'83 KZ1000-R2 going Cafe

I am with Leon on this project. The people who have whined the loudest are just jealous because you have a nicer bike than they do. Pay them no mind, do the best work you can and please share photos of your build.

Why would you say something like that ? Be nice or fuck off.

Simon

"Cafe Racers" are the reason I don't like to sell any of my bikes. I have 8 now and hesitate to sell a low mileage KZ1000 to somebody who will paint the tank flat black, put a skull and crossbones on it etc.

Kapahulu wrote: "Cafe Racers" are the reason I don't like to sell any of my bikes. I have 8 now and hesitate to sell a low mileage KZ1000 to somebody who will paint the tank flat black, put a skull and crossbones on it etc.

I am not into them either, but everybody has their own vision and budget.

On the term, "cafe racer"...

There's a lot of confusion about just what a cafe racer actually is. Arguments rage across the internet, some get quite heated. Some insist that the term only applies to period correct 50s & 60s British bikes.
I don't consider my own bike a real "cafe racer". Mine's more or less a period correct race bike from the early 80s, but with lights.
I don't consider myself a "cafe racer" or "rocker", either (though I did used to play in a psychobilly band).
I don't hang out at transport cafes, for one thing. In this part of the world, we call those "truck stops".

The flat black, skull and bones thing? That's nothing to do with cafe racers, that's the Mad Max / rat bike influence.

I like to see someone take a common bike in that's rough shape and make improvements to it, and by "improvements" I mean to actually make the bike perform better, not just cosmetic stuff.
I found my bike in a sand dune outside Amarillo. It was mostly there, but wouldn't roll, wires were hacked up, etc.
You don't start with a rare bike that's in good condition, then clumsily hack it up in an amateurish fashion.
This guy has made a sow's ear from a silk purse, he's snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
I'm jealous of the bike he started with, not the awful things that he's doing to it.

Wrong, I have an elr and many others. Do what ever you want to your own bike but exspect this when you post it on a kawasaki forum where some people actualy like bikes

From my sense euro bike prices scale about equally, could have bought a couple 1000s with that elr.

But hey damage is done, good luck the problems we have tend to be because

1) it's a rare bike, more than a few of us are looking for
2) A lot of hack jobs are started with near mint bikes
3) the majority of stateside "customizers" are no more than young unknowladgable people who have no real skills hack away and either run out of money or interest and try to sell high... Hacked bikes get listed for decent money quite often

Good luck

Byron Hines chopped one up..

They sure do bring big bucks these days all in order. I waited 20 years hoping to find one and had to settle....

byars wrote:

]

That bike's just bad ass.

When I see what this kid did, something my Grandfather said comes to mind.

STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES

One the one hand, it's his bike. I've seen people take a near mint '63 split window coupe 'vette and turn them into street machines and dragsters. The World still managed to turn and the Sun still rose and set. On the other, he clearly did not keep that particular bike in a form that is it's highest and best value, and came to an enthusiasts web site and asked more than once for feedback. That's what you get.

catseye wrote: . . . I've seen people take a near mint '63 split window coupe 'vette and turn them into street machines and dragsters . . . he clearly did not keep that particular bike in a form that is it's highest and best value, and came to an enthusiasts web site and asked more than once for feedback. That's what you get.

Can only imagine responses from 'vette enthusiasts' websites to a posted "What do you think of the extensive irreversible mods I did to my mint '63 split window coupe?" :woohoo:

Good Fortune!