'80 KZ550 Project

*Update*

Well i raked it. It was about 28* stock i think, now its 40*. didnt plan on raking it that far.. oh well hah

fixed the bike to the lift..


leveled everything out and found my center..


cut some here and there..


voila

Well I didn't get much done today. Called in sick for work, didnt roll out of bed until 2pm and it was RAINING. Guh.

I made some cardboard templates, traced onto plate, then cut out with the plasma cutter. Im getting a whole lot better at free hand curves. It cuts just a tad easier than a torch.

looking great... anymore progress?

Long time no see! I've learned so much in the past year its ridiculous..and my friends dont call me Ridiculous Nikolas for nothing...I started a build on TCU bout a year ago and havnt really updated either. Im back (apparently 1 year, 7 months later) and I have updates... not much! but I do.

hmm...we left off at gussets for the hardtail.

For the neck, where I separated the down-tubes, I slugged and welded those up solid. There were concerns from other builders thinking I left that gap open but I definitely, definitely strengthened the neck.




So now that my hardtail is welded on straight, true, plum, square, purple toaster, you name it, I can take a load off and think the hard part is done... NOT!

I went out and got cast BMX pedals for pegs because they have nice spikes that grip shoes and shins.

I made my own set of bar out of the stock mini apes. Here is a pic during fab.





I started mounting random parts on my bike to get a feel of where I was going.. or where I wanted to go..



Here you can see a variation from a sprung seat stock tank..to a tank off of whats called a "Trail Breaker". Thats a two wheel drive bike that can go anywhere nearly. Used by fire fighters and power company guys.

Also put in a mini keg. Thinking about using it for an electrical box down the road.

By this time I have minor things figured out.

I was given an old tractor seat from wayyy back and I wondered how I could make it work.




After I figured out my rear foot brake situation I placed my seat on the bike, tank, handlebars and front end to roll it out for pictures! Im always excited with progress..

From those pics I should have named it Doughboy!
looks fat! and not P-H phat.

I love working with metal as opposed to wood; if you bugger up just tack on more metal, not start all over from scratch with wood and have stress take 7 years off my life....

Back inside we go! plasma time.




Here I have a 300 series wide rear fender. My old man gave it to me. He got it on partial trade for laying down a sick candy apple red paint job on some harleys tins.



I need to section it! as is it wont fit between my wishbones haha



tacked together, just sitting on the tire..


yes im aware its backwards

I wanted to run Pods on my carbs, or maybe velocity stacks so I set out to make some. I know they arent the same shape as stacks but I like where they went and I can easily adapt them to run inside a log intake manifold or just clamp them on as is...


so, cardboard template, cut out the tin


Roll a bead around one edge


and then hammer the shit out of it around a pipe in the vice!


an hour later I had 4 not nearly perfect or identical stacks haha..

moving day!
Thanks goes out to Phil, a friend who drove up from the city to load my bike and gear. the whole way home after every pot hole I would be looking back praying my bike, or the actual trucks box, didnt come flying off...got so bad I was looking back even on the best paved stretch of road haha.



In the city, sitting next to a stock kz250 ltd

With a new job in the city I had a whole fabrication shop to myself.
fk'n Disneyland for fabricators.

I was allowed to store my bike at work, and even work on it after hours there!

Today is a big day. I get my kickstand mounted!
Stripped down again. Ive had this bike together and apart so many times now...

I made axle plate covers by cutting tubing in half and joining either side with flat bar, and using flat bar with recessed holes for covers.

I bought a sporty tank off the local Kijiji for a wicked price so I couldnt say no. I love the shapes of king sporty tanks or peanut tanks as well...

I trimmed my rear fender one night and went to town trying to figure out a mount. eventually I curved some flat bar and welded it vertical between both top and bottom cross supports.

Problem with the tractor seat! Its obviously too wide. I pondered how I would section it for about a year haha.

The shape it is now, its super comfy BUT, i cant bend my legs enough to touch the ground. The distance between my knee and bottom of my foot is just vertically challenged by about 4 inches...

so I cut the seat...




To mount the seat I used more flat bar, but I should have used a leaf spring.
I mounted a plate to the bottom of the seat and ran a mini shock instead of springs.