Doing your own work

Hi, all! I'm kinda new here, and have posted once, but I've also kinda nosed around a bit. I rather get the impression that many of you do your own work on your KZ's. Is this because you prefer to tinker with them, or because there just aren't a lot of people willing to work on the older bikes?

JoyceD wrote: Hi, all! I'm kinda new here, and have posted once, but I've also kinda nosed around a bit. I rather get the impression that many of you do your own work on your KZ's. Is this because you prefer to tinker with them, or because there just aren't a lot of people willing to work on the older bikes?

Both of those reasons and also that many of us don't care to pay someone to do it. Shop charges are pretty high these days so it just adds to the expense. Why pay someone $100 an hour to replace a part that I can do just as well myself and gets me out of the house?

+1

Besides I wouldn't be able to afford anything that's personal on even the smallest level if I had to pay someone to do it. Nice to have something that's "Built not bought" even if it's not perfect.

When these things were new there was no other option than go to the dealer. You could do minor things but the major items were just out of reach. Paying $6-8 for a spark plug was just plain stupid. As the bikes became older and newer models came out, the dealers no longer wanted to work on them. If they did it would be at Full Ripping Retail. My neighbor was a dealer back then. He had all he could handle with warranty work, tune ups and tire changes so the smaller shops became able to order parts. Very expensive to boot. Aftermarket parts were available but you had to have a shop to buy them. That is all changing. Parts are more reasonable, (if they're not obsolete) but shops don't want to work on these older bikes. I've always done my own work to save time and money, now it's because I have to. It's better that way. It's a good feeling in knowing what's going on in between your legs.
Steve

I've always done all my own work on the bike. Aside from the cost savings, I don't have a lot of faith in motorcycle shops (or most car shops) to do a really good job. They have a vested interest in getting the work done quickly since that affects their bottom line. Even more important today is that at this point most bike shops are not familiar with these old bikes, don't have experience with them, don't have parts, don't have the special tools, don't have manuals, and since they may never work on one again don't have much incentive to become familiar with them. In my area there are very few mechanics who have been working as mechanics since these bikes were made (mine is 38 years old), so nearly none have much hands-on experience with them.

If I needed to have major repairs done to the engine I might ship it to a shop that specializes in older bike engines, but other than that I would not have anyone else work on my bike. Ed

If you have to pay someone, you may as well buy a good used running more modern motorcycle. I've done all of my own work except for installing the rear tire. It would have been much easier to sell the 650 & get a newer bike. doh.

That's another good point. If having a valve job done for example, the configuration of the head makes it imperative the work is done by a shop that has experience with them. Not just any shop can do it without damaging the head by grinding out too much material. The corner shop isn't likely able to do this. That is what makes this site so special. Chances are, if the information isn't available here, you will at least be pointed in the right direction.
Steve

35 year old motorcycles need a LOT of work to keep on the road. Just catching up the maintenance is a monumental chore if you want to do it properly. Paying someone to do this work will quickly put you in the poor house. It's best to sell the bike and get something newer if you don't enjoy wrenching.

Just a few chores that should be taken care of with the purchase of any 35 year old bike...

1) full brake system tear down and clean out. Replace corroded parts and update seals and brake lines.

2) Complete carb rebuild including replacing all the rubber O-rings. It may be necessary to replace the carb boots and airbox boots at this time as well. After completion, you need to do a vacuum carb sync. Needless to say you should make sure your gas tank is clean and the petcock is working properly too. Replacing the petcock straight out is a good idea, or at least get a rebuild kit to replace the sure to be hard and brittle rubber parts inside.

3) Adjust valves. This critical maintenance task is very often dismissed until the point there the valves and seats burn.

4) Clean electrical connections, particularly those on the charging system.

5) Replace tires and tubes, and/or chain and sprockets

6) Replace Fork oil, engine oil, and final drive oil if the bike is a shafty. If the fork seals are originals, plan on replacing those while you are at it.

These are just a few things off the top of my head. Failing to do maintenance until the bike is misbehaving is sure to result in you getting stranded somewhere.

The dreaded valve adjustment. :ohmy: :lol:
Steve

Many people don't have a choice. The Kawasaki dealership around here has a policy that they will not service bikes over 15 years old. Seems like they are being A-holes about it, but really they just can't deal with it. Their techs are mostly younger guys that have never worked on a bike from the 70's & 80's. I'm sure they could work on older bikes but they would be too slow on the work to keep the shop profitable, the only option would be to do the work on a time and material basis and that would just get too damn expensive.

I worked at a Ford dealership and an independent garage and I know all to well that time = money and you have to be very efficient with your time if your going to make any money...

That's also the second reason you have to work on old bikes yourself, most professional service work is just cost prohibitive. Some service work could easily cost more than the valve of bike... that makes no sense at all. And costs add up very quickly. As an example there are three shops in my area that will mount and balance a motorcycle tire. The cheapest one wanted $55 to mount and balance the tire. That's with me brining them the rim off the bike... sobering to think what any significant service work would cost.

swest wrote: The dreaded valve adjustment. :ohmy: :lol:
Steve

... I really do not find this to be a difficult chore at all!.... Why is there so much resistance to doing it!!!???

missionkz wrote:

swest wrote: The dreaded valve adjustment. :ohmy: :lol:
Steve

... I really do not find this to be a difficult chore at all!.... Why is there so much resistance to doing it!!!???

Stripping and torquing bolts. Especially since most references have the numbers incorrect. Not to mention runnig the risk of putting the bike out of time if you haven't ever done it. Off a tooth or 2 and you are replacing valves, head, pistons.....