Returning after a 3 year hiatus

Hello forum,

I'm Brett, I'm from Iowa, and I just picked up a 1982 KZ750-LTD tonight from a buddy. I ended up getting it dirt cheap, which is good because it has its share of little annoyances about it. For starters, there was a pinhole leak in the gas tank that we found out about when trying to get it running before starting it (easy fix at least), the bike also got left outside last winter and because of that, many pieces are a little seized up and are going to need freed. However, I picked the bike up for less than $250 and it runs like a raped ape, so I would say the little things wrong with it are not too big of a deal.

Well, a little history on my riding. I bought a 94 FZR600 when I turned 18 and rode that for about a year before trading it off on an 04 KFX400 race quad. I ended up trading that off for an 06 GSXR-600. That, friends, was one of the best bikes I ever owned. I slid it under the rear end of a car doing about 35 about 6 months after I bought it and that turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It was in rebuilding that from the frame up that I learned the joys of customization and doing fine quality work on your own rather than paying some shop monkey to do the work for you. I ended up trading in the GSXR in 2009 for a 2008 Yamaha Raider. My wife had our second child in 2011 and I decided it was time to get rid of the bikes for a while.

Well, after a 3 year hiatus, I got the opportunity to jump back on the saddle and purchase a new toy. I'm glad I went this way as these KZ's provide such a great opportunity for customization. I figure I am going to get the most out of this riding season, so I won't be doing a whole lot to it other than some tuning up and fixing the leak in the tank before it gets cold. Once winter hits though, watch out... This bad boy is going to be stripped down, cleaned up, hard tailed, bobbed, and all around bad-assed before next spring!

I'm happy this community exists as I imagine I will be asking for a lot of help and ideas along the way!

Thanks,
Brett

Welcome back. Be carefull those first few rides. It takes a while for the reflexes to get back. Nice start on your project.

I guess I should have clarified a little. I have played around on my brother's DRZ and CR450F quite a bit in the last three years I was kind of like that guy that "quit" smoking and just bummed them from everyone else!

The three year break was from owning a bike.

Where at in iowa I'm in sioux city.

No kidding! I'm just north of you in Le Mars.

Cool maybe we will have to meet an go for a ride

Definitely. I've got some work to do to the KZ to get it safe to ride first though.

Hear that bought a new pipe for mine over the winter tryin to get it to stop leakin

Did you get your bike up and running.