1976 KZ900 Project

Alright, some parts will be in tomorrow so they say.

Took the Geep to the barn to grab my backhoe to start a job and then needed some stuff for the backhoe and figured I'd take the bike. Got back to the barn and smelled gas and it was raining gas under the carbs, didn't seem to be happening that long but I drained the tank and took it off.

It seems I was having a bad motor day, don't have to tell you about that.

I knew about the carb issues with the GPZ but it was just some flat spots mostly when cold and one float low and one too high. I wanted to get another bike running before I got in there.

Now, I'll turn this inconvenience into a opportunity. I'll jettison that silly non working dashboard on the tank and put in something useful if I can't reprogram it to play Asteroids or Donkey Kong. I'm thinking a little humidor and a cigarette lighter. Or maybe just keep it blank and buy a tank bag. Anyway, I'll come up with something for that.

That vacuum operated petcock was some engineers wet dream to solve a problem for people that shouldn't be riding a motorcycle in the first place so I'll replace that with a dumb one. On, off and reserve in that order.

The dashboard had a sometimes working gas gauge , a non working kickstand light and a working all the time battery light flasher and a sometimes operating oil light. Too too much for me, I'll be happy to see it go. I know when my kickstand is down man, I can hear it grind when I take a left ferchrissakes and I'll light a match and look into the tank when I want see how much gas is left.

Working on a bank of 4 Carbs with old boots ranks right up there with rebuilding the hydraulic cylinders on the hoe, I don't look forward to it at all. Single best reason to have pods but I run in the rain so I need at least one bike that can go with me.

I figure it happened solely because the other bikes are receiving all the attention lately.

If no one has a problem with it I'll lump the 900 and 1000 projects together, if you do have an issue then I'll break them out and conform to the rules. There are far too many posts with last post by Togoster, Togoster, Togoster and it's getting on my nerves. When it gets on my nerves that's where I need to draw the line.I

We had that post awhile back about naming bikes and referring to them in the feminine gender. I've never had a name for any of my bikes...until now. This is Rocinante, named after Don Quixote's broken down old horse and the two were one and the same. It's all too perfect really to pass up. Roce was a male btw, jsyk, but going forward I've been contemplating a new career these days and becoming a knight errant might be right up my alley. Wander the countryside with my trusty steed and do good deeds. Rescue naked wenches tied to trees... stuff like that. Presently we reside in the woods awaiting the UPS man with deliveries. Today I got the headlight bracket that I misplaced that I'll prolly find now that I've replaced it and the exhaust clamps to install a Kerker pipe. This pic was taken where when the bike died it hit the ground and busted up my back, pretty much like in the book really.

John Steinbeck in his book Travels with Charlie named his Ford truck/camper Rocinante as well.

That would be the ultimate goal, travel the country by motorcycle, part Don Quixote, part Steinbeck, part "Then came Bronson" and hell, just for good measure, part Hunter S Thompson.

What was that quote from Hunter?

"When the going gets weird -- the weird turn pro"

Togoster wrote: Oh, that one pictured ha a Fiamm horn. That's what I want, got spoiled by my old R100S horns.

Here's a demo........

That's the only way to go. For the life of me i can't understand why they put such those little crappy horns on these bikes. When I hit the horn on the beamer people woke up. I've been looking for them on ebay waiting to pounce when they aren't astronomically high priced. Wth all the texting going on today you NEED that. Happened again today to me but I'm on to them.

And keep in mind I'm in rural Vermont with not a lot of people. It's scary.

Did you buy your 650 new?

Yes; in April, 1977. Before that I had an old BSA for 11 years. Ed

Nice, I bought mine new in 78 in March. I was 21 years old, I'm 61 now

Had a 76 kz400 that I bought new before that and an old SL350 Honda before that that needed to be pushed as much as you rode it. That bike I wish I still had but I'm really happy that I still have my 650.

It'll get some love soon.

Then it's not back up and the word is functionality.

I'll do something else, I'm going to ride Rocinante this weekend if it isn't raining.

This is why I try to be as self sufficient as humanly possible because I hate to rely on anyone because it's usually a big let down. You don't take your whole site down when you go on vacation, you just put up a note with an explanation and don't take orders.

Oh well.

This is the bike that gave me the appreciation for the lines on the LTD. Michael's motorcycles sold this bike years ago for 4k, I talked to him a few months ago. It's the perfect understated image of the semi custom LTD with the flatter superbike style bars that I love. If I was going to beautify my bike then this is my benchmark.