KZ1000 in Wisconsin

Here is the broken fuel petcock... I just need the little handle for a '79; anyone have one?


Polished up the painted portions of the bike, except for the tank. I'll have to use rubbing compound on the tank because the P.O. dribbled gas on the tank and never wiped it off.


Dirty... Well the frame tubing on what would be the left side of the bike was rubbed with black rustoleum on a kleenex. The middle tube was not. I'll probably do two coats on the whole frame.

It lives!

Finished everything up on it just this morning, and fired it up for the first time. Seems to run ok, and I hear no evidence of any loud noises or anything.

I bet this guy started the bike up and had something fall off a shelf in his garage or something.

It was a very satisfying feeling to start it up and hear it run for the first time... it was even sweeter that I only paid $20 for it!

The only problem thus far is that the tachometer doesn't work, but I'm going to be taking apart that whole assembly to figure out what's wrong.

I'll probably start at the beginning of the cable at the drive gear. There is a small oil leak coming from it, so that's where I'm going to start.

Tach drive seals should be available at Z1E. Probably the tach cable is broken. Unscrew one end and pull out the inner part of the cable. The often rust and break inside. Same goes for the speedo cable. May be a good idea to clean and lube all cables befor any serious riding.

Thanks for the advice on that. I'll probably look into it this weekend.

I went home on my lunchbreak and put new gas in it and rode it back to work. Went off without a hitch!

I'm currently taking it pretty easy on the bike due to the fact that I don't 100% know the condition of the engine. Without the tach, I'm shifting by ear and trying to go no higher than 5k or so. I did have to give the gas a squirt once just to see, which confirmed that these bikes ARE pretty quick. Coming from a Honda CB360, a liter bike is quite a change.

The golden rule of starting up a bike that's been sitting: Never ride it farther than you're willing to push it.

I broke that rule just a little bit by riding back to work, but I rode 5 laps around the block I live in before I left for work.