Tulsa OK; hypermiler KZ550 or 650

I live down in Jenks right now, but my house is for sale and I actually am looking to move closer to brookside area. Over at Ron's they are just a notch above shadetree, I haven't needed to have any work done though since I have been able to get it all done myself. My elec. system also had the jitters but I am re-wiring it all anyways barebones to make it easier.

I noticed the rattle on the blue bike when I was checking them both out, thought it might either be a clearance or timing chain issue, but since you mentioned it went away after jiggling with the kick start lever I remember having the same problem on my first 650 with a loose kickstart lever that rattled unless you made sure you pushed it all the way back up.

The guy we bought from told me one of the bikes needed a new flasher but couldn't remember which one, and I didn't find any problems with mine so maybe you should check yours out, that might be one of the culprits.

What did you end up giving for the red one?

It was a real hoot dealing with those people. I left messages twice, no callback. I emailed three times; finally got a response with a time to call, but, he wasn't there. He finally called me back and we made an appointement for the next day. I called as we'd agreed to confirm, but, he was asleep and his wife wouldn't wake him up! Then, the son got on there to give me directions, and he had no idea. I was ready to give up, but finally decided to go after i found it on mapquest.

Turns out they were REAL nice people, but, it sure drove me crazy trying to get hooked up with them.

I'm afraid I may have some wiring problems. When we jumped the bike, the neutral light worked; it hasn't since. Then there's the high beam issue I described above.

I don't have anywhere to work on it, no metric tools yet, etc. I'm also in the middle of doing about 2000 math proofs for a hold'em learning system I'm in the process of patenting, and just don't have much time, either. I need to get the bike up and running reliably as quickly and easily as possible; the rest I can tinker with later on, after I'm out from under the 8 ball.

UPDATE:

So, I puttered around with the bike some. The battery was bone dry. At first, I thought maybe it had never been filled, but, as I looked further, every single light bulb on the bike is blown.

I'm wondering if the voltage regulator is bad, and there's too much juice going through the system. That would've boiled the battery dry, and blown the bulbs.

When we first started the bike on the jumper cables, the neutral light worked; it hasn't since. When I first flipped the high beam on, it worked. So did the blue "high beam" light on the instrument cluster. Neither have worked since.

The only light on the bike that works is the yellow "oil" light on the cluster. When it's on the charger, and the bike is off, with the key in the "on" position, the light is on.

All the fuses in the fuse box appear to be good, though. If it was getting too much voltage, I'd think they'd be blown, too.

I paid $700 for mine but already have about another $200 into it already just getting supplies and stuff for it to work on it.

Figure out what the electrical problem is yet?

welcome to the board,and to z sickness.it doesn't get better with time. rons is a good local place to get some parts,talk with mark in the back he is a great guy and fairly intelligent about the older bikes.seems to be some helpful guys on here,so post if you need anything.i live in skiatook and work on 44th & memorial in tulsa.first time this year that i rode the 36 miles to work today,woohoo it was a nice ride.

77Davo650 wrote:

I paid $700 for mine but already have about another $200 into it already just getting supplies and stuff for it to work on it.

Figure out what the electrical problem is yet?

Well, you clearly got the better deal. Still, if I can get mine up and daily riding for under a grand, I'll feel fine about it.

The electrical problem was mainly the regulator. There was some butchered-up wiring as well. I futzed around with it for a week or so, replacing virtually every bulb on the bike (one blinker light, and the "neutral" and "high beam" lights were ok), and doing some rewiring and got it all worked out. Picked up the regulator and a left-hand handlebar switch set at Rons, and got the battery at Wal Mart. Thanks for the suggestions on those.

I got to ride it for a total of 16 miles before it slipped time. I could hear the cam chain making intermittent noise. That was the "rattling" sound i wrote of earlier in this thread. There would be a "catching' sound and the noise would go away for a bit. I notices that, every time I heard the "catching" sound, the engine would skip a beat as well. After a few times, it started backfiring through the carbs and wouldn't idle. I took it to Ron's.

I'm a little frustrated; they told me they'd have it opened up and know something by last Wednesday. Called Monday, and Mark promised to call me yesterday. Haven't heard from him, yet. I'm just going to have to be patient; they are too good a source of parts to risk pissing them off by chasing them too hard.

Hopefully, I'll be up and riding by next week!

Post edited by: seanof30306, at: 2007/08/08 13:34

531blackbanshee wrote:

welcome to the board,and to z sickness.it doesn't get better with time. rons is a good local place to get some parts,talk with mark in the back he is a great guy and fairly intelligent about the older bikes.seems to be some helpful guys on here,so post if you need anything.i live in skiatook and work on 44th & memorial in tulsa.first time this year that i rode the 36 miles to work today,woohoo it was a nice ride.

Good to get to know you. Looks like 77Davo650's idea of a Tulsa KZ650 MC is vialble!

My best friend lives in Skiatook, and driving his Expedition back and forth every day is killing him. He and I have been throwing ideas on saving gas around for some time, and he's watching my Millie the Mileage Miser (my KZ650) project closely closely.

He called me the other day and said he's seen new Ninja 250s on the Kawasaki site for just 2999.00. I'm not sure how a 250 will do on Highway 75, though.

not sure how big your buddy is but a 250 ninja might cruise ok on 75,but it would have it's tongue hangin out tryin to pass.people haul a$$ comin in and out on that hiway.my buddy works for a kawi dealer and said that is a misprint on the price of the ninja,said he has people coming in daily and gettin mad when they find out the real price.(just what i heard.)650 club?i have a 1000 z1r.kz club maybe.got some pictures of it in projects.i bet everybody is behind on motorcyle work because of gas prices and the season.i think motorcycles are at a record high on the streets around here,women,kids,old people everybody has got there knees in the breeze.anyways i hope rons gets your bike turned around and back to you so you can ride.

If you are interested, I know you have the mac pipes but I have a stock exhaust I don't want, I can't ship it easily as the po welded the inner two headers to the mufflers but other than that and a few small quirks it works well and looks good on the bike. I just want them out of the garage so I can get another 4-1 set for my bike. If you want them I'll trade for some beer. Let me know.

Dude, I LOVE the way my 4-1 exhaust sounds! Errr ... that is, I think I do. It's been so long since I've heard it, it's hard to remember.

Post edited by: seanof30306, at: 2007/08/08 22:21