First Kick Start of Spring

I usually don't store my bike for Winter. When I just had one bike (1979 KZ750) I rode it enough all year round that it really wasn't necessary. Add another bike, some brutal temps, and a failed electric starter on the KZ into the mix and things change. When the temps started to drop, the kick start only, temperamental beast, with no heated grips didn't make the cut and the KZ got stored. I did pretty much the minimum. Put some preservative in a full tank of gas, let it run for a few minutes, drained the carbs, pulled the battery.

With the snow and subsequent mud, neither my vintage nor modern bike has seen the road in a while. I went out tonight to start getting them both ready. I figured I'd start with the temperamental KZ. Usually getting it to start after it's sat overnight is an adventure. But I was prepared to work for the sweet satisfaction of hearing it rumble to life again even if I knew riding was still a few routine maintenance tasks away. Plus I had no expectation that it would start without an inordinate amount of kicking, sweating, swearing, and more kicking.

The freshly charged battery went back in the bike. I checked to make sure the oil hadn't done a disappearing act over Winter. I turned on the petcock and set the choke to what I've come to learn is the sweet spot for this beast. Gave the kick lever a few slow rotations to get some oil moving around all those dry engine parts. Turned on the ignition and kicked.

With the very first kick the engine roared to life. I felt like I'd woken a bear in a cave and was so startled I almost fell off the (stationary) bike. It immediately hit a smooth (well smooth is a relative term with a 36 year old parallel twin) 2.5k rpm and I slowly backed off the choke until it rested at a steady(ish) 1k rpm. It just hummed along happy as could be for a minute or two. I cut the petcock and let it burn up the fuel in the carb bowls.

Looking everything over, other than a chain cleaning and oil change I think it's ready to go. Oh, except for one small thing. The engine oil didn't do a disappearing act, but my front brake fluid did. It's all gone. No puddles, no nothing, just gone. There's a little bubbled paint on the brake perch like maybe a slow leak melted it off. But that's a lot of fluid to disappear without a trace. So there's that. And boy am I glad I checked before deciding to just roll out on the back of my newly woken bear.

I'll add a brake flush and fill to my to dos and hopefully have the bike road ready once the mud all dries up.

If you're pulling your bike out after Winter, be sure you give it a once over before you hit the road. You want to make everything is working properly and as safely as possible.

I'm getting my KZ900 ready too, but discovered the front brake is locking up - what would cause that?

toolmaker wrote: I'm getting my KZ900 ready too, but discovered the front brake is locking up - what would cause that?

One possible cause could be a clogged relief port in the master cylinder.
It's the smaller of the two ports (orifices) connecting the bore to and from the reservoir.
The relief port allows the brake fluid pressure to neutralize/relax when the hand brake lever is released so that the front brake is no longer being applied.
The relief port size may be compared to a pin-hole.

When the front brake fails to fully release, friction of the pads against the rotor creates heat, which keeps tightening the brake until it eventually locks up.





Good Fortune!

If cracking the bleeder on the caliper doesn't relieve the pressure that a blocked relief port might cause I would suspect that the piston in the caliper is seized up by gunk and possibly corrosion between the piston and the caliper body.
Good Luck
Bill

Thanks guys - I will check it out.

Nice going Topper! Those first sunny spring days in March in Michigan were always a great feeling. Pulling the bike out of the shed the first time after winter and hearing it fire up. Then a quick sprint up and down the street with some snow still laying on the grass melting way. No jacket, but loving the cool air and warm sun on one's skin. Enjoy!

It's been flippin 90 F here. Wish I had somewhere cooler to go to. Here it comes, the BLAST furnace.
Steve

Gorgeous 65 F here. Bikes are prepped and ready to go now. But the road to my house is a disaster from the melting snow. It's a big muddy monster truck rally for about a mile and literally up hill both ways. Getting in and out with an AWD Subaru is still a bit of an adventure. A couple more days without rain and it'll be dry enough that I'll be able to get the bike out without producing a rooster tail of muddy slop.