KZ650 Poll

Has it turned over 2000 miles yet? If you haven't already done so you need to add a pic of it to this thread. Your bike has to be one of the nicest finds I've ever seen.

Thanks for the kind words, Andy. I just gave Ace her mid-season wash/wax and oil/filter change today and noticed that the speedo now reads 5536 klicks (3440 miles) so I've got a ways to go before the 5000 mile mark. That darn bike is sooooo much fun to ride.....but hopefully I'll be able to get that B model mentioned above so I can keep the miles down on Ace AND have something I can really thrash the tits off of and not feel guilty.
I can see it all now.....a nice mild cafe with a four into one, a set of Tomaselli ace bars (or maybe Super Condors), dual disc conversion, a set of BT45V's, a "tasteful" Ferrari red paint job with white checkers, blah blah blah.....:laugh: :laugh:

Rick we need a pic of Ace for this thread. That bike is just so darned cherry. I know what you mean about being fun to ride I'm loving the 80 KZ650 F-1 I picked up this spring, it's even more fun to ride than my fuelie.

Andy:
OK....due to popular demand (mainly yours ) here's an original pic from the weekend I picked Ace up from the PO.



This pic shows Ace WITHOUT the hideous king/queen seat that she came with because I hadn't sourced/installed the NOS seat or the NOS grab handles at that time. The headlight has been removed and there are no turn signals installed in this pic because I was trying to sort out what the PO had done while trying to mount/wire the seriously weird aftermarket signals he'd bought. Fortunately I bought the bike before he could do any serious damage to the wiring harness.

Here's a pic from a month later with the proper seat and grab handles installed, headlight back in place and '80 and later signals installed. I just think the later signals look better on this particular bike.
She still wears the dangerously cracked original Dungflops
in both pics. The Metzeler LaserTecs were still to come at this point. I still shudder when I think of someone actually riding on those Dungflops.:blink: :ohmy:



Talk about your checkbook restos !!!! It was soooooo simple compared to my total basket case H2A resto.

Looks great Rick. You still have the wrong blinkers and non-original case guards though. Here's my last blue one. All mine seem to look the same it seems. This one is 1800 miles and I still ride it on the original Dunflops.

Ron, you're a braver man than me, riding on the original Dungflops.
They were total crap when they were new, IMO, and certainly haven't gotten any better with age. Be vewwwy, vewwwy careful out there, man (with apologies to Elmer Fudd).:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Rick I think I've finally figured out why I like Ace so much. Your bike is a twin to my first ever motorcycle demonstrator back when I worked at a Kawi dealership. I didn't get to ride it very long maybe 750 miles or so and then the owner of the dealership came in one day and demanded that we put a Z1-R into demo service because we had a warehouse full of them and they weren't selling. So I parked the 650 and started riding a Z1-R which I wrecked about 3 days later (took it off the road at about 90 mph trying to outrun the local sheriff) since I racked up multiple tickets and got my DL suspended that was pretty much the end of my demo riding days for a while. :ohmy:

The Gringo wrote:

Since torturing Bad Kaw has become one of my favorite things to do on this board,

You guys all suck. :lol: And as far as MY garage goes...I'm tellin' ya, it's a garage full of slugs that are in various forms of 'project-itis'! :huh:

Yes, yes, yes...moving sucks. But we're all moved out to the desert of the great mid-west...also known as Hays, Kansas. But hey, it's a good thing...but moving still sucks! Now that my wife has a new Samsung stackable washer/dryer my 'bike' account is a red number...:S ...oh well, happy wife = happy life!

Keep posting your damn pictures if those sweet-ass 650s...I'll get one some-day.

-KR

Good to hear you've got the moving thing behind you. That's never fun even under the best of circumstances.

I pulled the 650B out of the garage a few weeks ago and decided to use it as my farm commuter bike and save the SR from the grit of gravel roads. After an hour, replacing the fuel line and replacing the headlight, it was up and running. That's a runnin' little bike.

Excellent.

Although we've got the "move" done, the moving drama is still in full-swing. Got the (admittedly very cool) washer and dryer all stacked up and vents routed (yadda-yadda...blah-blah...) and the wifey got started on laundry...about 30 seconds in she hollars for me...the F-ing electrical out-let won't hold the power. It turns out to be a 'engineering issue' from the previous owner (very 'East Topeka'...if you catch my drift ) Anyway, it's muther-luvin' Friday night and I need an electrician...yeah...like that's gonna happen...

...out here.
-KR

Who here has a KZ650?

Me.

I met up with three other kz650 owners last weekend.
We went on a group ride, 12 motorcycles and one scooter, through the country. Some East/West twisties North of Orangeville Ontario.

There was Jerome (kzromey) on his Red '78 D model, Jim (intrudin) on his blue '78 D model, myself on my '78 C2 and Ron (zixxerboy) on his '79 C3;



We had a great ride. It was just like a scene out of Mad Max at times. Having a bunch of Vintage bikes blasting through the contry side:

Here is a pic of my zed at this years bike week show on the gold coast, queensland. Australia

A thing of beauty.