'78 KZ650B cafe/street project. Nuttin fancy...

Well, the KZ left me stranded a few miles from the house the other day so I took it home and decided to tear into it and begin its transformation into the bike that's been dancing around in my head for a while now...

My goal is a fairly mild mannered, yet capable semi-cafe/street bike. What I started with was a very complete and fully stock 1978 KZ650B that was in very good condition and very clean.

Here is a list of some of the things I've done to it plus what I have planned to do...

-Removed the rear chrome fender and tail lights
-Shortened the frame by 3"
-Removed the seat cover and foam and cut down the original pan more to my liking.
-Recovered the pan with 1.5" of memory foam and leather from an old jacket...
-installed integrated tail, brake and turn signal LED rear lights
-Removed stock rear shocks and installed new progressive wound / piggyback shocks.
-rebuilding front shock with progressive springs and possibly Racetech "gold valves"
-adding an ATK fork brace
-Installed custom build handle bars
-considering a small cafe fairing
-modified '03 ZX12R 6 piston dual calipers on dual cross drilled rotors
-Qfin grips
-All new cables, seals, etc...
-electronic ignition
-super trap exhaust
-K&N air filter
-tuned carbs
-custom cams if I can find a source...
-Whatever else I dream up along the way!

(Sorry for the mess, but it's all I've got to work in at the moment...) Here are a few before and "in progress" pics:

Day I got it...












Installed custom handle bars...










Working on the tail section and the seat...






















Old rear shock...



New, shiny rear shock...



Modifying the ZX12R calipers to clear the spoke wheel... (I love the spokes! What can I say???)











Misc. mayhem...



















I'll get it back together soon hopefully so I can ride it again. I'm waiting on a few parts, but think I'll hold off on any major engine upgrades for now just so I can get some ride time in this season...

Hope you guys like it... I'll update it as I progress.

-Richard

I have to admit I fell for the old picture genie. Bikes sure look better in pictures. When I first saw the pictures I fell in love. Wow she looked clean and new. Then as your close-up reveals she has the 30 year old patina on her. Still you looked to have a pretty solid 100% there bike. Give her some love and do what you got to do. If it ain't running down the road it ain't right. I do love watching these projects.

Yeah, she cleaned up real nice, but was still a 30+ year old bike with it's flaws... Very solid too and is perfect for what I'm doing I think... The main thing for me is that the chrome was in very ggod shape. everything else is fairly easy to freshen up. I'm not going too crazy with the "cut 'n pasting", but trying to be tasteful with my modifications. I'll be posting up better pics as it come together over the next few weeks.

Thanks!
Richard

looks like some good progress so far, I'm sure you'll end up with a killer bike!

Watching what you do with those brakes. I have a '78 B2 and would love to upgrade my brakes. Looks like you are keeping the stock forks, just changing out the brake calipers, MC and levers?

Yep. That's right. I just bought the calipers, master with lever, distribution block and all the lines from a guy on eBay for $100. I also got some disks for a KZ650 "C" and will be using them. All I'm doing is clearancing the back of the calipers to clear the spoke wheel, which you wouldn't have to deal with if you have an alloy wheel, but I like the spokes... I will also fabricate an adapter bracket to mount them to the original forks... I'll keep taking pics as I go.

Thanks!
Richard

Your inspiring me to mess with my brake system, the stopping power on my bike is not doin me justice on these mountain roads. Looks great so far man keep it up!

Cool. I have converted to dual disc brakes in the front and kept the drum in the rear, but the bike is not rolling yet. I changed out the MC & lever to an '09 Kawi 650R, but still using the stock brake calipers. I will change to SS brake lines when I get closer to completion.

How are you going to fab the adaptor? Are you a machinist?

Are those zx-12r calipers hanging on the KZ rotors with pads or without? The reason I ask is that the Ninja rotors are likely quite a bit thinner than the KZ pieces. You might have a hard time fitting them on with a fresh set of pads. Just something to look out for before you get too far down the road. I can attest that those six piston Tokicos will be a nice improvement in stopping power if you can make them work.

Are modern disks made of dif materials? u may want to see if there are any issues running modern pads on the old disks. not sure if u will have a problem but if they are avail u may want to look into other pad compounds?
just a heads up.
Cool project
Good luck
M

BURLEIGH wrote: Yep. That's right. I just bought the calipers, master with lever, distribution block and all the lines from a guy on eBay for $100. I also got some disks for a KZ650 "C" and will be using them. All I'm doing is clearancing the back of the calipers to clear the spoke wheel, which you wouldn't have to deal with if you have an alloy wheel, but I like the spokes... I will also fabricate an adapter bracket to mount them to the original forks... I'll keep taking pics as I go.

Thanks!
Richard

You might want to check your rotors before you make your caliper brackets. If I remember correctly, the 650 Custom had smaller rotors than the B model. I think it was because the B model had single disk front/drum rear and the Custom had triple disk.

Sorry for the slow response. I just started a new job and have been too busy to get any work done on the bike until tonight...

No, I'm not a machinist, just a hobbyist with a milling machine... However, I do quite a bit of my fabrication with a drill and a 4" side grinder. LOL!

Yes, I did consider all the differences in the sizes of the components. It actually worked out a lot better and easier than I had originally anticipated...

Here are a few pics of what I did today. All I have to do is make a bracket that will bolt to the top ear on the fork and connect to the top ear on the caliper.

























Hope this answers a few questions. I'll post up some pics of the brackets when I get them done. I'll try and work on getting the other side done tomorrow, but it will likely be next weekend...

-Richard