'78 KZ1000A2A (now a hardtail bobber)

lookin good!

this thing should fly :evil: !

leon

Got more done today. The fender is mounted. The seat is mounted. There is a license plate and tail light now. The light is just what I had laying around. I want LED lights but haven't come up with a design yet so this will do for now.

I got tired of trying to figure out what I want to do about turn signals so I decided to go without them. I keep changing my plans for this thing it seems every day.

As I sat on the newly mounted seat, it didn't take long to figure out I was going to need forward foot controls if I kept the drag bars. My knees were bent pretty tightly under me as I reached for the bars. So, I tried on an old pair of riser handlebars that came with the bike.....



I really like the look with the 6" dog bone risers and it relieves the stretch for the grips enough that I think I can get away without the forward controls for awhile. I may try my hand at making a custom set of bars to eliminate the risers.

So I decided it was time to rid the bike of all the electric controls and extra wiring...



I removed the headlight bucket and all the rat's nest inside it and then peeled all the extra wires off the frame. Now all that's left forward of the engine is two wires for high/low beam and the mini tachometer. A start button and a high/low beam toggle switch will be mounted at the rear of the tank. Ignition switch and wires, starting system wiring and tail/brake light wires are the only wires that remain.




Then I began grinding the welds on the frame smooth and topping them off with a little Bondo to smooth things out. I hate body work.

Did I mention I hate bodywork? I like sanding and filling and sanding just fine, until I cover my work with primer. Then it looks like a large woman's derrier. I can't seem to get the hang of making things seamless and smooth. Looks like I ran short of Bondo and substituted cottage cheese... :dry:

Anyhoo, here is the frame in gray primer...





I guess it'll be ok. I am going with satin black so the lack of gloss will hide some of my work.

Heading to Advance Auto this morning for some satin black. Going to get both fenders painted and installed today, too,I hope.

It's beginning to look like a bobber!

I got the frame painted today Also, got the back half reassembled.





I installed a 4 led taillight and finalized the tail and brake light wiring. Then I installed a toggle switch with a waterproof boot and safety cover for a start switch. And I added a blue led for the neutral indicator. I have another waterproof toggle coming in the mail to be used as a high beam switch.







So the back half is done for the time being. Now I need to work on the front end. I have a couple driving lights from my Jeep I want to try out as headlights. One lit for low beam and both on for high.

Front fender is now trimmed and painted. I will hold off on mounting it till I get everything else sorted out.

Here's a better picture of the start switch.

Got most everything buttoned up. I may play with making a set of T bars for it yet. I did up one set but they looked dorky on the bike so I took them back off and put some old style bars with the dogbone risers for now. But here it is...for what it is...I like it...

Constructive criticism/comments welcome.

















The "headlights" are fog lights from my Jeep. I have a SPDT, switch on-off-on, so I can run none, one or both lights.

Before...



After...

cool bike you want to get rid of rear fender ??????????????????????????

Hey, nobody.

Thanks for the compliment.

I have another forum member inquiring about the body pieces at the moment. If it falls through, I'll pm you.

It figures. I get my bike on the road when the cold weather arrives. Doh! And I'm a wimp when it cools off. I moved to South Georgia from Pennsylvania and now my blood is a little thinner. I hate the cold.

I still may ride the 20 or so miles to the bike drag races: www.racesgmp.com/index.da going on this weekend. Should be interesting.

Holy Crap!

Went to the drags yesterday. Watched about 8 hours of racing. Many, many old school bikes there. I was pleased to see how the old KZ and GS bikes are still kicking royal butt.

I wish I could post pictures or even videos to give you all a feel of the experience of watching a 4 cylinder bike do 200+mph in under 7 seconds, but it's something you need to see, hear and feel.

The fastest time of the day was (1/4 mile) 5.83 seconds @ 258 mph.







Now I gotta learn how to do a burnout.

Got the new brake parts and everything is back together and on the road again. Yay!

Also pulled the carbs and adjusted one high float. It was running a bit rich and I found #3 float level was higher than the rest. We'll see after I run her a few miles if that will cure the rich condition. There are 130 mains in there and I'm wondering if that might be a bit much, even with pods and open header (now a 4-2 system). I need to pull plugs after a nice ride and see what they look like.

Pulled the rear fender off last night. Just not happy with the look and the chain was occasionally catching the edge on the top side.

I pulled out a rear fender from the parts bike (Yamaha) and the rear plastic fender part and tried making something from them but I think I will ride a little with no rear fender at all.



I know having no front fender was uncomfortable when running through dirt on the road. I ended up getting a faceful of grit. I'll have to see what it is like with no rear render. I already know I'll get a bath up my back on wet roads,but the half fender I had on was not going to help that anyway.