The Great MKII Debate: 1979 vs. 1980

Shaft drive "ST" are a dime a dozen in my opinion. MKII is much more rare and almost never found anymore.
The ST had the same clutch as all the shaft driven bikes to 85, even the same as the 83/84 gpz.
Really all you have to do is swap the trans out a chain bike and drop them into the ST motor to make it a chain. Ad the trans door and your good to go. The ST frame is different with the shaft swing arm and will not accept a stock chain swing arm. I have seen bike with the coversion but it took alot of machine work to the frame to make it happen.

oh good for a second there i thought it was a bunch of wrenching...


etbike3135 wrote:

Shaft drive "ST" are a dime a dozen in my opinion. MKII is much more rare and almost never found anymore.
The ST had the same clutch as all the shaft driven bikes to 85, even the same as the 83/84 gpz.
Really all you have to do is swap the trans out a chain bike and drop them into the ST motor to make it a chain. Ad the trans door and your good to go. The ST frame is different with the shaft swing arm and will not accept a stock chain swing arm. I have seen bike with the coversion but it took alot of machine work to the frame to make it happen.

trianglelaguna wrote:

of good for a second there i thought it was a bunch of wrenching...

Took me a minute to figure that comment out...the typo didn't help....what, changing the transmission and adding the trans door sounds difficult to you? Piece of cake.

I also see in that article that it fully explains if the MKII and ST tanks are interchangeable....how could you miss that?

you gonna make me read the whole thing to find it...i forget shit super fast...i think now that you remind me it claimed no?

trianglelaguna wrote:

you gonna make me read the whole thing to find it...i forget shit super fast...i think now that you remind me it claimed no?

Sorry man...that was MY attempt at sarcasm...didn't mean to F with you. :laugh: I don't think it mentioned it but I haven't read the whole thing.

when you consider that adjusting the chain makes me too tired to ride....
and that just trying to read the instructions for syncing the carbs is like like sitting next to two people speaking chinese on a train for twenty minutes then asking me what they said

OK, I felt so bad for screwing with you that I went back and read the article. You're right...it does mention that the tanks are different. The ST tank is about an inch taller and wider and carries .1 more gallons of gas. Doesn't specifically say if the underside mounts are the same or not or if one will fit on the other.

There, can we be friends again now?

see that wat i mean round..here

folks messin and playin all the time...

you got me good

and speaking of being gotten good

My co-worker has a new phone ap that calls someone and changes your voice and you can make the caller I.D show someone else's return number....



so he called me at 5 a.m talking black street talk and change voiced and calling me "whitey" and racist stuff,pretty bad too...got me at first..i played along and tried to find out who it was.....back and forth...back and forth.... and figured someone was playing....... then he threatened me and hung up... i waited a minute and it was killing me so i called the number that was showing on my phone back.....and woke up my black boss at 5 a.m......i hung up fast but almost let the words fly till he answered and said his name....

That's really an available app? Can you choose the number that you want to show up?

I'll repost with any wrong info I post here after I get to work tomorrow. I think the A3 is just early production, A3A is later. The A3A may be all made in USA, I know mine is, I'll find out. To me the only MKII is the 79. In 1980 it was labeled as standard. I doubt the headlight was changed in 1980, and doubt $0.02 worth of brake changes either. Mainly the bike was the same, but much better looking in 1979 with the blue or red paint. Black just didn't appeal at all. I would wager to guess there were far fewer 1980 made because guys that lusted after the 1979 had one and were not impressed with the same bike not labeled as MKII with uglier bodywork in 1980 so 1980 A4 are few and far between, but seem much less valuable, at least to me they always were. The ST looks the same, but a whole different animal. I would doubt the tanks would interchange as everything on the ST is bigger. The ST is a fabulous model and everything about it beats the MKII to a pulp. Better seating ergonomics, much better chassis, forks, ect, ect, not to mention shaft drive versus chain. No advantage to chain over the shaft other than bragging rights on the 2 extra HP. I can't believe I was lead to believe the chain was the way to go as the ST is 20 times the bike. So if you ain't falling for the collector bullshit and find a nice ST go for it.

yes thats why he was tauanting me then showed my bosses number knowing i would call back and say WTF...

i got lucky cause my boss answered saying his name...it took me a second to hang up...then i was like WTF......then i thought maybe my boss was in on it....it only works once cause then you will never call the number back ready to fire offlike i almost did again....but the one time it works ...you could do some major damage....girlfriends....ex wife....ect....ect........co-worker/boss....

79MKII wrote:

That's really an available app? Can you choose the number that you want to show up?

So no one has tried the swap of tanks and we still have no 100% for sure yes or no