Bought a 1988 KZ1000P

I haven't actually gotten it home yet. I had to travel to another state, inspected it, bought it, clean title and everything. It's at the house of a friend in the area right now waiting for me to pick it up which i hope to do next week. It looks to have a very small head gasket leak, which i intend on having addressed fairly soon, but I don't expect to lose anything more than about a pint a month, and that's practically nothing. Also needs new tires and the brake rotors look a little worn but should be good for another year.

So anyway... I'd just like to ask... anybody here have experience with these beasts? So far all I've ridden KZ wise is a KZ750-LTD, and I'm looking forward to the bigger bike. I know the frame has all kinds of mounting tabs for police kit and fairings. I intend on keeping it as stock as possible. Keeping the pursuit lights as white though, cuz no impersonating a police officer... I'm hoping to to hook up a CB (not a police radio) to the radio box, just for giggles.

Anyway, I'm just basically asking if there's anything I should know about. So far I've spoken to several people who have told me that there's no real issues with the model and it's a very solid bike that'll survive the apocalypse, but I'd like to get as many opinions as possible.

Also, I'm interested in seeing if I can't find a passenger seat and pegs. I've heard they exist, but I've yet to see anybody selling them. I'd only occasionally swap out as the situation dictates, keeping the radio box on back most of the time.

Welcome to the club. There are a few of us rocking these old bikes.
You didn't say how many miles are on it but you should plan on doing all the regualr old MC maintenence items such as valves (the cowl needs to come off), brakes, carbs, tires, etc. These are normally rode hard and subject to some abuse particularly the wiring where the the cop stuff was added and then removed. They are fun and comfortable bikes to ride around town but less so on the highways due to the short wheelbase and low gearing IMO.

Oh and beware the cop bike curse.

It's got 49k miles, and I plan on doing regular maintenance on it, by the book.

I've sourced some NOS OEM controls because of the chances of wiring issues from things being diked out. I want to use the siren and pursuit light controls for things other than cop stuff... like the pursuit lights as running lights and switch to control whether or not they're on, and the siren switch to switch on and off an underglow or something similar. So I need the extra controls anyway.

Don't sport bikes have a short wheel base too? I mean, I'm used to my KZ750-H3 LTD, which admittedly, by virtue of being an LTD, has a longer wheel base... But how does it compare to that?

I'm doing a valve job on it pretty much immediately.

What is the "cop bike curse"? The only hits I can find on the internet about it happen to be from you

Yeah, short wheelbase = good in traffic and super nimble like a sportbike. At freeway speeds it's less stable and the gearing has the engine screaming to keep up with traffic. I went with slightly taller gearing that brought the revs down to 3,700 at 65mph from 4,300. T
By valve job do you mean valve adjustment? By all means...
The cop bike curse is people slow down when you come up behind them. It's maddening especially on two lane roads.

By valve job i mean what the owners manual says to do every 25k miles. It's 49k now so... The manual says it's a valve clearance check.

As i understand it, wouldn't the cop bike curse also be a blessing in disguise? People avoiding illegally cutting you off, and also getting out of the way on multi lane roads?

Also, what kind of gearing are you talking about? More teeth on the rear sprocket or something? Also how would it affect my ability to keep up with the people i ride with? They tend to do like 90 on the freeway.

Also would keeping the stock gearing be better for drag racing? Not competition drag, but like friendly somebody is having their birthday at the drag strip racing? I ask because thats is actually going to happen later this year.

Yes, valve clearance check.

I went from a 15/41 with a 630 chain to a 18/42 with a 530 chain. Acceleration is still brisk but the freeway rpms are much lower. There are a few threads on KZP gearing on this forum.

Heh, my 750LTD has a 630 chain out of the factory, and a mechanic friend of mine was like "but why? this is a drag chain"

Is there any benefit to the smaller 530 chain other than a slight reduction in weight? I ask because my 750 snapped its chain once... It was a brand new chain and it just tore the master link clip on hard acceleration... and this bike has even more power.

I'm keeping my 630.
Steve

There are more quality choices in modern 530 chains, and yes you loose some reciprocating weight. If your 750 snapped a chain, it was either a cheap or terribly defective chain, or the master link was not installed properly.
A KZ does not make enough power to snap a high quality modern drive chain.

I didn't think a kz could snap a 630 either but none the less it did. I think i may have been too tight. I figured the wheel would spin if that much torque were applied.

The next chain i put on it lasted a long time.

As texaskz stated, it had to be a cheapo master link. I go to great lengths to make sure any link I put in my chain is the same link that the rest of the chain is made from. Also I feel that riveted chains master links are stronger that clip type links.

ThatGPzGuy, i jyst noticed that you're in Atlanta. I'm not far from there. I'm in Barrow County and work in Gwinnet County.

I met a guy at a bike meet at Victory Sandwiches, in i think it was Decatur, who has a KZ1000P. Don't suppose that could have been you? Seeing it was the whole reason i went looking for one once my money situation got better.