'78 KZ1000A2A (now a hardtail bobber)

Unrelated to my project, but I found my next victim today...





It's a '77 Yamaha 750 Speckle, 3 cylinder, 12K miles, complete but nowhere near running. I'll probably bob it if it runs well, if not I'll part it out.

Hey fivestring, have you every made a visit to Steve's Cycle Salvage in Tifton, Ga? Looks to be all under roof. Just wondering how their inventory and prices are. Bike is looking good. Good luck with the Yamaha. Always wondered about those triples. Haven't heard much about them.

Thanks, Joe. I have never heard of that place but I will look it up and let you know.

I bought the Yamaha without a key, but I just bought one off Ebay and it works! Only $10 shipped and in two days I got a brand new key that unlocks the gas cap and seat and operates the ignition just dandy! All I did was match the number stamped on the locks to the key I purchased.

So I unlocked the seat and lifted it up. Along with a large mud dobber's nest, I found everything intact like it hadn't been touched in years. Even the original tool kit is there.

I also opened the gas tank. A lot of rust on the cap and inside tank so that will need to be addressed.

On the KZ, I am looking for a solo seat. I don't want to cut up my original pan. But it seems all the solo seats on Ebay are on the expensive side. Maybe the place in Tifton can help me out.

Joe, google Steve's Cycle Salvage. 10 reviews and they are all horrible. Some real bad stories there. I think I will stay away, far far away.

Found this seat on Craigslist. It should be arriving in a week or so.



The Yamaha I just bought seems to have a locked up engine, so I am in the process of parting it out. I really wanted to get it fixed up for my wife or teenage kids to ride with me. Guess I'll keep looking for another project.

Still waiting on the seat to arrive, but I picked up the trailer fender from a local hardware store and purchased a few pieces of steel tubing and angle steel.

So I got home and decided to get started..

I've got to figure out what to do with all the electrical stuff.





I got all the electrical stuff out of the way and finally removed the battery and battery box. I now see I should have lots of room for hiding all that mess between the battery and the rear tire because of having a few inches of stretch.


Hopefully the seat will come tomorrow so I can start to figure out exactly where to cut the frame.

Got a little progress made over the weekend. I have all the extra metal cut and ground out, the passenger pegs ground off, etc.



I am now fabricating the new frame rails to extend to the tail end of the swing arm. I'm looking for a way to cut the ends of the tubing with a radius so they fit nice and tight where tubing meets tubing. I'm considering buying a 7/8" bi-metal hole saw to use on a drill press.

I have enough room between the rear of the engine and front of the rear tire to use this as a battery box and wiring hideout...

Keep it coming man A note on fitting tubing- I know a hole saw in a drill press sounds like it would work perfect, but for what you're doing it's easier and faster to fish mouth the tubing using a bench grinder. Keep up the good work!

Fishmouth, just cutting a 'V' in the end?

Well, not a "V" but grind out a "U" to fit the tube you're mating to. I would set the tube in place, mark the orientation with a Sharpie, then rough in the "U". I would keep test fitting the tube and making small corrections at a time until it fit. Good luck!

Well, due to my pathetic welding abilities, I decided to give the hole saw idea a try. I need the pieces to fit together pretty tightly. So, I got a 1" Milwaukee Ice hole saw off Ebay. I tried it out tonight. It works pretty well.

The first few pics are a cross member I will install for the seat and fender mount.











My chain is very close to the new frame rail so I don't know exactly what I'm going to do just yet. I may have to make the whole thing wider for extra clearance for the chain...

Nothing is welded yet. I want to get all the pieces made and mocked up before I weld anything.