New KZ in SoCal

Greetings all,

My name is Gabe — long time lurker, first time poster. The forum has been a huge resource for me, so thank you everyone for your contributions.

Little history - I've been a rider for a little over 10 years. Last year at this time I was in Bali and had rented a little cafe'd out KZ440 on which my girlfriend and I blasted around the island for a few weeks (grinning from ear to ear the entire time). As soon as I got back to LA I set out to find one of my own.

Not long after getting home I tracked down a mostly stock '77 KZ400 which seemed to be in pretty good shape. I took it to a local shop for a little tune-up and the little thing just ripped. That is…until 3 weeks later when the bottom end seized.

…so, I took the opportunity to tear the bike down completely and build my dream cafe racer. Needless to say, It's been a labor of love over the last year.

If anyone's curious to know more I'll post up all of the details. Below are photos…the first pictures are more recent (the later pictures show an older seat). The last photo is when I originally purchased the bike.

It's not quite done, but what bike ever is?

Nice job. The KZ400s make great café bikes.

Thank you! Indeed they do.

Welcome.
Steve

Nice job following through on someone's unfinished Brat Tracker.

I swear I've seen this bike on Pintrest.

You picked a good one for a creative vision. Perhaps we'll cross paths on So. Cal's awesome backroads. Vroom-Vroom!

CA_77kz400 wrote: Greetings all,

My name is Gabe — long time lurker, first time poster. The forum has been a huge resource for me, so thank you everyone for your contributions.

Little history - I've been a rider for a little over 10 years. Last year at this time I was in Bali and had rented a little cafe'd out KZ440 on which my girlfriend and I blasted around the island for a few weeks (grinning from ear to ear the entire time). As soon as I got back to LA I set out to find one of my own.

Not long after getting home I tracked down a mostly stock '77 KZ400 which seemed to be in pretty good shape. I took it to a local shop for a little tune-up and the little thing just ripped. That is…until 3 weeks later when the bottom end seized.

…so, I took the opportunity to tear the bike down completely and build my dream cafe racer. Needless to say, It's been a labor of love over the last year.

If anyone's curious to know more I'll post up all of the details. Below are photos…the first pictures are more recent (the later pictures show an older seat). The last photo is when I originally purchased the bike.

It's not quite done, but what bike ever is?

I've also seen those old KZ400's made into cool looking choppers that were a lot of fun to ride,..reminiscent of the Triumphs of that era. vroom-vroom!

Versatile bikes these KZ400's were for the creative minds. Looks kinda like the Denco 2-1 header I had on my '77 KZ400.

Love the Ape-hangers! Vroom-vroom!!!