kz rider from colorado

Hey there, my name is Damion and I own a 78 kz650b. I've been a member here for a while but until this weekend my dad had failed to give up the bike.

So a bit about me: I'm a saab technician working on a phd in automotive systems engineering. My first motorcycle was a ninja 250 that ended up with a turbo and got traded off for an r6. After collecting a significant amount of tickets with the bike my senior year and having my endorsement stripped I sold the r6 and decided to grow up a bit. Shortly after my graduation in 09 my dad decided to hand down the bike he had sense his 20's to me, a 1978 kz 650b. Well almost 4 years later he finally let me leave with the bike yesterday.

So about the bike: my dad has had it sense 1988 when he got it with 13k on it. As it sits today the odometer is just past 45k on the original motor. The carbs have been re jetted for the altitude and the headers. The bike has also received an electronic ignition but I am unaware of which one it is at the moment.

The bad part: at 45k the motor has a slight knock when it's warming up, the wiring is just awful, and it needs a general tune up. Last year I had found a motor out of the same year 650 that I plan on rebuilding with plenty of upgrades and lately I've been thinking efi using megasquirt and gsxr throttle bodies. But for now I'm just going to spend far too much time browsing here and riding and loving the bike until the motor quits, then I'll see what kind of beast this kz can become.

amd now pics

Welcome Damion.
Check out the Relay Ride threads,relay ride leg 4 (rocky mountain leg)if you are so inclined.
Should be thru your way some time this summer.

Good luck,
Jim

Greetings from a fellow Colorado rider.
Looks like a nice 650.