How far have you all ridden your old KZs (on 1 trip)

I put 450 miles on my clock during a SoCal ride last summer. That was a one-day ride, and I had the highest mileage because I have a long ride just to get to the ride.
I remember that I was glad to get off the bike that evening.

only 70 miles for me and i was just doing laps around the neighborhood

As nutty as I was, I'd do the entire 1000 mile in 24hr ride each Summer here in Colorado. If that's not nutty enough, I'd do the whole ride without eating, drinking or removing my helmet. Gas/go for 1000 miles. Only did the gas/go once, but the ride 4 times. Loads of fun. Riding's like anything else, once you work your way up to be used to it, the pain is no longer a problem.

Well, T- 8 hours till the start. I broke a speedo cable on the way to work yesterday....no shops within 3 states had one. I found 1 guy, he sells used parts. He had an inner cable that was about 1" too short. as I had no options, I tried to buy the cable, but he said I could just have it. When I got home, I thought about it for a minute. The the redneck engineering kicked in. I used a dremel with a high speed cuttoff wheel. I cut 1" out of the outer cable, chamfered the ends, the found a piece of copper tubing that fit perfectly over the outer cable. Crimped it in place carefully with my ignition crimpers, then moly greased the hell out of the inner cable and reassembled. who knows how long it will hold up, but for free, a little time and some AAE, we'll see how it goes.

My wife and I have made several 500 mile plus trips on our 79 650. The only problems we ever encountered was stalling in a heavy rain. This was due to two reasons:
1) Moisture getting into my points (replaced points cover gasket and lubricated lightly with di-electric grease).
2) My old and original coils worked but were cracked in the housing...possibly allowing moisture to get inside. Replaced both.
Nary a problem since.
I second the recommendations suggested above...lubricate and adjust your drive chain, check your points gap and timing, tire air pressure, etc. I really don't think your trip is a problem on your 550. If normal maintenance is performed, it is likely that it will be YOUR BODY that wears out long before your bike.
I have been on several cross country trips on larger bikes but I know several riders who have made 3000+ mile trips on bikes in the 500-550CC range. When I was in the USN a friend of mine rode a 500 Yamaha from San Diego to New York and back in 10 days. Yup.
(of course we were 20 year olds at the time )

Nowadays my bike can outlast my old arse, so I worry less about my bike and more about my back...ass...knees...wrists...neck...

...the lists goes on and on...

That's my thought for the day!

Skyman wrote:

Every year, 2nd Saturday in May, the Rose City MC Club here in Portland hosts the Oregon 500, a one-day road rally.

That sounds like stupid fun!!

I think I shall plan to head down for that one next year.

Anyone know of a ride like that in the Seattle area coming up?

Well, I'm back from my trip. The good news is the bike ran flawlessly, and I had a great time. The bad news is dummy me forgot to put sunblock on my legs at the beach. I've never sunburned on my leg before, so I skipped it. Well, 4 hours in the hot sun messed me up. My legs started hurting really bad and were really later that night. The next morning was our time to check out, and I had a 340 mile ride ahead. so, I cut the toes out of some socks and slipped them over my legs to prevent chafing, took a few aleive, and carried on. I had a great time riding home, as we were in no rush. My lovely wife rode most of the way with me (pics of the whole trip will be posted tomorrow). When I got home, we had to cut the socks off my legs were swollen so badly. Blisters the size of silver dollars popped up on my lower legs and ankles. I had to call into work today, and went to the doctor. She said "ouch" as soon as she walked in the room. They put me on steroids to bring down the swelling and gave me some (not nearly enough, I have a high tolerance)pain meds. They also put me off work until friday, so that sucks as I have no leave left after my wife's hospitalization and surgery. all in all it was a great trip, I got to ride with my wife, we had fun, and I dont regret anything. Next year, I hope to have the kz1000 ready, we are planning to go for 2 weeks then. The KZ550 performed great, but with 2 people, the seat is in no way comfortable. I'm ordering a corbin seat as soon as money allows. the trip was great, because I got to ride my KZ.

Peace!

Jason

Virginia Beach Virginia to Sonora California on my KZ650. Took 4 days, bike ran great. I was also a lot younger then.

I needed a new rear tire in Calgary (after ~1200 miles; TJ's Cycle salvage where I also got a tach cable)

Are you serious, cafekz750 ??? That's where I work now. I started with them in the spring of 2002 so missed you dropping by. Too bad.
You wouldn't recognize the place now.
The "Clampett shack" office is gone, replaced by a new building for office and showroom and the place has been organized considerably compared to back then.
Small world, ain't it ??!!??

Just got back from a 500 mile 2 day trip.
Bike ran flawlessly!

I have ridden my 79 kz650 from washington DC to Pueblo, CO, to Burlington , IA, back to DC again.....TWICE:laugh: This was in 1992 and 1993 when Iowa had the crazy floods. I drove through every kind of weather imaginable and the KZ performed flawlessly. If you do have a problem, it is a good personal challenge to fix it. It's what life is all about.

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