1980 KZ440A LTD Bobber Project

Hey, I'm Steve. I just picked up my first bike a week ago (80 KZ440A LTD) to take on as a bobber project - something I've wanted to do for ages now, but being in Canada, a car is a bit of a priority since there's snow on the ground for 5-6 months out fo the year.

I bought the bike last week from a guy who was building it in the garage of his girlfriend's house, but due to a breakup, he was forced to sell. The bike was in overall good shape and ran pretty well when he started the project. Before winter hit he was able to get the back end stance sitting about right, picked up a Sportster-style tank and was getting ready to weld up the swing arm for a budget hardtail conversion.

Anyway, here's my progress on the project up to this point. If you're on Facebook, hit the link in my sig for more pics.

When he bought it last year


Chopped rear end with Harley springs, Sportster tank and front fender in place to get an idea


Mon, April 16: Delivered to my garage


Tues, April 17: Electrical and handlebars stripped. Straight bar set in place... I'm still trying to figure out what bars I want to use, but this does look good and beefy.


Tues, April 17: How he left the back end. He had the flatbars in place in preparation for frame mods to weld up the swingarm... I'm toying with a real hardtail conversion with the universail kit from TC Bros. (need to talk to my uncle who's a tradesman welder and see if he'll be willing to work for beer... he just retired this winter, so hopefully he needs a weekend project )


Wed, April 18: Engine out. That wall-mounted folding bench I made last fall is damn handy for the project.


Thurs, April 19: De-greasing and cleanup central


Fri, April 20: My regular work bench is relocated for a great bike lift. I started to knock off tabs for the plastics, reflectors, etc. over the weekend, but I need to borrow the old man's air compressor because my little 3 gallon tank doesn't have the balls to run my mini die grinder for more than 10 seconds at a time, making cleanup ridiculously slow and just painful.

Looks good! Any updates?