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Hey guys!
I just purchased a 1980 kz750ltd-h1. I just got in a wreck on my ducati panigale 959 and I figured I'd try something a little more old-school. She needs some elbow grease but it's been fun learning new things. If anyone can point me to learning more about a few listed things please let me know!
1) Aftermarket/upgraded suspension. Man the rear of this bike on stock shocks feel awful. What do people get to increase the handling a bit? I'm used to just looking at suspension manufactures (Ohlins, Showa, etc) to buy better setups...but on something of this age, do I need to have something custom made? My forks dive quite a lot too. They definitely need new seals and oil, but do people do anything to stiffen the front up a bit?
2) Steering stabilizer/dampers. Are they a thing on these bikes? I had them on my panigale and they were great.
3) The wheel sizes are pretty crazy. The rear wheel seems to be quite a bit smaller. Do people put on a bigger rear wheel/ smaller rear wheel? Maybe equal sized front and rears?

If these questions were already asked/answered, could someone point me to those threads? Sorry for the questions and thanks for having me.

Welcome aboard.
Rear suspension. Ohlins is best, Ikon (Koni) and Hagon are very good. Some folks like Progressive.
Forks- Race Tech and Progressive are the most popular choices for new springs. There is another popular choice, but the name escapes me at the moment. Oh, Sonic is the other fork spring company.
A complete front end from a more modern bike is also an option, but much more complicated.
For tires, a lot of folks opt for Pirelli or Avon in stock sizes. Some folks go with modern 17 inch rims on both ends to take advantage of the best modern rubber. This is also more complicated and expensive than sticking with the factory stuff.
New shocks, rebuilt forks with new springs, and high quality new tires might just surprise you, and will keep the vintage look of the bike. I think that is what most folks do.

P.S. with properly rebuilt and set up factory suspension and wheels, a steering damper is rarely needed.

Z1Enterprises.com carries Progressive brand suspension components. fork spring kits & shocks.
Hagon shocks are another option & I think they can be kind of tailor fit to account for rider weight & other stuff.

The KZ750H Ltd has a 19" Fr wheel & 16" Rr w fat rear tire. You might be able to go with an 18" Rr from a 750E.
For the front maybe an 18" Fr from a KZ1000P Police bike, but I don't know what a smaller Fr wheel will do to the handling.
The 750E rear wheel w tire should be slightly larger in diameter than the Ltd 16" tire. I did the math a while ago & it's about 1/2" larger
in diameter. I don't know if the tire would rub against the fender if the shocks bottom out.
Several other models probably have the same Rr as the 750E, such as the 750L & KZ700.
The 1000P was pretty much unchanged through the entire model run from 1982 to 2005. Its Fr wheel might be a little wider than a 750 wheel.

...

Thank you martin and texas!
TexasKZ: Does Ohlins make suspension specific for my bike, or do I need to find one that just measures out correctly? I'd love to have ohlins on the back. I've seen the build thread of a guy swapping a zx6r front and rear. That's a lot more work than I am willing to put into this bike. I feel like at that point I rather just have a zx6r. I'll work on grabbing some progressive spring kits and freshening up the shocks.

Martin: Sweet thank you for the wheel information. Im a extremely light guy, it's very hard for me to bottom the shocks out. I was thinking a smaller front wheel and larger rear wheel will give me some better control over weight in the front, helping me swing the bike through a corner. I'm not experience enough to say that as a fact. I'm guessing ebay is the best place to find these wheels?

Ah one more thing to tack on..
The brakes SUCK. I can't tell if its just because I'm going from full brembos to single pot calipers...but I have a hard time locking up the tires. I thought about retrofitting some larger calipers on, but I imagine I can get away with just putting on stainless lines and some nice pads? I already flushed the fluid which helped it a touch..

Stainless lines will make the brakes feel better but won't add much stopping power if any. New pads on the other hand can help dramatically. I've always run sintered metal pads for the wet weather performance but you might be able to find something better.

FYI the brakes will never be as good as what you're used to even if you put larger calipers on.

Potato959 wrote: ................but I have a hard time locking up the tires. ....................

Why would you want to lock up the tires? Ed

Nils is one of our vendors. He sells and tunes shocks.
Steve

I don't know for sure, but I kinda doubt if Ohlins has anything listed specifically for the 750LTD. I bet Nils could get you set with some customized shocks that would be way better than the factory shocks even when new.
I had a 750 LTD twin a bunch of years ago. I put Progressive springs and some heavier oil in the forks, and they made a world of difference. However, I was disappointed with the Progressive shocks as they were awefully harsh, even on the lowest settings.

Rear wheel. The KZ1000P also has an 18" rear wheel, but it's wider than the 750E. The 1000 probably uses a bigger axle (larger diameter), so the other hub stuff is bigger as well. The wider wheel may not be a problem, since your swing arm already accepts a wide Ltd. I believe the 750H is 3" wide, the 750E is 2.15" & the 1000P is 2.50". I don't know if there will be brake rotor alignment issues with a Police wheel. There may be wheel bearings that will mate a 1000 wheel to the 750 axle. I don't know if a larger axle can be used with the 750 Ltd swing arm.

You can compare stuff at Partzilla. There are other places w parts diagrams, such as Kawasaki.com or cmsnl.com, but partzilla is the easiest to use.


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650ed: Im just trying to get a feel for the brakes. I knew where my Duc would lock up and where abs would kick in. Just trying to see how much stopping power the bike has.
Fischer779: yeah I know it won't be the same haha. I'm gonna miss that 959.
Texaskz: hm do you have a link to Nils? Is that a guy or a website? I'm not concerned with a ride being too stiff. I'm used to it coming from a supersport.
Martin: thanks again! I'll work on the suspension first and then try a different wheel setup. There's a local cafe guy around my part of town. maybe he can also help.