'78 KZ1000 makeover

Chances are Joe, if I hadn't made the rookie mistake of not stuffing a rag in the cam chain tunnel YES, I'd still be riding it. No, I woudn't have taken it apart....it would still be smoking out of the right side, the compression would still be low, and it would still run just fine for putting around town! :ohmy:

porchev914 wrote:

Chances are Joe, if I hadn't made the rookie mistake of not stuffing a rag in the cam chain tunnel YES, I'd still be riding it. No, I woudn't have taken it apart....it would still be smoking out of the right side, the compression would still be low, and it would still run just fine for putting around town! :ohmy:

everything happens for a reason buddy!

Roller mock up:

Canada Post has failed me! Alas, irishwills triples are not here yet. So with the stock GSXR triples, I rolled her out of the garage anyway. I know the tail (and subframe) aren't on, amoung a few other pieces, but I only have so much time on Christmas Eve to screw around in the garage. A more complete mock up will follow tomorrow :woohoo:

Lookin good.Happy Holidays.bj

sweet man.

OK Canada Post didn't fail me, there was an issue with the stem length; irishwill reworked the program to correct the issue. He want's the triples to be perfect before he ships them. Hopefully they will go out next week. That should give me an official roller by early January :woohoo:

porchev914 wrote:

Roller mock up:

Canada Post has failed me! Alas, irishwills triples are not here yet. So with the stock GSXR triples, I rolled her out of the garage anyway. I know the tail (and subframe) aren't on, amoung a few other pieces, but I only have so much time on Christmas Eve to screw around in the garage. A more complete mock up will follow tomorrow :woohoo:

Why do the SSSa bikes always look like the rear wheel is protruding by about 12" in this view? I know it's just a visual effect, and the bike always looks fine in person. Looks good Adam.

Looks like your helper is actually reclaiming some real estate in your garage. When he's done there, you can send him over to Texas. I could use his services. :laugh: Tell him that I make some mean enchiladas.

Merry Christmas.

Most of you will be interested to know that as the bike sits, it is 1" lower than stock at it lowest point (8.5" from ground to bottom of frame tube VS 9.5" stock, suspension unloaded). Because of the shorter forks, there is a downward trend in the lower cradle. With the gullwing triples, I should be able to eliminate most of that, and level out the cradle (mostly I think)

It DOES look outa whack in that pic Josh. As soon as I posted it I though "hmmmm, it looks wierd..... like the rear wheel is closer to the right than the front is".

My apprentice and I made some progress, but there is still alot left to do. I won't be able to employ his services till after the new year, but give us a couple of sunny weekends and we'll have the man cave in ship shape.

Man you're an easy boss. He just started, and you're already giving him a vacation.

I think the swingarm thing is one of those shortcuts that your brain takes gone awry. You are used to seeing a rear wheel constrained by a swingarm on both sides. So when you glance at a bike with an SSSa, your brain tries to process the image quickly and you see the tire leaned up against the outside of the swingarm since there is no structure outside of the tire. This is the kind of thing that fascinates me about the human mind.

You want to see a visual image that will really screw with your head. Check out a Cannondale mountain bike with a Lefty fork. It's hard to even see how that works considering the impact that a mountain bike fork can absorb.

Well, his moma is taking him to the other side of the state, otherwise I have plenty to keep him busy :evil:

Once upon a time, I almost bought a lefty, but I couldn't justify the price for the supplied components. That cannondale has the same visual effect as my bike, that front wheel looks too far the the right :ohmy:

very nice. glad you're adressing the low front issue. I've seen so many customs that had that problem. its gonna be sweet.