79 KZ1000st cafed monoshock

very...very....very..nice

what would you have done different in hindsight???


really nice finish...i like the silver swing/driveline....a lot.....

trianglelaguna wrote:

very...very....very..nice

what would you have done different in hindsight???


really nice finish...i like the silver swing/driveline....a lot.....

Same here - I seriously thought you had managed to take a shaft drive and swing arm from another bike...

I don't know about anybody else, but I'd love to see some pics of the 999 linkage at the frame! Very cool looking ride

I'm bettin' that there's no linkage. It looks to me like the shock is in there upside down. Think about the rear suspension on a Ninja 650. I have seen this setup on mountain bikes before. Direct action.

Thank you very much for all of the compliments, I really appreciate it. to answer your questions

1. color is Dupont(i believe) Signal green. It is a fleet vehicle color, and as close to Kawasaki lime green as they could get( I rattle canned it)
2. The rear shock is hooked up directly, no linkage, very similar to the new ninja/versys, or a Ducati 900SS. It took me three tries to get the angle corrent. I had it almost vertical the first time. that didn't work out so well! Bike sank to the ground

I may redo the exhaust splitter, now that my fab skills are a little better, so its not hanging down there in the breeze. I also need to make brackets for the mufflers.

I did this bike myself, with no outside help whatsoever from paint to welding, and I learned a lot. If I had to do it again, I may plan a little better when doing the swingarm. I had a rough idea in my head of how I wanted it to work and look, and I just started cutting/welding away. we'll see how it holds up

I took it out for the first time today for a very short ride. It felt nice and didn't fall apart, so I am good there. Still needs some more tweaking though. I will get some up close pics tomorrow and post them so you can all see exactly how I worked it

Here are some additional pics. Tail section is by Airtech, missed that question on my last reply.





and some more:)

Yeah testerossa, I see it now. I hadn't expanded the pics until now. That's a bold move, using a linkage designed shock as a direct acting unit. But alot of folks here do other stuff just as outside the box. I'm diggin' the fact you did it all yourself; it's the best way to really get aquainted with your girl

greenmeany wrote:

Here are some additional pics. Tail section is by Airtech, missed that question on my last reply.

and some more:)

I sure hope that you got a nut on that bolt through the bottom of the shock in picture number 5 above.

That's the nicest custom shafty I have every seen, nice job.

Thanks again for the compliments.

I took the bike out yesterday and road it for about an hour on a variety of roads. No obvious problems yet. Obviously, it handles a bit differently than it did before the conversion. Back end was still pretty stiff with the pre-load on the shock set at about 1 inch, so I turned it down a bit, to about 1/2 inch of pre-load. Hopefully i will take it out today for another ride and see how it goes.
Still need to fab up a rear fender of sorts, something hugging the tire, and some rear exhaust brackets. Also have some more work to to cleaning up the swingarm to make it look a bit nicer....

NICE JOB!!!

Seriously, that's a very unique KZ you've built there. I don't recall ever seeing any other monoshock shaftdrive before.

The early shaft drive bikes, especially Yamaha, had wicked issues with rise / fall under acceleration / decelleration. How does yours feel in that regard with the monoshock setup?

Larry C

Give yourself a nice pat on the back. Nice job.
It nice to see a dif aproach.