My 1st motorcycle: 1976 KZ900

My initial post was deleted, but I am back with pictures this time.
A bit of background - I am in the Midwest USA, Nebraska. I came into a 76 KZ900 by way of my parents garage. The bike was abandoned and sat for approx. 10 years before I took responsibility for it. I had no idea what kind of bike it was, thought it was just some junker, and come to find out there is a whole community built around KZ's!
I took the MSF in the fall and got my license shortly afterward. The bike sat in my garage over the winter and is now being prepped for hopefully a long life with me as its owner!

I am a novice rider with less than 200 miles under my belt. I look forward to joining a new community and learning stuff as I go. I don't necessarily look forward to the money this thing is seemingly all too comfortable with stealing from me. I hope to get it running smooth soon so I can enjoy over the summer/fall.

I think the bike overall is pretty clean and am glad I found my way into it.
Also...note the Vermont plates. Long story short...I ran into problems getting a title because my parents and the guy who abandoned it weren't on the right side of the law. I should be getting legal Nebraska plates soon!

Really nice bike.

Hello Conspiracy

Your bike is a good and clean basis to start a project, lets go this bike has potential to get more at it is now!!!!

Michael

Looks like you have some Z1 parts on there. Looks good.
Steve

Welcome and nice bike, I had blue pipes like yours on my bike, I bought Blue Away at the Kawasaki dealer and cleaned them, and then put a richer fuel mixture in the carbs and they haven't turned blue again.

SWest wrote: Looks like you have some Z1 parts on there. Looks good.
Steve

Can you elaborate? I am still looking for the differences.

Tail light, rear fin, side covers, carbs.
Steve

Nice bike Conspiracy, you have a lot of potential with your bike.

If you only have 200 miles of motorcycle experience, I would find another older bike to gain experience on. Just so you don't crash this nice bike.
Your bike could be a 'superbike' very easily, by just removing few choice parts (and adding one or two).
Enjoy your new KZ!

That's a nice KZ.
A KZ900 is a big, tall bike to learn on. Me we suggest getting a smaller, lighter bike to serve as training wheels for your first riding season? Much easier to recover from simple mistakes on something smaller & easier to handle. Also, a set of case guards would protect those nice points and dyno covers in the event of a parking lot drop. Happens to all of us eventually.

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

SWest wrote: Tail light, rear fin, side covers, carbs.
Steve

I am interested in the carbs since they are giving me trouble. My mechanic said they are 26mm, I thought the Z1 had 28mm? I am just ready to buy rebuild kits for the carbs and would have been out of luck if I bought the wrong ones. Thanks,

slmjim+Z1BEBE wrote: That's a nice KZ.
A KZ900 is a big, tall bike to learn on. Me we suggest getting a smaller, lighter bike to serve as training wheels for your first riding season? Much easier to recover from simple mistakes on something smaller & easier to handle. Also, a set of case guards would protect those nice points and dyno covers in the event of a parking lot drop. Happens to all of us eventually.

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

No Doubt! I learned how to ride on a bicycle (haha) then took the MSF on a TU250x. My bike is A LOT bigger than a TU250x!
Since I am new to this motorcycle thing, and still trying to decide if I have the money and patience for it, I cannot buy another bike. I got this for free and have already put nearly $1000 into getting it tuned, tires, replacing old parts, etc...I think I will ride on this for this season and then decide if it is going to be a more permanent part of my life. I'm having fun so far!

When I bought my 900 I was told, Don't drag your feet, and Don't bump into anything. And Don't think your a nerd to take some classes. Leather up and get a good skid lid.