My First Bike - 1979 KZ650B

Hi All,

I've been lurking around here for a couple of weeks and thought it was about time I posted. I recently purchased my first bike - a 1979 (or, possibly, 78) KZ650B. Only 9k original miles - picked her up in Sacramento, CA for $1200 off craigslist. She's in pretty good condition - the engine is looking better after a little polishing (long way to go - thinking I might as well pull the engine and have her bead blasted). The engine runs well, though it does not seem to like low-revs (blurb blurb blurb while taking off) and is pretty buzzy above 5k. Everything is tight, but she does have a pretty scary weaving problem above about 60-65 mph - almost feels like you're hydroplaning - real uneasy feeling. Think I have some shock work ahead of me (see follow up post in the chassis forum if you have some advice). The owners I bought her from didn't have too much to say - they bought her two years ago for their Mom but the bike was too tall so it didn't see much road time. I think someone had started a restoration since some parts (turn signals, etc.) look really new - but as mentioned with the weaving issue there's probably some serious work to be done in other areas.

Being my first bike, I've got a-lot to learn when it comes to the wrench. I think she's going to provide me several learning opportunities

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Hey good Bike and looks good. I bought mine a few weeks ago. My picture is what she looks like. Mine only had 9942 miles on it, Nice bike.Bought mine off craigslist too $500.00

Wow - $500 is a killer deal. I thought $1200 was a bit high (notice the rattle-canned side panels)...but I wanted her...so what-cha gonna do.

No thats a good deal for $1200. I spent about a week cleaning it up and had to replace tires,chain and put three new bearings in the transmission on the secondary shaft cause they were a little noisy. Now its worth about $1200 yours looks good from your pictures. Its what you got after all the work that makes it a good deal. Yours just looks better to start with,mine took finger busting time to get it like yours.

Ahhh - I see. Yeah, mine was smooth cruisin' from the get-go. If I can just get this high speed drift/weave problem all squared away she will be a great ride.

MotoKawa, just a stunning example of a KZ650... and it's Red tool. Congrats.

Many steering symptoms have been eliminated by changing the OEM Steering Bearings from the OEM ball bearing type to the much sturdier roller bearings type. Link



The PO had made this change before I got my bike so I haven't experienced the change myself, but many members have reported that it solves a number of handling and stability issues.

Best of success.
Bill

Welcome.
Congrats on finding a nice 650, even if she is Red. :laugh:

Check the age of the tires too. There should be a date stamp in the tire with the week and year I believe. Looks hand stamped into the side wall. example: 2001 = 20 th. week of 2001.

Wheel bearings, swingarm bearings and the steering bearings should be checked as well.

That's a really nice bike! If that stock exhaust system is as nice as it appears to be it's worth almost the price you paid for the bike. Regarding the instability, with only 9,000 miles I'm betting on tires. On my '77 KZ650C1 (with 48,000+ miles), I recently replaced my Michelin Macadam tires with Pirelli Sport Demons. The Macadams had about 6,700 miles on them and they were the source of a high speed (90+ mph) wobble despite being properly mounted and balanced and having much tread left. Below 90 mph the wobble was not noticeable, but even though I only hit 90+ occasionally the thought of the wobble waiting there for me was unnerving. I replaced my bike's wheel bearings, steering stem bearings, and swingarm bushings in trying to eliminate the wobble; I already had new top quality shocks. I'm glad I replaced these items, and doing so reduced the severity of the wobble somewhat, but these items obviously were not the source of the problem as it persisted. After replacing the Michelins with the Pirellis the wobble is eliminated. I have taken the bike up to an indicated 120mph and it is completely stable. As a bonus, the Pirellis have better traction, particularly in braking, than the Macadams. I used a 100/90 V 19 on the front and 120/90 V 18 on the rear using new Metzeler tubes as recommended by Pirelli. These are the same tire sizes as the Macadams I replaced. I have only put about 900 miles on the new tires, so I cannot give a long term opinion, but so far I really like them. I have not yet driven in the rain so I reserve judgment there. I bought them at Ron Ayers. Before you start any work on the bike, I strongly suggest you buy the correct Kawaski Factory service manual for your specific year/model; they're readily available on eBay. Believe me, you will not regret buying it! If you're not sure of the year of your bike, check the link below. Ed

KZ650 Models

Thanks for the advice everyone. Really appreciate it.

To clarify, after thinking about it I don't think "wobble" or "weave" really describes what is happening with the bike - it's almost like the front end feels "light" at high speeds - it sort of drifts and does not feel firmly planted on the road. I was searching through archive posts and found one from Britcheflee (here: www.kzrider.com/archive/viewthread.php?tid=16546 ) which I think better describes the same problem I'm having:

"...but I really felt that the front end was 'light' - very 'squirrelly' (hope you know what I mean) and extremely sensitive to the road"

Of course, the prescription was for the same thing everyone here has recommended to check. Unfortunately Britcheflee never posted what the solution was - sent him a PM but he has not logged in for 10 months so I can only cross my fingers.

I have a post regarding this problem in the Chassis section here: kzrider.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&...ew&catid=5&id=314494

There's a picture in that post of my stem base which appears to be ever-so-slightly bent out of parallel with the bottom of the head pipe...wondering if that's the problem here. Either way, looks like I'm going to be tearing apart that front end pretty soon here