Bobbers and Street fighters

Looks like the KZ 400 has a truss boom added to the swingarm , and very poorly engineered. :pinch:
Dave

dom2570 wrote: Ed, that bike always makes me feel sick. Right now, there is a kz400 that probably started off as a good stock bike, on my local Craigslist that suffered a similar fate. Kz400 - $3500
wichita.craigslist.org/mcy/5381104959.html

It gets reposted about every two days...not sure what the guy was smoking when he killed it, or what makes him believe it is a 3.5k bike...

Wow! That really does make one question the seller's perception of reality! Maybe the following explains it........

The bike Ed posts about, I tracked down on custom fighters once, turns out it ran and rode for a while and got torn down again 'for repairs' or some other such stuff and dropped off the face of the earth.

And NakedFun, yes same crap in muscle cars, BUT if you hardtail a bike, it's more like making a barracuda a mud truck, not the same thing. An LS swap T56, corvette rear-end camaro is more along the lines of what folks like you, les holt, leon, Arnold and ramtough (i'm leaving tons out) have done, which is improve and keep the original look.

dom2570 wrote: Ed, that bike always makes me feel sick. Right now, there is a kz400 that probably started off as a good stock bike, on my local Craigslist that suffered a similar fate. Kz400 - $3500
wichita.craigslist.org/mcy/5381104959.html

It gets reposted about every two days...not sure what the guy was smoking when he killed it, or what makes him believe it is a 3.5k bike...

I just threw up in my mouth a little. I know what 2K in parts looks like and that is not it.

swest wrote: Kaw-a-holic has a good example of a street fighter. He had a wreck so the front end was toast so he upgraded the whole machine. Lots of time and money has gone into it and still is. When it is done it will be better than it was stock. Still has that KZ flavor. Other ones here as well. KZP' street fighters etc. I've only seen a hand full of bobbers and cafe racers I'd ride along with. IMO
Steve

Kind words Steve, Thank you. I have stopped referring to my bike as a Street Fighter even though I have named it Phoenix Fighter. I refer to it as a Retro-mod. I do my best to keep it looking stock(retro) with modern goodies(mod). I would have spoked wheels on it but I don't like tubes. Another good term is Muscle Bikes. If you use Facebook this is a nice bike porn group www.facebook.com/groups/434507110031912/

Yours along with some of the others are class builds. Not hack jobs and I would be proud to ride along side of any of you.
Steve

Thanks for the compliment floivanus.

As a warning, I have a bobber coming down the pipe that the customer wants the build put up for people to see so we chose here as it's truly going to be a rule breaker in many respects, even for my taste it's out there but I'm betting it's going to be a well received bike.

Les

Mine's kinda a cross between a street fighter and a bagger.
Steve

swest wrote: Mine's kinda a cross between a street fighter and a bagger.
Steve

One thing's for sure Steve...you obviously have good taste!

Well Strum...your opinion of either one is shared by many here as is obvious by the many comments so far, and the many that will undoubtedly follow. However as to your question, Street Fighters are more of the sportbike class... rebuilding, modifying and customising stock street bikes for speed/performance, handling etc., with each one being unique to each particular builder. Bobbers (whether they originate from stock bikes, or parts from salvage yards or basket-cases) could be categorized in the Cruiser class, and generally made of various combined parts from whatever makes and models, even custom fabricated parts to suit the rat-bike style tastes of each particular builder. It is quite easy to fill page after page after page of peoples opinions of, and examples of the 2, whether they be salvage yard junkies and purists alike. I am with you , and the vast majority here, in your opinion of taking a basically stock perfectly good bike and commence to chopping it up with a saws-all, hammers and a welder to make something totally unpractical and in just plain Bad Taste. Just one example is a recent thread on here where someone did just that with a perfectly good, although weathered, 1980 KZ1000LTD. I won't mention the name but the thread is easy to find. I'm not really a 'purist' per-se and I am the opinion that every bike owner can do whatever with their bikes they want, however from the "Are U Kidding me" point of view...LOL..."what are some of these people thinking?"! Then they commence to sending shockwaves throught this site. If you want to build something of that nature, start with parts from salvage yards, wrecks, or basket cases that are destined for the salvage yards anyway. You would think it would be only logical, however sadly some don't see it that way. I myself am commencing a build of a modified, custom 1976 KZ900LTD. I've owned that bike since it's birth on the showroom floor. That bike and I have teamed up for perhaps 150,000 miles in our nearly 40 years together. One of my other bikes is that same make/model and year that's all stock, basically original (except for an factory color-coded repaint about 15-20 yrs ago) and very low miles which will never be altered. I have no problems with giving my high mileage weather worn baby a much needed facelift and rebuild, which will in the end be classified in the street fighter category....or as I call it...."a street bike on steroids"! I have absolutely no problems whatsoever with modifying and customising a good bike (whether it be a street fighter, bobber, chopper, whatever the owner's dream may be), as long as it is in 'good taste' and more importantly, doesn't send shockwaves throughout the logical thinking bike owners world..............................Mike

Vroom-vroom!!!

Thanks Mike. If they're finished, safe and look good, more power to them.
Steve

swest wrote: Thanks Mike. If they're finished, safe and look good, more power to them.
Steve

I agree with you both . Now that i have some clarity on the subject Ill just say to each his own. I like the idea of rebuilding and modifying to make better . Some of the street fighters I now see are cool and well built. But I dont care for the chop cut weld defame make ugly stuff :sick: