Comming back to bikes

Hi Guys,
Well, I guess I'll start at the begining. My first bike, a long time ago, was a Bridgestone 175. I moved up to a Suzuki 250 that I bought all in pieces and put together. Sold the 250 and got a Suzuki 380GT (more power). In 1974 I bought a 1973 Kawasaki 900 Z1. Man I loved that bike, high speed wobbles and all. I rode her all over the place for years and then from NY to Fla. when I joined the Airforce. I lost her in a corner on base and sold her shortly after. I'd always kept it in perfect condition and at the time I could'nt see anyway to get her back into shape. I never should have sold it.
In 1983 I bought a brand new Honda Intercepter. The last time I got off that bike it was still doing over 100mph. I decided that my two sons needed a Dad and the best thing would be to take up a different hobby.
Now my sons are 27 and 29 years old and they both own 750 GSXR's. They are nice bikes and I love to ride them but I wanted one of my own. About a month ago I decided that I should get a bike again so I bought a poor old 1976 KZ900. She needed me, I could just tell. I don't think the previous owner ever washed it even once. She's halfway apart in my garage right now and I'm slowly bringing her back to life.
This web site is where I made my first (or maybe second) mistake. You see I was remembering how I could feel the frame flexing on my '73 when I'd get deep into a corner and the way she wobbled at high speed sometimes and I was trying to figure out what I might be able to do to bring her up to date. So here I am looking at your pictures pages and I get to page 5, top row. middle pic. and there's this guy named Harry on a yellow an black bike. I fell in love! Big time! It's my desktop background. I printed out a copy and took it out to the garage to show my bike! I hung it up so she can look at it and see what's comming.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. To my eye whatever Harry did is perfect. I just can't stop looking at it.
Now I have to figure out the details. I've been away from the hobby for so long that I don't recognise the parts and pieces and I'm not sure what's involved.
So here I am. Anybody care to help?
Mike

Welcome Mike...two things:

1) Buy a genuine Kawasaki shop manual...accept no substitutes (lots of them on eBay ~ US$25.00, tops). This will go a long way towards answering many of your questions.

2) Where are you located? Many times there is a Kawasaki gearhead located close by and you can tap into his/her experience and tool box (for those special tools I'll bet you don't have)

And that bike you love was submitted by Ian; there's a considerable amount of work done to it...most notably a complete front and rear end swap.

Thanks for responding Mcdroid. I still have my old shop manual so that's covered. I'm from Upstate New York, just outside of Syracuse. I'm wondering what parts to use and what kind of work is required to use them. I see alot of stuff available on e-bay so parts don't seem to be a problem. I suppose a GSXR front end would'nt just slip into place with some different steering head bearings would it?

Mike first of all welcome to the forum you have found the right place to get whatever help you might need. You are also in a prime time location in that there are two really good guys here that live close. Kawtoy is a bike flipper extraordinaire and Kawsakiman is big on modding these old relics. You are also close to Z-1 Ent. and Jeff Saunders who is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to Z-1's (he does talk a bit funny though):laugh: his company is pretty much the place to buy parts for most of us here. I'm sure all these guys will chime in here in a bit.

Hey Mike, The Gringo is correct...you are close to Rochester (relatively speaking) and that is where Jeff (at Z1Enterprises is located). There are a number of upstate New York KZR members who frequent this site. The suspension mods you are considering have been covered extensively, I think, on this site...spend some time searching the earlier posts and the archives...that should give you an idea what you are up against...it is do-able, but not a simple swap.