Hi - 1975 KZ400D

Hey, I'm Charles.

I'm will be attempting to fix up an old KZ400. My goal is modest: have something to cruise around town on come spring time. I live in an apartment, so that will be a challenge… but we'll see what happens.

The bike is in rough shape, but it did run for a small period of time. I believe the battery is suspect, but the bike needs some love in general. I plan beginning to dismantle the bike within the next few weeks. I'll be hanging around the forums asking questions, and buying some equipment before I do - I think I had some JIS-spec tools will be handy and I'm thinking of jumping straight to a set of

Random Images;
imgur.com/a/QJbgs

Looking forward to learning from you all.

It looks pretty a good starting point Charles, I've seen much worse. Good luck to you.

"I plan beginning to dismantle the bike within the next few weeks"

Whatever for?? :blink: Ed

I'm with Ed. It looks to be in pretty good shape. Replace the battery and the usual wear items like tires, chain, sprockets, brakes, oil and filters. Then clean the carbs and ride it.

Especially living in an apartment i wouldn't tear the bike completely down to do a bit of a cleanup. What you got looks like a good starting point

That looks like a very clean bike. A valve adjustment carb rebuild and balance will probably have her running nicely.

Then do the stuff ed suggested. Start riding and address issues as they come up.

That's what I've done on mine and have nearly 2k behind me since August.

Thanks for the replies.

I was a bit heavy-handed by saying I'll be "dismantling" the motorcycle :lol: — I'll just be taking off the carbs, cleaning them up, and installing a new battery to see if I can get her to start up again.

I'll create a thread in the project section where you can follow along.

Welcome to you and another survivor.
Steve

diggerdanh wrote: ... I've seen much worse. Good luck to you.

That statement means more to me than you realize, :laugh:

Man, that bike is sweet! Cant wait to add one to my Kaw pen.

Great little city bikes! They are grossly under rated.
Oh... but I hate those handlebars...LOL

I didn't want to say it but yeah. 2-3" high rise bars would be better. I had 6" and always had a back ache. They were supposed to stop that. I like mine how they are.
Steve