New KZ650 Owner

Hello all,

A few weeks ago I bought a pair of KZ650's, both 1978's. 1 is a runner, the other is a parts bike. My plan is to convert the runner into a cafe racer, and either use the parts bike for parts or eventually do a full restoration on it in order to learn a bit more about motorcycle maintenance and such.

So far I've ridden the running bike a few times. It is my first street bike, and so far I love it! Very easy to ride, quick, and handles OK for a heavy older bike.

My plan is to lower the front end and the headlight, do no turn signals (hand signals instead), a brake light, kick-start only, cafe racer tail section, paint, velocity stacks, clubmans, bar end mirror, no fenders, gaitors, etc., and tune things like brakes (need lines plus a bleed) and make it run cleaner than now along the way. I have a lot of questions about things that I hope to pursue answers to here, so hopefully this will prove to be a good resource.

We all know what a thread is worthless without...

Nice brace of bikes Mrk_D. You also have a good support group of KZR members in southern California.

Welcome aboard!

Looks to me like you ought to cafe the "parts" bike and ride the other, but that's just me. I'd be hesitant to rely on hand signals as I don't think they're taught in driver's ed anymore. :S

I'll second the turn signals. I nearly got run over while using hand signals because the driver 2 cars back didn't see it, or recognize it, and tried to pass me and the car behind me. Maybe do an integrated tail light.

Welcome mrk_d, good score there.

Good thought from NONB, why not have the best of both worlds? I only say that because although I like my bike I wish I had a stock 650. Still think they are cool looking.

NONB hit it for me too. I would keep the stocker stock and look for some stock exhausts for her. Donate the 4 into 1 for the cafe. Heck you can ride the stocker while you scrounge for cafe parts and build your cafe. In the end you got 2 great bikes!

Original KZ's are increasing in value everyday. Cutting up and losing the value of an original bike never makes sense to me when there are so many non-orignal bikes available. Let's face it, it's very rare for a "cafe racer" or other modified bike to end up worth more than a clean original, and many if not most modified bikes end up as parts bikes when the owners lose interest or sell them. There aren't a handful that are ever returned to their original condition as that is an expensive task. In your case, you are lucky enough to have a really nice looking stock bike plus one that can be modified with little or no loss. Why not experiment with the one that needs work and use the stock bike as is or sell it for a profit and use the $$ on the other? Ed

Welcome.

Nice find on the pair, but seeing your pictures I had the same thoughts as the others before I even read them.
Cafe the parts bike.

I have to agree with the trend of thought already expressed by others here. Keep the stock bike stock and cut up the parts bike.

Well the overwhelming support of cafe-ing the parts bike sounds like a good idea. I even have the stock exhaust in the garage!

However, the "stocker" was already painted once, so it will never be a completely OEM bike. Do you guys think that alone kills its potential value?

Also, I suppose I should probably get some small turn signals on the cafe bike too from the sounds of it!

Hang with these guys. They really know their stuff. Not an expert here, but I think that, even though the paint isn't original, it will always be worth more stock. It looks like a fine example of a well-kept-up survivor. But...it's your bike(s) and the final choice is yours. Good luck either way.

I guess I should add that my concern is that the parts bike is missing a lot of somewhat expensive parts -- coils, alternator, pretty much no electrical wires are present, headlight, etc. My concern would be having a stock bike (which to be honest I'm not too interested in) and then having a half-way done cafe racer sitting in my garage I can no longer afford to fix.

This being the first time I've worked on a motorcycle (although I am a bicycle mechanic ) I would hate for me to not be able to have the bike I really want running. Just the flip-side of the coin for me to consider...