see then an there) I get to the shop and look everything over...and over and over. Loosened swing, front & rear axles and stem hardware then re-torqued to spec. Went over all the spokes and made sure they all made roughly the same "ting" sound without over doing it. Air pressures good. All bearings that rotate are still great(less than a 1000k on them really) Only thing (which I doubt, but won't rule out) is I'm still running the stock "catch me if you can" stem bearings, which were new already before I got the bike. I do have the allballs ready, just haven't had any quality me and bike time :blush: I'm now looking into dampers I can retrofit to use. Any other ideas?
Bright as day pic...it's gonna be 94 today? weeeee...smh

Oh and the 7" HL is growing on me..and so much brighter! You can see my 6+ custom phone stem mount also sorta..

Other then when riding motocross....the worse head shake I ever had was when driving home my recently purchased KZ400ltd....after exchanging money and title. I didn't have but 15 miles on it when it scared the Hell out of me on the 65mph freeway.
Got home and very quickly discovered the self centering and totally shot triple tree stem bearings and worn out rear wheel bearings.
Replaced those for under $75 and it was a dream to drive... Great little 400!!

Wobble – there should be none. On my KZ650-C1 I never had any wobble for more than 30,000 miles. Then things changed. I found that when I hit around 90 mph the bike would wobble badly which at that speed was very dangerous. Even though I only hit 90 and above occasionally the thought of the wobble waiting there for me was unnerving.

In trying to nail down the problem I replaced the steering stem bearings with All-Balls tapered roller bearings, installed new wheel bearings, and installed new swingarm bushings. I installed high quality shocks and changed the fork oil. These things tightened the bike up to like-new condition, and somewhat reduced the severity of the wobble, but these items obviously were not the source of the problem because it persisted.

As a last resort I installed new tires. The tires on the bike were Michelin Macadams and they looked fine with no uneven wear. They had been on the bike for several thousand miles and certainly did not cause a wobble when they were new, so it was not a problem with how they were mounted. However, despite their good appearance they most definitely were the source of the wobble. I put on Pirelli Sport Demon tires and the wobble completely disappeared. I have run the bike up to 120 mph and it is as steady as a rock.

I’m glad I replaced the bearings, bushings, etc. as it’s nice to know everything is in tip-top condition, but in my case, without a doubt, tires were the problem. If you replace a bunch of stuff and still have the wobble you may want to replace the tires even if they look good. Ed

I had a speed wobble, and doing research on it, I found that racers discovered the speed wobble would start to happen when the rear tire was starting to get worn. Wider tires had more problems with this.

So, like Ed, I found it went away after replacing my tires.

I also installed a forkbrace and steering damper, but those are for different problems.

I notice you have no fender or brace on the front. This allows the forks to flex more in unwanted fashion which will stress the steering parts more as well. With your machining skills I imagine you could make a masterpiece fork brace (and fender mount if you get tired of gravel in your teeth).

Also if you have tensioned you chain unevenly it can cause a wobble if the wheels are not on the same plane.

Also you dropped forks how much through the triple trees and possibly raised the rear of the bike? That would make it very twitchy and unstable at higher speeds. Front fender or fork brace is another must have.

An old school test for a bad rear tire induced wobble is to overinflate to about 34-36psi and try it up to around be 45 mph. Then deflate it to about 20psi and try it again to see if it is any better.
Sometimes if a crappy tire,
an over inflated or underinflated tire cause the wobble to get worse or better.
Just be careful when testing.
Seriously though, if those tires are more then 4-5 years old, don't waste any time with them.

Thanks for all the quick replies fellas! Sorry for my late response considering speed wobble is a dangerous situation even for a veteran rider(which I am not) So far that wobble has shown face again. As it sits now, I replaced the stock wheel bearings with allballs front and rear, Avon roadriders 90/90/18 front and 110/90/18 rear. Don't remember off hand what brand tubes but I used the proper sizes per wheel (after much research on google/kzrider) inflated to 40r 38f of air since the bike came off the table. Still using the chain and sprockets that and with the bike since the chain itself had 0 rust and wasn't binding up rolling over the smaller sprocket. Cleaned the chain up really good with a hard nylon brush in my parts washer bin till it dripped clear. Then I let it sit in a ziploc bag of PBblaster so it wouldn't rust till it came time to install which at that point wiped it down and blew out most of the blaster, heated it up a little with some map gas, blew some more, reheated as to simulate a quick ride sprayed it the shit out of it with maxima chain wax. Let it cool down on its own then installed. I've got it adjusted with 3" or less of up/down slack. However from what I noticed is that the chain rides more towards the hub in back and more towards the sprocket cover up front? BUT IT DOES NOT ride directly on the corresponding sprockets teeth faces if that makes sense? Like I can see an air gap, there's just more to one side both front and back...consistently. So that leaves me to believe that the rear wheel isn't riding directly center, but then again with how close it tracks now I'm sure it's OK per-say?
Now I'll admit that I do have the front tubes kinda radical in the triple. I'm gonna do that spring/spacer/custom lowering mod when I catch up on shop work in the next coming weeks. As for the rear, it's maybe 3/4" at most taller than stock. I made sure to get the same size (height wise I think 12 5/8? E/E) shocks, and I fab'ed up the new mounts and welded them in 1/2 more towards the front of the bike. I've been riding the bike a total of I think 7 weeks now and only thing that has changed is that I did lower the front tubes more to the position they're currently at about 5 weeks and some days ago? Before they were 1.5" sticking out no probs. now I have them at 2.25". If that was the cause, I'm sure I woulda felt the wobble a lot sooner?
I know I definitely need to get a front fork brace going! I could bolt up the stock 440 but it looks damn silly cause the wheel size now and Id hate to chop it up cause it's in pretty damn good condition! Not a single dent! The chrome needs some(well more than some)TLC, if flat chrome existed, that's what it resembles? Lol. I don't have an english wheel or any of the panel shaping tools aside from the body repair dollies and hammer which can be used "after" getting the initial shape. I don't mind using elbow grease, but thanks to tennis elbows, my grease dries a lot quicker now a days.
So anyways..that's where I'm at now with the wobble situation. I have tried to make it happen again on the same area of where it happened but no luck? The only thing that's missing is a box truck in front of me and some prestorm gusty wind.


ed