My Bobber

well, its been almost a season and a half of steady building, and ive put alot of miles on the bike as well, so any work has been on a down day, besides the little bit of work i did over the winter, which was suprisingly little.

anyways, its a 78 kz650b, the front end, wheels, and most of the frame and engine is factory, with the exception of the hardtail. its got a 68 sporty tank, and an original circa '71 le pera chopper seat i found online. the rear fender is a front fender of a kz the same year and everything, extended the stock fender struts a few inches and then welded it up, also welded it to the rear seat support, made my own spring seats and front seat mount as well. also the rear tank mount i fabbed. built the handlebars, and the suicide shifter with hand clutch, used the clutch lever off an older kawi 250. gauge is the stock speedo, built into a bracket i fabbed up, with a chrome speedo bucket i found in a pile of KZ parts in my buddys garage. built the pipes from the stock exhaust cut off before the collector, and then some exhaust repair tubing from canadian tire, then lined up and slash cut on the chop saw. grips and controls still factory, barend mirror came from a bicycle shop. fabbed up some quick forward pegs, which ended up finding a permanent home on the bike. still has the stock mid controls, the bike had no rear brake pedal so i had to fab one up from parts, same with the shifter, hence the jockey. the bike had no signal lights when i bought it, the system was either optional, or had been removed prior, which is fine because in saskatchewan on a vintage bike you dont need em anyways, so i just use hand signals. cops dont really care here. just recently i did the carbs and pod filters, and built a new battery/electrics box, which turned out fairly decent, and the bike now runs fantastic. its been geared up for a smoother highway ride, three teeth larger on the front sprocket. im literally in having lunch in the middle of making a new tail light and liscence plate bracket, and beyond that theres lots of other little things here and there but whatever haha, too many little details.

anyways here she is.











and some video.

You even have the old school helmet, cool bike but I would need flexiril and vicoden after riding that. Different but cool.

Nice scoot dude. I would so kill myself with that shifter. Enjoy.

thanks guys. it takes some getting used to, but the ride, the shifter, the bars, its all actually quite comfortable, the seat springs dont ride a whole lot different from the stock suspension, and the fatter dunlop back tire helps too.

Sounds great....i hope my 550 will sound some what like that when i finish her.

might not be as throaty, ive noticed even bigger KZs with the same type of pipes sound way deeper. heard a cb400 twin with the same kind of pipes on it it was even a twin and it sounded weak. also the pod filters change the sound a whole lot. hope it works out for ya man for sure.

im reminded of some of the posts about how i "cut up a nice stocker" and i get this alot, i guess the pics dont do the bike justice for when i first bought it. thing is, in the pics it looks alright, up close you could see the peeled and grey-faded paint, places where the tank had rusted through, and the carnage from being dumped about fifteen times. it had been about six peoples first bike, it had been through hell and back, its a miracle it lived as long as it did. and sitting in a chicken house not moving for 10 years didnt help it any either, alot of things didnt work and alot of parts were missing, or rusted beyond save use. that latter detail pertained very much to the exhaust, which in the pictures looks alright but it was so thin and rusted out i didnt even have to cut it off. i unbolted the pipes and they fell off right at the collector. this bike was either going to be a project or a scrap parts bike. personally i feel this is a much better fate than seeing a good strong motor and some of the nice options like the chrome spoke wheels and chrome fenders ending up in a steel yard somewhere. believe me guys, its one more KZ that will live to see a whole second lifetime, that should have probably been dumped off at a wrecker. its part of why i love this bike so much, i gave it a second chance at life, and it makes me grin like an idiot just sitting on it in my driveway.

that is a beautiful bike its refreshing to see someone not using a freaking 200 to build one. i think i might steal your idea for the shifter that is genious.
kudos to you and all that hard work it shows.

I like it! Well done.

Nice looking bike man, I'm working on something similar its an 81 kz650 and i welded the swing arm the same way you did, are you having any problems with it? where did you get the carb filters? iv found some on ebay but thats it.

thanks guys!

i got the pod filters from a bike shop in a town just up the road, beware of cheap ones theyre not very good quality and wont filter properly. also youll have to jet your carbs and tune them.

i built the hardtail out of DOM and havent had any problems with it at all, im quite fond of it actually. but i love the ride of a rigid, feels like theres a bike under you not a couch, it can be really hard to ride, i know a few of my friends have ridden it like even at low speeds and will never ride it again. on the other hand, i frequently go on full weekend rides with it, and it doesnt phase me really.

I really like this bike man. Good work. R u a member on customfighters.com? I think i have seen you there before, possibly in a gs1150 build thread

bike turned out very cool,good eye!
nice save as well,it is always nice to feel like you made something better than what you started with.

leon holmes