Bobber project advice...

I have just recently got this motorcycle. The guy told me it was a 1983 kawasaki 440. I'm not entirely sure because i know nothing about kawasaki's. i own a yamaha and thought that id be an awesome project to build my own bobber from the ground up. Well this bike's frame is already bobbed and I was just wondering if anyone out there with some experience in this field could offer up some helpful advice. I figure because the modified frame and everything Im not going to be able to use OEM or buy aftermarket parts without modifying them but if anyone knows where i can get some good parts from it would be helpful. Im gonna build this bike and going to suprise my gf with it becuz shes wanting a bike and i already got two.

Thanks for all the help,
Jason :woohoo:

Hi Jason, I don't know anything about these smaller bikes.
But, you can pretty much do anything with other parts.
Find a Harley Sportster or Superglide rear fender. Cheap on ebay. Mount it. Get a Single saddle solo seat, cheap and mount it.
It looks like them are solid struts on the back.
OK if you are just cruising local. Find a front fender. You want one of them. Most old Kaws will be the same. 2 bolt holes.
It will be pretty easy and cheap.
You got to pay a little if you want to play!
Plus your Girl will dig it more!!!!!
That you built her a cycle! Single seat, Low rider.
YOU GOT A NICE START.

Thanks for the advice... has anyone got any advice about custom exhaust? I'm wanting to build my own...

buy some mild steel bends and cut and weld until you have the exhaust of your dreams :laugh: .
www.speedwaymotors.com/Muscle-Car-Exhaust-Tubing-and-Bends.html
there is a good place to buy some bends for the exhaust from.

keep postin,
leon

Tell me about the old Ford 100 or 150 in the garage.
Notice the round headlights.

Thanks for all the help... and that old ford is the guy that I bought the bike froms truck... and my last question involving this build as of right now does anyone know how I could rake this bike out about 30 degrees? For my yamaha I simply just bought new triple trees but I don't know if there's a kit or something for these older bikes or a special way to do it... thanks again everyone for the help...

Jason kufen

Those have a single tube for a backbone, easy enough to rake them out if you have a welder to hand. Without cutting anything, You can gain some inches by going to an old dirt bike front end with a leading axle.



This was no bobber build, but it is a 250 CanAm tripple tree and tubes (at least that was what the front end was sold to me as), with an old yamaha 250 Exciter front wheel.

So with the dirt bike front end... is that gonna give me the extended rake? Like a prostreet bike or a chopper? and how would I modify it to bolt up to the kawsaki frame...

Thanks,
Jason

jkufen wrote:

So with the dirt bike front end... is that gonna give me the extended rake? Like a prostreet bike or a chopper? and how would I modify it to bolt up to the kawsaki frame...

Thanks,
Jason

It didn't give it any real rake, but it did kick the front wheel further out and made the wheel base about 3.5 inches longer than stock, which is basically all you achieve with a rake anyways. Braking distance was of course increased loosing the hydraulics. Took some searching to find an 18" front wheel to replace the dirt bike 21".

No modification were needed on the front end or frame. I just found a dirt bike front end that had the same post dimensions as the original 440 triple tree, and got a taper bearing kit made for the 440.

Several dirt bike front ends had longer necks that could have been spacer'd/shimmed to fit. Pretty wide selection to choose from.

There are some KZ400 and 440 builds on chopcult, clubchopper forums. Probably someon undergroundchopper forum too. Those are the "chopper" sites I know of that have Metric sections.

You have a good start there. I'd say either put some lowered shocks on there, or just hardtail it the right way. I think TC Bros make a hardtail kit for that model. If not, their universal kit should work. There are also two KZ400 dedicate forums. kz400.com and kz400forums.com I think?

Here's a KZ440 I built a couple years ago for a buddy. If you have any questions let me know.

Does anyone know where I can get a solo seat pan assembly for my bike?