Why did you get a KZ?

well i got a kz when i 16, i had always ridden dirt bikes and such. Well i wanted a street bike, and a friend of mine's dad said he had a 1976 kz 400 with 1800 origanal miles and if i wanted it we could work out a deal. I went over to his house and sure enough under a tarp the was a showroom condition kz 400 with only 1800 miles on the clock, and 500 dollars and 2 days later i had it running. I rode it for 2 years and put almost 12,000 miles on it. Then 2 years ago i got a bug for a bigger bike and got a 77 kz 650 and loved it to death. Then like 2 weeks after i bought the kz 650 my uncle called me and asked if i could help him load a bike into his truck because he was going to junk it. Well when i got there my heart dropped, the bike he was going to junk was my dad's old 74 z1 900. I told him not to junk it, so we brang it to my house. Later on that night my dad came home and almost pissed him self when he seen his old 900 in the garage. He sold the bike to his brother in 1986 after i was born, and never knew what had happend to it. It took me nearly 2 years to get her running but she's starting to look good. My uncle the genious he is left it sit out since 1986 on the side of his house without doing anything to it, the best part about the bike was that the motor wasn't locked up, but the carbs were stuck shut, the paint was crap and there was so much rust i tought it might fall apart:ohmy: :laugh: . But im currently restoring the bike to complete stock for sentimental reasons.

I hadn't ridden a bike in decades. My neighbour had no time to get his back-up ride running, he was moving soon and he only wanted $250 Canadian. 10 minutes later my boys were pushing me and the bike across the street, into the back yard and into my workshop.

Now I spend lots of time there with the radio tuned to the golden oldies, the fan on full and with my hands full of parts and tools. My new best friends are here, at Z1 and at my local Kawasaki dealer... probably in that order.

Oh yah, sometimes I ride! But that's just a perk.

bill_wilcox100 wrote:

I hadn't ridden a bike in decades. My neighbour had no time to get his back-up ride running, he was moving soon and he only wanted $250 Canadian. 10 minutes later my boys were pushing me and the bike across the street, into the back yard and into my workshop.

Now I spend lots of time there with the radio tuned to the golden oldies, the fan on full and with my hands full of parts and tools. My new best friends are here, at Z1 and at my local Kawasaki dealer... probably in that order.

Oh yah, sometimes I ride! But that's just a perk.

$250.00 Canadian? For a 650? Get this man a Sombrero he qualifies as a bandito.

wiredgeorge wrote:

Joey, I had the opportunity to work on the MOMBA bike last year at the Mid-Ohio vintage race.

That's so cool! I suspected that someone here might have worked on that bike - glad to here I was right.

It's a shame they didn't mention Jeff at all. It seems pretty certain that noone will get very far working on a KZ without talking to him

I could tell from the article that the bike was not ideal, but I still love the idea. In my case, I'm not bound by race bike regulations, I have more than two days, and I'm not limited to the swap meet for parts. I hope this means I can turn out a killer bike. Even if it doesn't turn out ideal, I still need a bike for the missus so I'll just buy another and try again

The folks who worked on the project were Harley factory types. They pulled in a few parts from outside the swap meet which wasn't really mentioned in the article. The Wiseco piston kit wasn't a swap meet item. Using the high compression pistons with the stock cams didn't make a lot of sense but hey, whatcha gonna do? I bet there were no 550 cams in the place unless they came on some GPz cams which I think have a profile more suited to racing than the LTD cams. They said they would have started with a 650 platform but couldn't find one... problem with the 550 is it is a pretty unique design and not much from other years/models will swap. It was a fun thing, I guess.

got an itch to buy a bike about two summers ago, neighbor had a 77 kz 1000, didnt know what it was and rode it, loved it but he wanted 2000 bucks for it so i waited until i found the bike that was just the kz i wanted and bought it for 1000 bucks

BTW George.........exactly just what is your shoe size ?:laugh: :laugh:

Why Did I get a KZ ?

Because the Hilda 750 was a DAWG! That was 1976 and I've still got it.

KZCSI

KZCSI wrote:

Why Did I get a KZ ?

Because the Hilda 750 was a DAWG! That was 1976 and I've still got it.

KZCSI

Hilda was a dawg...........but man her sister was the foshizzle !

My story is pretty much like Melvis's story. I started on my first bike, a QA50, just about the time Melvis started to walk. It went on from their for both of us. The time frame of 1980 is a bit of brother, it was in around 76 when dad(and mom) first rode. The first bike was a red honda according to mom, who believes it was a 305 but isnt sure, she said it could ahve been as small as a 160, but doubts it was a 100. Again, who really knows. Here is a bit of the story melvis missed. The next bike was the CB550 SS as mom continued on the smaller honda. Next was the Goldwing that Dad got. was around a 75-77. It was a nice bike, but dad honestly missed running around town on a fun sporty bike. When the oppertunity came along to get the SR 650, dad jumped on it. As was said, dad had a set of RTR home speakers adn blew them. Dad's friend got them from dad for basically nothing, and then told dad that they were lifetime garunteed and got them replaced for free. That is why did got him on the SR by saying the bike was totaled, and then right in front of his friend, straighten the triple tree up and road the nike on the spot. Anway, dod got the SR and to cover his real desire to keep it for himself, talked mom into selling the SS550 and telling ehr the bike was hers. anyway, from their you see the rest of the story from melvis.

Fast forward to 1993 and a guy around the corner from me advertises a Honda CX 500 for 200 bucks. says it will start on starting fluid but wont run. I knew dad could help me fix it and he did for the most part. I had dad talked into trading for a KZ650 and believed I found Melvis a GS650 and here we were, ready to all ride again. Dad died that Oct in 93, Melvis didnt get the bike, and so I sold the CX. A year later, in 94, melvis ends up with mom/dad's old SR. Melvis and I went and looked at a SR for me add I took it home after Melvis returned from riding it with a big grin. Here we were both on SR's, the local bike guy that Melvis talked about grinned the first time we pulled into his shop on the SR's, him being an SR fan himself. I needed work done to it and he did the work. The DAY it was finished I totaled the bike as a woman pulled out in front of me. One week later I had to have Melvis test ride the new bike for me as I was still too sore, and had a broken thumb, and couldnt ride. That bike was a GS 750. After I got rid if it I found another 650 and redid it, sold it when I got divorced, and later on found yet another 650 and redid it. I have that 650 again, and I have my mom's current 650 as she is unable to ride due to health reasons. My dad loved the KZ, my mom loves the KZ, my borhter loves the KZ, and naturally I love the KZ. It was what we were raised on basically.

Oh, and to correct melvis, his 650 had the engine put in it at our friend Todd Patton's house, who is a 77 KZ1000 owner(got it from melvis actually) with the help of me and our brother Carl(who is a 79 LTD 1000 owner and that bike is SWEET). Mevlis and I keep each other true to the KZ even when we have swayed away from it(me with my GS and Melvis with his HD) but if you look now, we both only have KZ's. In our area we hang around, their are a dozen of us on KZ's, and it will grow. Abby, Melvis, our brother Carl, Baron12(our cousin who owns 5 KZ's) me, my mom, and soon my wife and oldest daughter will ALL ride KZ's and that isnt counting some of our friends in town.

To sum it up, the KZ rides great,is very well balanced, is a great looking bike, is fast bang for the buck, gets ALOT of attention, and can be worked on at home. It IS the perfect bike so I ride a KZ!!!


Mellvis wrote:

Wow...Where to begin? Get ready for a long read!
When I was a wee little kid in about 1980, My dad had a CB100 (I think). Dad soon wanted a bigger ride, so he went to a 1976 CB550 Super Sport. I was a gear head from day one, and was fascinated by the bikes. In about 1981 or 1982, dad had a friend with a 1978 KZ650 SR (the one I have now). The friend had taken dad on a set of stereo speakers, or at least that's the way I remember it as a 7 or 8 year old kid. The guy hit something at a slow speed and the forks twisted in the tripple trees. Dad looked at the bike after the wreck, and "worked out a deal" to get it. To make sure that mom didn't fuss about another bike(mom also rode, she got dad into bikes!!!) he had it painted some kind of baby or powder blue and told mom he bought it for her.

We spent many years riding with mom, dad and my brother (dreamsofaz1r on this forum). I have lots of memories riding on the tank of the SR as a kid.

Now we're in 1984 and mom and dad got a divorce. Dad didn't deal well with it and his riding habits showed it. He parked the bike in the driveway, uncovered because he said, "when you go through traffic at 130 mph and don't care, it's time to stop!" Dad never would give the bike to mom even though it was hers (read above). The bike sat outside, uncovered for about four or five years and the motor locked up. Dad sold the bike for nothing to a guy in town. He messed with it some and the bike changed hands again. This guy messed around for a while and it sold AGAIN.

Well being a very small Ohio town (my graduating class was 73 people) every one knew the bike from dad terrorizing the local cops on it. Dad got remaried, moved out of town, and died in October of 1993. Int the following spring, the guy who ended up with the bike saw me at a mutual friend's house and asked if I'd like to buy it. Of course I had to have it!! I asked the local bike mechanic, who helped dad all of these years, about it and he told me it would be cheaper to buy another like it already running (he was right).

After I passed on the bike, the local bike guy bought it, spent MANY hours, parts,and dollars fixing it up. He asked me if I would buy it because of sentimental value. He made money an I got dad's/mom's bike. All where happy!

Well, I was 19 and going to whip the world of bikes. After a few years of enjoying the bike, I did like dad did. I was at a traffic light with three other bikes. One was some newer Yamaha crotch rocket and two harley behind us. My long time friend was on his Sportster and made a wise crack about get that Jap junk out of the way. When the light turned green, I hit it, went sideways and might have lifted the front tire some. When I went for second gear, I missed it and the tach hit the peg. When we got to my friends house there was a loud "ticking" in the top end, so I parked the bike like dad did. Again, it sat for about two years, uncovered in the weather, until I met Abilane. This was my self-imposed punishment for NOT respecting what a bike can do to you if you act dumb!

After sitting for a few years, the bike locked up, rusted to hell, and just plain needed to be fixed because, I had matured. I took the bike to fore-mentioned local mechanic (who then and still lives in Knoxville TN) and he took it apart and said it would NEVER BREATH AGAIN!!!! Well Abilane and I took a trip to retrieve the bike, got an evilbay engine, tore the bike to bare frame in the kitchen and the following spring had a nice 78 KZ650 SR to cruise on.

I have never PROPERLY taken care of this bike. It has never been out of the weather from summer of 1994 until this past January. It always sat outside with out even a tarp over it. It always started each spring with fresh gas and cleaning the points.

THIS is why I own a KZ and tell everyone to get one!!
Sorry this was so long, but I think it is a cool story.

There was never any question when I saw my first Z900 (called Z's down here)in 1973, I was single, in the Air Force (cashed up) and fell in love at first sight, my bike at the time was a Mach 111 and I was ready for the 4 stroke experience. What more can I say, I have been riding them since.
Tony

I was at work on a Saturday and a buddy showed up with his brand new 73 Z1. We buzzed across the sidewalk and lit the rear tire as we left the store, all I could do to hang on - went about 3 blocks and all I was thinking is I GOTTA have one of these things...promptly forgot all about the Honda CB 750 I was after.Have owned Z's of various styles since '74...