First time poster, long time Kawi lover

Hello Kz Family, I'm new here and a little about myself. I'm almost 33 dad got me introduced to the love of Kawasaki when I was a kid with his 76 KZ900. Hes also on here sn: Motopsycho .
I live in Minnesota and love to ride, unfortunately the KZ I got is not in riding condition....yet.
Last summer I received a 77 KZ650 as a gift from my dad to do what I wanted with since it did run and has not ran since probably the mid 80s. We received it for free as it was hidden in a garage at an apartment complex, for who knows how many years from a tenant that was evicted years earlier.
I called the DMV and did a full check on the bike and found it had not been looked at in the system since 1985 and was told that I just had to fill out a few forms and I'd be given a brand new title as if I was the only owner of the bike! Woohooo!
So then I had the idea....I've always been a fan of Cafè Racer styling and being a previous owner of an R6 I loved the trying position and comfort it provided, so then I made the decision to restore it from the ground up into a Cafè Racer!
I'm takin my time on it and will definitely have many questions for you guys, I drive a Semi during the week so the weekends are full of family time and what free time I have I try and work on the ol girl.

Well anyways gotta run, hope you all enjoy the progress, I'll post what I have so far, also where do I post my build at? Like as a topic and such so people can follow?

Oh my gosh, that's a beautiful survivor you have there! I'll bet the paint will clean up like new. Good for you

Welcome to KZR !!!!
Nice 650
Dave

Welcome. I'd keep it stock. lots of other bikes to cafe out. You can restore this one, sell it and buy what you want. Maybe a KZP and turn it into a canyon carver.
Steve

Welcome KawiBunga.
I'm also working on a 650C1 project.
Leaning more towards stock myself, as I have another 650 that's not.
Looking forward to your project, and if you have some C1 bits you no longer need, let me know.





My C1 & C2:

There are a million cafe races out there; and frankly they are just ho-hum boring. It looks like your C1 has good original paint. I HIGHLY recommend you actually RESTORE it (not mod) to stock condition. Trust me when I tell you that the KZ650-C1 with original blue paint in stock condition is not only quite rare but also a great looking bike. I know this from 39 years of ownership of the one below. Ed

650ed wrote: There are a million cafe races out there; and frankly they are just ho-hum boring. It looks like your C1 has good original paint. I HIGHLY recommend you actually RESTORE it (not mod) to stock condition. Trust me when I tell you that the KZ650-C1 with original blue paint in stock condition is not only quite rare but also a great looking bike. I know this from 39 years of ownership of the one below. Ed

Attachment BOM02.jpg not found

That's a super clean 650! Yeah mine seems to be bone stock with the luggage rack (don't know if that was an option) it only has 12,350 miles on it. I don't plan on chopping mine up, just removing and keeping the stock parts and adding on bolt on new parts to then maybe later run through it again and bring her back to stock? I don't know, it's a tough decision. I definitely don't plan on selling it for a long time so it's not about the money.

Nice find and a pretty cool Dad
Clean it up and, it back to spec and ride it for awhile before you mod it too much. A lower set of bars and a flatter seat will transform that bike.

please oh please restore it back to stock ,like ed said too good to chop up

Get a can of flat black paint and a hacksaw ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Love of kawasaki my ass Hey its your bike and you can do what you want but dont come on a site where people actualy do love them and show me how your going to make a cafe racer bull shit crap bike. I guess i love them just a tad bit more than you,

peter1958 wrote: Get a can of flat black paint and a hacksaw ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Love of kawasaki my ass Hey its your bike and you can do what you want but dont come on a site where people actualy do love them and show me how your going to make a cafe racer bull shit crap bike. I guess i love them just a tad bit more than you,

Wow, a bit harsh don't you think? Dang, if you actually READ my replies I said I WASN'T going to chop it up. The frame motor and all that are going to stay stock, just rebuilding them. Not a fan of blue, so yes I'm painting it....NOT flat black, it's NOT going to be a true "café racer" it's going to be my own design what ever that is. And hey you don't want me to do that to it and restore it to bone stock, make me an offer to "save" it if you love it so much. And I'm going to go out on a limb here and bet that Alllllll these other guys on here that have modified KZs haven't had had the pleasure of receiving a wonderful response that you've graced me with?!?

So what's your offer to have me rebuild it to stock numbers?

:lol: :lol: :lol: Mine isn't stock ether nor is it chopped up. To each his own. I also hate to see a good bike hacked up unless it's like this.
Steve




I'd like to get a KZP and make my own canyon carver.