Upgrades

Hello all,

So I left you, thought I wanted a bigger bike, bought and sold a few, while the 440 sat in the corner to pickup parts, and never failed me.

Well, I would like to spend a little and get her running really nice, what your suggestion to spend a little and get some bang for the buck. - I was looking at a set of Minkuni 30mm.

Thanks !

If it's running good leave the carbs alone. Carb changes can cause major headaches, not to mention they are expensive.

Performance mods are almost always expensive, and can be especially so on a machine that is not commonly raced. Read Doctorot's 750 twin build thread for a sense of how this can go.

That being said, I would suggest the following as a general guide ---

Riding school, more than once - In almost every case, the weakest link in the performance chain is the rider. A really skilled rider can take a relatively weak bike and beat the snot out of average riders on excellent bikes. Absolutely, the best bang for the buck.

Loose weight - bike and rider. I can see that you have started down at road with the bike.

Improved suspension and stiffer frame - All the power in the world is useless if the tires will not stay in contact with the surface, or if the bike is wobbly and flexible.. As true on pavement as off.

Better brakes -A faster bike needs better brakes for safety and for braking later and harder.

The best fookin tires you can afford - more grip equals better acceleration, cornering and braking. Also, they will take best advantage of better suspension and brakes.

Engine mods - 1: more displacement; 2: better breathing, cams, porting, carbs. This needs to be approached with a careful plan in place because each of these mods are affected by the others and need to work in harmony.

Jut my opinion, ymmv.

Definitely not looking to race it, I played with some really big displacement over the past three months, and frankly I appreciate the lighter frame weight of this and being able to knock it around versus heavier frames with more power.

Riding school - Check and the advanced class, check.

Loosing weight - Major factor, just been hesitant to cut anything off until now, so thats on the todo, and a lighter battery.

Suspension - Big time, I am still running the air shocks, which are failing and need to be replaced in the front as well as some improvement to the back -Thank you

Brakes - have not felt like I pushed them over yet, stopping distance is effective currently.

Tire - I dont care to admit I am running knobs on it.

Engine mods - really where I stand to lose a lot to gain a few. Cams porting and carbs were the most interest to me because its within my skillset . Displacement is tough without the measurement tools to ensure accuracy.

I believe I misspoke, my desires was to gain more responsiveness.

Clearly, I assumed all of this was predicated on aiming all the modifications on a particular style of riding. I assumed (yes, I know...) that you have a sort of dual sport end game in mind. Knobbies are fine, if they are appropriate to the ultimate purpose. If you plan on quite a bit of pavement, and occasional fire road blasting, a different sort of tire may be best. Getting the very best tires for the purpose may involve new wheels, as modern bikes, and the tires made for them, have gravitated toward sizes not used when KZs were new.

A LiFePO battery surely can save significant weight, but may also necessitate a more modern regulator.

Another area to consider is fasteners. Most all of them are steel, and most can be replaced with titanium. Yes, it can get expensive, but the cumulative weight loss might suprise you. A couple of guys at ZRXOA got into a friendly contest to see who could have the lightest ZRX on the planet. One guy owns a fab shop, and made custom titanium axles, light weight radiator brackets and even sells titanium ignition keys for those who are serious about it!

Also, if you decide you need some custom, light weight triple clamps or swingarm, or foot controls, and such, contact PDM. There is a button at the bottom of the page. The owner is a long time member here, and does some beautiful work. There are some other members here with mad fabrication skills, but I hesitate to volunteer them since they do not make their living making KZ stuff.