Brat-ish build: '81 KZ-440B

Can you post a pic of where you relocated your ignition switch to?

I might do this on my 400.

treitz wrote: Can you post a pic of where you relocated your ignition switch to?

I might do this on my 400.

Sure, i'll try to snap some good pics tonight of where i put it and what i used.

treitz wrote: Can you post a pic of where you relocated your ignition switch to?

I might do this on my 400.

Alright Treitz, here are some pics. I used the following parts:

www.partzilla.com/parts/detail/aftermarket/XP-4562530.html
www.partzilla.com/parts/detail/aftermarket/XP-4581590.html


As you can see, the mounting hole for the bracket just happen to fit on the stock bolt so I just sandwiched it there and it's holding fine. I had to use extra wire and used 3 different colors so I wouldn't get confused. I put shrink wrap around the wires and just ran it straight up the frame rail and into the headlight bucket. Pretty easy.

Right on! Thanks for the shot. Although I was hoping you had pulled it off with the stock ignition

I'll have to see if I can find a place to stick my stock ignition. Would love to move it so I can center my speedo.

treitz wrote: Right on! Thanks for the shot. Although I was hoping you had pulled it off with the stock ignition

I'll have to see if I can find a place to stick my stock ignition. Would love to move it so I can center my speedo.

my stock ignition was so long and big (pardon the adjectives) that it wouldn't have been able to be moved anywhere. It was a lot easier just to use the small universal ignition, especially for the price.

Awesome thread and great looking bike. Hopefully I can get my '77 lookin this sharp before the snow hits in Indianapolis :silly:

jbeebe1 wrote:

treitz wrote: Right on! Thanks for the shot. Although I was hoping you had pulled it off with the stock ignition

I'll have to see if I can find a place to stick my stock ignition. Would love to move it so I can center my speedo.

my stock ignition was so long and big (pardon the adjectives) that it wouldn't have been able to be moved anywhere. It was a lot easier just to use the small universal ignition, especially for the price.

Makes sense.

FINALLY re-did the seat. I laid it down around a gravel filled turn mid-summer, so replacing the handlebars and some other things gave me motivation to tackle the seat as well.


Without a welder handy, I rode over to my buddy Matt's place where we used his nice little mig and wisdom that comes with age (ha). We cutoff all the old brackets and mounts for the old seat and welded crossbars on. See if you catch something odd in the first picture that's a hint of what's to come....

I bought a rear-hoop with the same diameter as my frame from ebay for cheaper than Dime City. Some guy makes them to order. We matched the angle of that with the angle of the $5 skateboard deck I bought from walmart.

I drilled holes through the board and crossbars and used 1/4" carriage bolts with JB Weld smeared on top of them so they won't spin. I fab'd up a quick and easy mount for the LED rear tail light. The rear-most crossbar is 3 inches long on each side because I hammered it down over the frame to hang down as new signal mounts. Done.

Then I took it to a shoe repair shop in Cleveland where I had it upholstered to look exactly like the seat off Dime City...but for much cheaper haha. Matt had some ~1/2" foam lying around and I used a single layer of that under the vinyl. It's not "comfortable", but it sure does look good haha.

And some pics of the finished product....

Let me know what you guys think! Here's a quick pics of the bike last October, totally stock. Just as a reference for where I started at.

The new seat made all the difference. It looks great!

Stazi wrote: The new seat made all the difference. It looks great!

Thanks! Yea, I knew it didn't look "right" until I did the seat.