KZ440 bar hopper

This is a kz440 that I built last year to bust around the city on. A friend had a 440 carcass that had been sitting around for a few years and one night after a few beers i told him if he gave it me I'd build a little bar hopper out of it.







And this year I built this chop to run on a more daily basis...its not a Kawi but what you gonna do. It more or less fell into my lap and it was a cheap build

Im diggin the bar hopper. I would like handle bars like that on my chop but i cant seem to find pipe cutters to cut up my current bars. the pipe cutter creates a square flat cut so everything goes back together nice haha.

i notice the water bottle holder on the newer project. I thought about making a Timmies cup holder right in my tank haha!

I would need some good narcotics for my back if I rode either one of those.


I like the looks of the first one, not to shabby for a free project. Cudos to ya

Billy_Slicks wrote:

And this year I built this chop to run on a more daily basis...its not a Kawi but what you gonna do. It more or less fell into my lap and it was a cheap build


3.bp.blogspot.com/_rxAlTUpEHU0/TDNpwfAQ8...s/s1600/IMG_2938.JPG [/img]

"But what you gonna do...."

Here's what I did with my BSA back when..

But here's what I should have done....

So Is that truly a water bottle, or is it a catch can or a spare fuel holder or something?

I've seen a few guys run one of the aluminum bottles that is meant for transporting coleman fuel for camping. I've even seen a couple cool leather holders made especially for that purpose that mount to the frame.

On the bar hopper, what is beside the rear tire? Fake oil can/ electrics box?

I'm hoping to do a barhopper this winter, my doner is an RD400.

What carbs and air filters are you running on the 440? I'm working on a similar project and having all kinds of headaches tryin to get it to run smoothly without the stock airbox.

Ha! - Finally somebody agrees with me that a bobber/chopper is NOT good for back problems! A leaning forward stance, café racer tuck & crouch - SUPPORTS your back, rather than let your spine flick around like a whip aerial antenna - It's CRAZY how so many people "settle down" into riding like that. Worst possible thing you can DO for your back. It's as though the entire set-up of a bike like that is meant to ride like a pick-up truck, right down to the foot-brake. Might as well put a steering wheel on it. ME well, I'm doing the bike thing to AVOID having to sit in a car or truck - very painful for me with MY messed up back. Therapeutic on a whole host of different levels....

ANYWAY - it's cool to see a KZ440LTD set up with wire-spoke wheels, at least. Though it's just a chromed-steel Firestone rim it's still a hell of a lot better than the OEM cast/mag boat-anchor rims.

I'm building a bike for my teenaged Ex-Daughter, that incorporates all of the above - not the BSA engine, regrettably ha-ha. But it's got the Suzuki 4LS drum hub and 16" rim - pictured in my Avatar - front and rear it's the Borrani 3.00x16" flanged/shouldered deep-drop-center alloy "Rinforzatto" aka RECORD rim (now being produced once again, so too the 3.00x18", available from Motocicli Veloci Milano in Italy), with additional wheels for spares AND a planned side-hack down the road using the matching 2LS drum from the T500 Titan - 'cause I had to buy a whole bunch of these rims USED before I could find one to fit the 4LS front hub - turns out XS650 was the correct fitment, ergo 2.50x16" rims from Mike's XS would be a cheap alternative!) and only THEN do they come out with new production rims argh. The idea is to use low-profile tires intended for Maxi-Scooters, 110/70 & 140/70 - it occurred to me while scanning a Michelin tire catalogue looking for tires for my DOHC Honda AND for the kid's little 50cc scooter, while also shopping earlier that day for wire rims - where I'd noticed how the old 16" Firestone rims are practically a give-away in fact you could probably haul 'em out of dumpsters if you knew where to look ha-ha. But when I read about the then-new 16" Maxi-Scooter tires and their recommended rim widths AND recommended load bearing index - ie, better than the OEM tires for a KZ440 - A light went off in my head! So I jumped on the idea but where initially I wanted to go with 40-hole KZ440S hubs front and rear using cheap old CB750 chopper rims, I gave it some thought about my kid's safety and splurged on the bigger drum for over-kill on the stopping power, and off-set some weight with the alloy rims. Far more expensive of a version of the same damn thing, but it's for my Lil' GRRRLz first "proper" motorcycle, so I'm not cutting corners. I've scored all-NOS belt-drives for it (both ratios) and a tank from a '70 H1 triple, which has been a bitch to fit it's required the whole tunnel to be cut out - and I haven't even got it welded back together yet. What sucks is it's probably gonna severely reduce the fuel capacity, so I'm thinking it could use a custom-bent tunnel inside that'll really hug the back-bone, maybe cut down the existing tank mount lugs so that's narrower too.

I've got some Tarozzi rear-set pegs, which came with MY bike, my "CB900K0 Bol Bomber" - I'm thinking they might wind up on the KZ if I can't find anything better. I want the pegs to look OEM, maybe something from the early trail-bikes & dirt-bikes, but then again I like the vintage Kawasaki peg rubbers too.... But yeah - the Tarozzi rear-sets are about the last type I'd select for either bike. I prefer to see all OEM parts, just juxtaposed in different ways, welded lugs in novel positions to move 'em into the rear-set position etc. The Honda has a far easier system of moving 'em around, and as yet I haven't figured out much for the KZ other than that I'm gonna need to weld some lugs on for something else to fit. It'd be nice to use the existing peg mounts, but I don't know of any peg pivots that would fit 'em and move everything back far enough. Especially given that the KZ's peg lugs are asymmetrical. (ASSymetrical one might say....)

So it's taking a long time to build, it hasn't been cheap and I'm on a fixed disability income. But the goal is to pull SOMETHING off for this next riding season.

I've got the front end all figured out, I'm using a spare 39mm fork from CB900F, and leaving some options open for handlebars so the Kid can select her OWN bar height etc. Though I'll be pushing the clubmans and broomstick bars, aero-bars etc. What would be really nice is a Superbike bend really low like that, but with the welded-in cross brace of an MX bar of '70s extraction. Meanwhile the main stumbling blocks are welding that tank back shut, the rear-set pegs, and a decent seat cover that doesn't obscure the frame. Oh and I want a good book rack for it too. Possibly one on the front fender too, ala my old C70 Passport. The KZ400D deluxe had a nice rack.....

It's a fun little bike. Though having experienced a KZ440LTD on the highway, I regard this as something of an inner-city commuter, and I plan to build her a proper highway bike right after this one's done. I'm thinking of an ultra-light version of my CB900K0 Bol Bomber, in 750 form, with either another 4LS drum up front or a hand-me-down front end from the 900 when I upgrade my OWN fork. I guess we'll see. But I see it with a dust-bin fairing that much I know for sure. I've bought a fairing bracket for the DOHC Honda that doesn't fit the bubble fairing I've got for the 900, it's far more suitable for a dust-bin. So rather than farm it out, sell it off, toss it out - I'm gonna put it to good use. Eventually.

I've got enough wire-spoke alloy rims for these bikes that I could build wheels for my next three or four projects. So I'm gonna try and BUILD those three or four projects. Or at the very least, to try out some different wheel-sets on THESE bikes.

Well - whatever. Enough about MY bikes. It's just cool to see this thread's got some far more sensible suggestions for the BSA A10 and thereby implicitly the KZ440 as well. Just 'cause the 'LTD already has a Chopper-esque or "Chopperette" stance, doesn't mean you've gotta STICK with it. De-chopper-ization can be a massive pain in the nuts. But it's worthwhile iMHO. Japanese chopperette versions of regular street-bike models are some of the last good bargains aka FREE 2nd-hand bikes left out there. Methinks the next frontier will be to de-chopper-ize the MID '80s stuff with the bigger hotter engines. The Honda VF Magna, Suzuki Madura, the KZ454LTD liquid-cooled version of this here bike! Now THAT would be a challenge.

There seem to be some good belt-drive bits off the 454 though. I like the rear cush-drive slash pulley carrier part. I'd like to incorporate that into a 36-spoke version of the rear wheel I'm building here.

Yanno - the more I look at the BSA café in this thread, the more I'm thinking the spare wheel-set for this bike should incorporate some more standard sized 18" rims. I've got a spare 4LS hub and rear drums for KZ are cheap like borscht. It's just that ... with the changes to suspension and ground clearance etc, with the price of another beat-up KZ440LTD, I might as well build THAT as a whole 2nd bike! I guess we'll see. The spare belt-drive is handy, but then again it could be adapted to another model. Even without cutting out the center splines from the drive pulley, I hear that the spline is the same as the output shaft on the GPZ600 and that the GPZ engine is a swap into a KZ550 chassis. It's an interesting thought, anyhow.

What I REALLY need for this thing is a kick-start only engine, 440cc's but with the KZ400 bottom end. Then ditch the battery, ditch the electric starter and starter-clutch, run one of those capacitors for holding ignition charge, OR ditch the generator too and run a small gel battery for a total-loss racing type ignition - either way, thereby shedding probably 20lbs in all - it would be a smart mod IMHO. But of course they didn't BUILD these engines like that - you'd need to rebuild it from the ground up, wouldn't you?

Or is there any possibility of fudging the kick-starter from the 400 into the 440 without tearing down the ENTIRE engine?

-S.

leon

PEOPLE :whistle:
Steve

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

531blackbanshee wrote:

leon

I don't give a shit - I'll DO IT AGAIN! 'Cause it's STILL sexy to see a KZ440LTD with wire-spoke wheels.....

-S.