how durable are kz400 motors

How much abuse will they take? will it stay together
over 60 mile trips at 70 mph?

ive got one if ya wanna put it in something and find out!:whistle:

How durable? Many of the KZ400s are over 30 years old. You be the judge...

KL250 wrote:

How much abuse will they take? will it stay together
over 60 mile trips at 70 mph?

60 mile trips would be trivial on a well tuned 400. But you try riding for that long doing a steady 70MPH on it and I'm sure it would get a little daunting heh heh.

If you refer to the vibration at 70 mph, when I was a tad younger, I bought a new 1969 Government of Japan CB450 police bike. I bought it in 1972 or 1973 (can't recall). The bike had been in a crate and it was my first "big" street bike. When my wife and I brought it home to the states, I rode it home from the port in New Jersey to Ohio and then we rode it all over the country. There probably hasn't been a bike that vibrated worse than the CB450. I can't imagine how we both fit on that bike but I do remember that it wasn't just the seat but the grips that vibrated. My hands still go numb thinking about the bike.

I would say it'd be fine. As nfswift said "60 mile trips would be trivial on a well tuned 400." Probably like most any other mid size bike, although you need to keep in mind that it's gettting close to 30 years old.
So it's not going to be like riding a new bike, ie. a little more maintenance required and attention paid to the bike. I ride mine every day to work, 30 miles each way, mostly highway with some city traffic thrown in.
Tony

How is the vibration on these compared to say like a 650, a like a z250. The reason I ask is I am looking for somthing to make my week end trips to chicago on, as my lil 250 is turning 6500 at 70 mph and it reallly vibrates horribly.

Kurt,

I put about 5k miles on my 400 in the last two years, most of which were at 60-65 mph. It's still runnning pretty good, though it only has 15k on the odometer.

It's a bit buzzy at 65, with my cheap Whitney's mirrors I can tell there's vehicles behind me, I can tell their color, but I'd have trouble telling their make.

George

mine died at 26,000 miles..i think the balancers in the engine wore out..it shook so bad when i rode it the fillings came out of my teeth...sold the bike as junk to a neighbor who let it sit outside till now,,hell its probably still out there somewhere...lol

KL250 wrote:

How is the vibration on these compared to say like a 650, a like a z250. The reason I ask is I am looking for somthing to make my week end trips to chicago on, as my lil 250 is turning 6500 at 70 mph and it reallly vibrates horribly.

My 650 is Smooooooooooth. Really. I rarely feel any vibration at all. I think the only bike similiar that I could personally compare it to was a Honda 750 Supersport a friend had, and that Honda vibrated 10 times worse in the bars and pegs than my 650. I rode a Goldwing once that was smoother, but you can't compare the two really. This is the smoothest bike I've ever ridden or owned, and that's a bunch of different bikes too, Harley's, Brit bikes, 2 stroke triples, etc. Of course, it's a 1978 and the newest bike I ever owned or rode too!:whistle:

KL250 wrote:

How is the vibration on these compared to say like a 650, a like a z250. The reason I ask is I am looking for somthing to make my week end trips to chicago on, as my lil 250 is turning 6500 at 70 mph and it reallly vibrates horribly.

A well maintained 400 will go as far as you can endure it. I used to take mine on 700 mile road trips without a second thought.

The "endure" part of the equation is mostly due to the vibes. At highway speeds the vibration gets kind of tiresome after a few hundred miles. Comparisons to the 650? I chuckled at that one:lol: The 650 is as smooth as the 400 with the ignition switch turned to "off". I'm not kidding. The first time I rode the 650, I was stunned at the smoothness of the inline four. Until then, all I'd ridden was the KZ400 and 750 twin (both moderate vibrators). It's like night and day.

The 400 is definitely smoother than the 250 and, IMHO, quite suited to that task of a highway commuter.

I just bought a KZ400. My first bike, the KZ650 that I'm currently riding, is about three times heavier than the KZ400. The KZ400 is still in progress so I can't ride it on the highway just yet.

Can give me your opinion on the difference on the highway? Power? Top speed? The KZ650 is a dream on the highway but very heavy to make u-turns and back up when parking. I weigh 130 and I'm 5'7" tall. Even with lowering it is still too tall. The KZ400 seems much more my size and I think I'll be able to handle it better. But the more people I talk to, I am getting concerned about it being too slow on the highway. Not too concerned, just curious.