Police 1000 passenger seat?

I'm considering getting a passenger seat for my KZ1000-P and swapping between it and the radio box depending on what i'm using the bike for that day... Basically, I bought the bike for use in doing motor escorts and security, so I've got (legal) lights on it and whatnot... However, the bike is so much better than anything else I have, and I only have motorcycles, that it's become my go to bike even for light errands.

The lights are all on quick disconnect plugs, and it's all centered in the radio box, so it wouldn't be too difficult to simply unbolt the carrier and swap the seat if I'm not going to be working that day and want to carry a passenger.

So I'm wondering if anyone knows which, if any KZ1000 passenger seats would work. Would an '81 KZ1000 LTD seat be able to swap on without modification? I don't ask about that specific model for any reason other than I believe it was the last year they made the 1000 LTD and I like the LTD seat from my '82 750 LTD.

Also, I keep seeing things listed on ebay for passenger foot boards that look just like the factory foot boards for the driver. I'm wondering if those are being mislabeled.

Oh and yes I'm well aware that one should never put a seat on the floating carrier. Previous owner did that and it's caused me a ton of grief to find replacements for the parts he broke trying to have someone sit on the carrier.

I used a 81 Ltd seat on mine. It was practically a clip in project but I had to cut about an inch of rise out of that backbone in the frame. Then the footpeg / luggage issue will have to be dealt with.

Jussumguy wrote: I used a 81 Ltd seat on mine. It was practically a clip in project but I had to cut about an inch of rise out of that backbone in the frame. Then the footpeg / luggage issue will have to be dealt with.

I flat out refuse to cut the frame... I want to be able to swap between the configurations. Is there another option?

Probably just a custom seat. Modify the bike or modify the seat (from a different bike). I'm with you on not cutting the frame. However, I don't see a way around modifying something.
Have You looked into putting a stock seat (not police) on the bike? You might post a picture of the seat pan from the police and maybe it will match the front half of a different model's seat pan. I forget if the ltd uses the same seat pan as the standard model.

Setton wrote: Oh and yes I'm well aware that one should never put a seat on the floating carrier. Previous owner did that and it's caused me a ton of grief to find replacements for the parts he broke trying to have someone sit on the carrier.

I've never seen floorboards advertised for the passenger but I have seen bolt on pegs for passengers.
When you say "floating carrier" what do you mean? I always thought I could put a pillion behind the solo seat without any issues.

I don't know why I didn't see the response until just now

By "floating carrier" I mean the carrier the radio box goes on. It's specifically referred to as a "floating carrier" in the official owner's manual, which I'm providing a relevant screenshot of the PDF. See item 32 in the screenshot. It's called a "floating carrier" because it's not a rigid luggage rack like on most bikes. It's on struts mounted to flexible dampers, and with a hydraulic damper.

To quote the manual about what it is:

The radio rack is a floating carrier, specially designed to move from side to side to help damp any oscillations of the motorcycle. The movement of the carrier itself is controlled by a hydraulic damper mounted horizontally below the rack toward the rear.

I'm uncertain what to do about adding a passenger seat if I wanted to... I: mean, I could remove the floating carrier pretty easily, but I don't know how to mount a passenger seat in its place, nor will I mount one to the floating carrier as it's not built to take that kind of weight. At this point I've kind of given up on the idea.

It's been a long time since I looked at or rode a KZ Police bike but the floating carrier idea was developed to enhance handling characteristics of that bike. Early models had some real problems, especially the windshield only models and for a while customers were cautioned not to ride them over 55 mph. That was not the answer motor cops wanted to hear so the floating radio carrier came out to try and fix things. They were still plagued by handling issues. In any event if I were looking at something like this I would certainly figure on removing the radio carrier first. Then I would take the bike to a decent upholstery shop and see what they say about making a custom seat for you. Even if they agree to make something up, positioning of the seat will be an issue in that the passengers legs will have to clear the saddlebags and allow their feet to contact the footrests. The devil is in the details here. Even if you get to the point of making an attempt at this make sure you check the tires on the bike. Back in the day the police tires came with a warning for solo use only. In other words they weren't rated for two people on the bike, only one. It may also state that in the service/owners manual and may state that right on the tires. There may even be a warning sticker on the bike to that effect. If it does you would be going way out on a limb by putting two people on the bike. Get in a crash and you can only expect bad things to happen like a lawsuit from your passenger, if they survive the crash. I don't know how restrictive Kawasaki was in this regard, but Harley-Davidson was very explicit about it. They did not want two people on a police bike with police tires on it. Police tires were designed for an entirely different purpose than holding two people on the bike.
Rick H.

This question has come up a few times. Have you tried searching old threads, including the archived ones?

BLUF: The full length seat from an 82 Kz1000 LTD should bolt directly to your bike after you remove the floating carrier.

I am working on sort of the reverse of what you are doing. I have an 82 KZ1000 LTD that I am rebuilding and trying to give it the feel of a WWII MP bike. I took my seat which was a full length off my bike and directly bolted a seat from a 96 police bike to it. The Floating carrier mounts on the area behind the police seat with down tube mounts that hook into the cage for the saddle bags. I have added pics to show that area on my bike, As near as i can tell the frame around the seat and rear fender are identical as the police parts have bolted directly with no modification.

On a separate note if you decide to get rid of the floating carrier I am looking for one.

I bought an ltd seat and had issues mountain it as it is a bit flatter in bits than the kzp. I'm sure you can fiddle with it to get it to fit though. A CSR 1000 seat fits perfectly and covers the frame that's exposed when the radio box is removed.