New KZ rider

Hello KZ forums,

I've been trolling the forums for quite a while and figured It'd make me feel less creepy if I introduced myself. I split my time between Seattle, WA and Portland, OR. Recently I decided to get my motorcycle endorsement as my civic is far too easy to steal given what I've done to it.

That leads me to my first acquisition, a '83 KZ550h2 (GPZ). It turned out that it needed more attention than I wanted to give a bike seeing as I wanted something that I could commute on in the near future. As the GPZ was relatively cheap and only took up a portion of my budget I happened across a bike far closer to what I wanted, a '81 KZ550a2. Stylistically I always loved the late 70's mid-sized 4 cylinders but seeing as they're the popular bikes to rip apart I had to compromise with something that had similar looks but was newer.

Originally I had the idea to make a cafe styled bike but after pursuing the forums/ craigslist and seeing so many basket cases with cut up frames I gained a great appreciation for the stock appearance of my bike. Seeing as my driving is primarily around town I've been enjoying having a mid-sized bike that I can take higher into the revband without taking flight (not that it doesn't get where it's going very quickly).

I now plan to move the more desirable parts of my GPZ over to the KZ once I get basic maintenance squared away. Short term I plan to upgrade the front to the GPZ's dual disk brakes and swap out the rear for the GPz's rear disk. Long term I plan on rebuilding/ modifying the GPZ's engine and swapping it into the KZ. I'm sure there could be better speed gains elsewhere but like the idea of slowly taking something apart and making a nice around town bike that resembles what someone might have done in the 80's if they had a regular kz550, a modest budget and wanted to make it faster.

Anyways, the project is a ways from starting and right now i'm just enjoying my bike. The tachometer housing came loose at the block so it has been leaking a little plus the valve cover leaks slightly (both contribute to approx. 1/8-1/16 a qt every 1-2 weeks). it has it's quirks, and things that need to be sorted out but it gets me past 80 real quick and hasn't had a problem putting a wide grin on my face.

Look forward to joining the forum,


Joshua

Welcome. Nice little bike.
Steve

Welcome Joshua...welcome to KZR.

Welcome Josh, looks like it'll clean up nicely
Pete

What sold me was the Bud Light can used to patch an exhaust leak.

Luckily the person I bought it from collected/ sold old dual sports so he wasn't much interested in it.

Refurbished wrote: What sold me was the Bud Light can used to patch an exhaust leak.

Luckily the person I bought it from collected/ sold old dual sports so he wasn't much interested in it.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Pete

Of course I'm a big fan of your 550a
I'm looking forward to your customization and glad you were able to see the stock beauty in the beast; sparing it ftom the knife.
Welcome!

Very Nice. I look forward to the build and am glad you are not going to cut it up.
I gotta find me one of those...

Welcome Joshua.
Nice 550!

Welcome Joshua great little fun bike to ride, just needs a good brush up