kz650 chopper

I've been watching this thread. What I was thinking at the first, I'm thinking now. Get it running best as can be and sell it for another bike. There are nice KZP's out there and can be modded like some here or if you decide to chop it at least you'll have a strong starting point. They are plentiful and some are cheap. I wouldn't spend anymore money on that bike. No offence meant. It is what it is.
Steve
inlandempire.craigslist.org/mcy/5283496824.html
losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/mcy/5304870166.html
losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/mcy/5308737369.html
orangecounty.craigslist.org/mcy/5283545161.html
orangecounty.craigslist.org/mcy/5296222576.html
inlandempire.craigslist.org/mcy/5271283269.html

Ive also been keeping an eye on this thread,waiting for the knives to come out! Hardtails seem to get a rough ride from some on this site. (no pun intended)

As for beefing up the frame, if in doubt, have someone in the know look at it. Maybe it uses very thick walled tube which allows for less bracing. Wether you like the bike builders or not ,I find it very difficult to believe they would be knocking out dangerous frames,or am I being naive?
Its not my cup of tea but it looks like a cool frame and sounds like a very interesting project.
And as for not making your money back from it, I would say 'Join the club!' Thats what its all about. You buy a cheap old bike and enjoy building it and getting it back on the road.If youre lucky you finish it and end up with a nice bike. The money is something else.
Good luck with it.

I browsed theu the OP old posts, dug this up. Seemed like a simple running issue sidetracked this one. Then they decided to find locate and 'chrome out' a kz1000 engine for it.

But to me this is the most telling part

Like I said, i don't know the builder, I don't know the material used, but I have seen a lot of kz frames. Hardtails take more abuse than a swingarm frame. That's a lot of open air. Was the frame ever taken to a frame shop and looked at like you said you would two years ago? My thought would be a frame shop or fabricator (les, leon where are you?) not a chopper shop who sees an opportunity to sell you a bunch of goodies if they convince you to build.

davido wrote: Ive also been keeping an eye on this thread,waiting for the knives to come out! Hardtails seem to get a rough ride from some on this site. (no pun intended)

As for beefing up the frame, if in doubt, have someone in the know look at it. Maybe it uses very thick walled tube which allows for less bracing. Wether you like the bike builders or not ,I find it very difficult to believe they would be knocking out dangerous frames,or am I being naive?
Its not my cup of tea but it looks like a cool frame and sounds like a very interesting project.
And as for not making your money back from it, I would say 'Join the club!' Thats what its all about. You buy a cheap old bike and enjoy building it and getting it back on the road.If youre lucky you finish it and end up with a nice bike. The money is something else.
Good luck with it.

'Maybe' doesn't cut it where safety is concerned. It doesn't matter how thick-walled that tubing is - it's only as strong as its weakest point, which often is the welds. Hence my comment about hoping that he "really trusts whoever welded that frame together".

Reality TV shows have a lot to answer for. Shows like 'American Chopper' and the numerous 'biker build off' spin-offs have convinced a lot of people that 'anything is possible', if you own a hacksaw, a tube bender and a Harbor Freight welder.

Scan through Craigslist ads using the search terms 'chopper', 'bobber, or 'cafe racer'. It ain't pretty, and people are going to get hurt, or worse.

Nope been sitting in the garage I actually got frustrated after paying 400.00 from a local builder ... ( Gangster Choppers) waiting over 6 months to fix my tank that wasn't fixable... paid to get cleaned and sand blasted but it was too heavily creamed and welding back together added pin holes so boom.. tank is done would have to be cloned so I took to another local builder said it would be 1200+ to clone my tank so that's dead talked to tigman from tigman tanks got a way better price but I would have to ship out so what did I do ... went a brought a new bike which is my daily rider however I've never let her go she's been sitting... this year I decided to start working on it and taring it down as you can see so this where I'm at.. sounds like I need to possibly build a new frame.. most people don't like metrics here in VA it's pulling teeth to get stuff done even whem ya willing to pay so they may not even won't to build a frame locally but I'll give it a try if I do that I'm keeping it though cause I'd have to pretty much start from the ground up but I'd have a few parts to work wit..

Oh yeah it was a simple running issue with the tank and ignition coil mounts. Any fabricators on here though near Va

There is so little to that tank that any sheet metal worker can knock one out without too much issue.

Try hunting down Les Holt or 531 blackbanshee for one of their opinions, shoot them a PM and a link to this thread, see what they think

i would be tempted to ride it and see how much it flexed/wound up.
then i would plan out some more strategically located tube bracing.
i am constantly trying to trim sh!t down to the bare nubbins.so when i see something that i don't think is built stout enough i want to see it get used and see how it takes it.then act accordingly.
tony foale said that if you overbuild it you learn nothing.
but if you take the thinnest lightest structure you have in mind and build it and see where it fails you are now learning.
if you get hurt when it fails you have more time to figure out a better solution while you convalesce.

if you get some poster board and start making patterns off of your tank,then transfer them to cardboard and cut em out and tape them together.and build a cardboard and tape tank,you will then see it is so simple that you can do it yourself.

hth,

p.s. member redgood owns www.cycleonemanufacturing.com/index.html is located in oklahoma and builds some nice frames if you are in the mood to just buy something to build that you don't have to sweat.

leon

Thanks I will

Thanks for your help I've seen some cycle one chops and frames they do good work I'll have to hit them up thanks.

happy to help wish we were closer i would like to look it over in person from the pics it looks fairly well fitted and welded.all the wild radius's kinda give it a spindly look.


leon

I don't think it's strictly necessary to scrap out the frame, rather I'd look for someone to beef up the front end. I'd ditch the single down tube methodology in favor of dual, and add some extra cross tubes and gussets to the headstock area to stiffen the frame. I'd reinforce the top tube as well, in fact that may be the best place to start. Once you reinforce that area it will be easier to replace the down tube without worry about throwing the front end all out of alignment. This stuff won't be cheap, but it will be cheaper than scrapping the frame.