'77 KZ 1000 A1, The Roadrunner

This build is not meant to be ground breaking, but be a nice, reliable, good looking bike that responds to my control inputs exactly as I would like with a few custom touches. I'm picky like that.

Anyway, this is what I started with. Uncomfortable handlebars, controls and cables that sucked, an engine that was jetted way too fat, the wrong battery, ugly front fender, points set too tight, retarded timing, leaky petcock, loose shifter, clutch out of adjustment, bad seals, footpegs upside down, etc.

The good is LTD mags, dual discs, lots 'o' chrome (lol), good fork seals and tubes, and a relatively healthy engine and trans and not much road rash.

The guy swore up and down "What great riding bike it is and why am I trailering it home when I could just ride it?"

It was pissing so much oil out of the countershaft seal I thought I'd have to flat track it the 40 miles back. It amazes me what some people think is "Perfect Riding Condition". It gagged so bad off idle and the steering head bearings were so notchy that making turns off side streets was downright dangerous.

Did a little tuning and it fires right up warm. It had no baffle when I got it.

Added a baffle and got the jetting right. This is cold, full choke.

Here I added an adjustable clutch lever and perch off a EX 500, Renthal aluminum 2.5" rise bars and a brake master off a zx600 IIRC. Lubed and adjusted all cables. Much, much better.

Looking good...nice to see a bike get dialed in and saved.

Changed the fork oil, dropped the tubes in the trees 25/32 of an inch (as far as I could without hitting the bars), replaced the steering head bearings with tapered rollers, added a front fender from a 82 750 LTD (some modification required)and slapped on Dunlop GT501 100/90-19's and changed the fork oil to 15W. I also found stretched fork clamp studs which I replaced.

Mcdroid wrote:

Looking good...nice to see a bike get dialed in and saved.

Thanks McDroid. I had a '77 KZ1000 A1 back in the day and I really loved that bike. I payed too much for this bike but it was the same color as mine, albet an earlier (made in Japan) frame. It really did run strong on the test ride and no smoke. 13K miles. It runs much stronger now, even with a baffle.

You all might note that I also added front turn signals too. Cagers suck.

Replaced the countershaft, clutch pushrod, and shift shaft seals. I also flipped the countershaft spacer and clutch pushrod so the seals would be riding on fresh, no groove steel.

I had a brand new KZ1000A1 in the fall of 1976...bought the first one in San Diego, CA...it was the worst bike I've ever owned...had it for two years, half of which was spent in the shop. Kawasaki ended up warrantying the engine cases and all the internal cam chain adjusters...and I traded that pig for a new 1979 KZ1000B3. Fast forward 30 years and I have two more KZ1000A1...and the prophecy becomes reality...neither of them run or run exceptionally poorly. I may melt down one of them into a series of primitive bits of art. The other has promise...or so I have been saying for three years :laugh:

Glad you have better luck than me.

Holy crap! I worked at a shop that specialized in these beasts (KZ900, 1000, ZIR) for ten years and never ran into this. I just turned 45 and started work at this shop in '85 so maybe the lemons were weeded out by then?

Tolerance stacking can be a bitch...

Oddly, I never had the high speed wobble everyone complains about either and I never ran a damper. I always replaced the swing arm bushings with roller bearings, ran good fork oil and tires though too.