New Baltimore rider!!

Ok. Just got a '76 KZ900. First bike ever. I've been into 4 wheels all my life and have decided to get a bike so I can ride with all my buddies.

I know nothing about bikes other than what I'm learning building this one but I am the master of kick starting my buddy's SR500 which make me feel great.

I own a shop in Baltimore and I build cages, headers, chassis, swap any motor into any car and tune anything on the dyno as my daily grind.


I've never really liked any of the newer sportbikes and couldn't tell one from another looking at them but seem to be able to distinguish the different 70's and 80's jap bikes which got me searching for a suitable project.


Picked it up about a month ago for 300 bucks. No tank on it, been sitting outside for 3 years with a cover and taken apart and put together with uncaring hands. This site has been great for me using the information to make sense of the bike and 3 boxes of parts that came with it so I figured I'd sign up and make some posts. I know you guys like pics so I'll try to get some together and put together a build thread.

Anyways, Just wanted to introduce myself and thank everyone that posted something useful for me to soak into my brain. Hopefully I can do the same at some point and help someone else out.

Don't take offense if I don't respond for a while. I rarely have time to interweb because I'm always working.


Ray Shake
www.ma-motorsports.com

Only pic I could find

Welcome to KZR and that looks like a nice project you've got there.
Mark

Welcome Ray Shake! First order of business...get a Kawasaki Heavy Industries official shop manual (readily available on eBay for about US$30, or less, delivered) it will have all those nagging little specs you 'll need to reassemble. And thanks for the photo...from what I see, you may have acquired a gem with a converted monoshock frame...guys here work on that conversion for months!

Welcome to KZR and the wonderful world of bikes. If you haven't already done so, please take the rider safety course. The course is offered by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation .

welcome to kzr dude, great first bike just remember to hold on lol.

Welcome to KZ man. Good luck with the bike

Found a some pics of when I first got it and got it roughly together. It has a Vance and Hines exhaust and other mods.




I put the rear suspension off of a 2002 GSXR1000 on it and the front end off the same bike is going on as soon as my triple trees get here. Got a motorcycle shop next door to my shop so I just scavenge parts from them to see what I can make fit. Mono shock mount is 1/8 steel with dimples for rigidity. Machined a sleeve for the swingarm pivot to use the KZ bolt. The swingarm was 1/32" wider than the KZ swingarm and went right in like it was meant to be there.

I'm taking a riding course with one of my friends. Never got a bike cause I knew I'd die on one, but for some reason I feel mature enough to ride now. Gotta get this thing running first I guess. Well after it's a rolling chassis how I want with all the newer suspension and brakes. The stock brakes and forks were dead which is why I went to the GSXR1000 shit. Figured it'd cost more to restore the stock and I'm the type of guy that upgrades everything I own.


Well. Thanks again guys. I may need you to help me keep my focus and determination. I tend to get bored with projects and sell them unfinished. My current car project has been at the paint shop for 7 months so I kinda forgot about it and can't sell it.

welcome to z-jungle!that was a 76 900 ltd you started with,kind of a rare bird but thats ok,looks like youre doing good so far!

Just a heads-up if not already known, the genuine Morris Mag wheels were used by Kawasaki only on that one particular model, the 1976 KZ900-B1 LTD, and are quite de$ireable items. Some folks would also likely be interested in acquiring the rear brake master cylinder, am thinking is also exclusive to that particular model.

On the mono-shock pic, what's with the two blue duck tails? Is one of them an extended version to accomodate extended swingarm?

And here's another "WELCOME" to KZr!

Good Luck!

Patton wrote:

Just a heads-up if not already known, the genuine Morris Mag wheels were used by Kawasaki only on that one particular model, the 1976 KZ900-B1 LTD, and are quite de$ireable items. Some folks would also likely be interested in acquiring the rear brake master cylinder, am thinking is also exclusive to that particular model.

On the mono-shock pic, what's with the two blue duck tails? Is one of them an extended version to accomodate extended swingarm?

And here's another "WELCOME" to KZr!

Good Luck!

The tails came with the bike. They are slightly different. I kept all the rear disc parts together including the master and pedal which I just cut the mounting off the frame to clear the swingarm. I def plan to not scrap the parts to hopefully allow others to complete their projects/restorations. I appreciate the info on what I have guys. I had no idea.