New guy from Houston

Hey guys, glad to have joined your forum.

I recently picked up an '82 KZ 305 and I'll be peaking in now and again looking for technical information. The bike currently has less than 10k miles on it. Current mods include being hardtailed, ape hangers that are much too tall for the cable length, and hacked seat and rear end :sick: . Future modifications are likely to include a proper hardtail section with about a 3-6" stretch, proper sprung solo seat, 2.2 gal. "axed" chopper tank , 4" over fork tubes, pod filters, and some custom z-bars.

Don't know how much custom fabrication you guys do over here, as in my experience most make/model-dedicated forums seem to be mostly guys that are fans of the bikes in stock form, but I do hope that you will accept me into your fold, as modifying things is just part of who I am.

Quick pic of the bike as it currently sits:

Welcome to KZR! I live just north of Houston in Spring. There are quite a few Houston area guys on the forum. I for one, don't really care if you customize your bike as long as you can keep it running. As you surmise there are a few rivet counters here, but there are plenty of custom bikes. Mine included. I have seen that bike for sale on the local Craigslist for some time now. If you don't mind, I would appreciate a private message with what you paid for the bike. I understand if you don't want to say, but there's no harm in askin', right? I like to keep track of what the local bikes actually sell for when I can.

Honestly, I paid nothing for it. I was after the '87 Venture the guy was selling and he didn't have cash to put on top of his trade (I had a '00 Buell Cyclone), and said I'd take this bike to finish it off. I really wanted the cash, but what's one more little bobber running around the garage, right?

I really don't know how long I plan on keeping it, but probably at least until I have the Hyosung running again. I'm at what I hope is the end of a lengthy build (can see it sitting in front of the KZ in that first pic), and as soon as I get the wiring finished, if the engine's running to my satisfaction it'll just be paint and then I can feel ok tearing into the KZ. The Venture is a comfy bike, but still just feels too big to mess with on my daily commute.

Welcome to KZR...from another local (sort of).

welcome i really like them bobbers

Welcome! bty do they still have that achafalia resturant down there in Houston. May not have spelled it correctly but when I ran service in that area I would always try to eat there.

I honestly have no idea. In Houston-proper? We don't make it inside the beltway much when eating out.

Any chance you can post up some better pics of the Venture Royale? I'm thinking about buying one just like yours and the pics the guy had of it were not the best. I love the Ventures rode an 82 Model from Ohio to Tennessee back in 1983.

best pics I've got at the moment. Certainly seems like it'll be a nice bike once fully sorted, but the lack of power and fuel economy at the moment seem to be indicating it's only running on 3 cylinders. I'm doing some updating to the brakes (R6 front calipers, stainless braided lines, vrod clutch and brake master cylinders) and suspension (progressive springs, ditching air pressurized forks and electric anti-dive systems), and will shortly be working on getting the plastics repaired, and then it'll be getting new paint. I'm thinking a metallic black with gunmetal insert in the same basic pattern as the brown/tan.

Nice bikes to keep you busy and out of trouble for a while.
I once helped a fellow rider push his Royale out the way from the feeder road for about 100 yards and man, I didn't know how out of shape I was. LOL
Where about in Houston are you?

Live on the SW side, between Sugar Land and Richmond, work on the NW side near BW8 and 290.

Okay,I live right about where you work outside the beltway. Off of Gulfbank Rd.