hiding electrics

Looking for ideas on how to hide the electrics on my 78 kz1000

Not sure what you're trying to hide, but a good start would be to use some handlebars with some notches cut out to allow the wiring from your LH and RH switch blocks to be tucked away out of sight - Z1-R used bars like this to tidy up the wiring. Need to make sure you minimise the cutouts so as not to weaken the bars tho'. You'll need to also round off the cutouts so they don't chafe/cut through the wiring. Probably require a trip to the platers after the engineering to restore the bars to their previous glory.NB Z1-R bars with cutouts are not NLA - I was lucky enough for mine to be able to be straightened and re-chromed and they look pretty good. Attached are a couple of pics of my bars before straightening and chroming



to show location/size of the original cutouts.

Pulling Wire Bundles Inside Handlebars

Before running any wiring inside the bars, take time to see if any sharp "Burrs" are there, otherwise they will quickly strip any insulation away from the wire's conductors, resulting in an electrical short.

A Dremel tool with a small stone grinding bit will smooth most burrs away. If the Dremel is not available, a small round rat tail file works just as good.

Stagger your electrical wire splices to reduce the bundle diameter, otherwise, it may be too large to pass through the handlebars.

When preparing to pull the wire bundle through the bars, carefully taper the bundles end with masking tape as this makes for a better pulling situation.

I use aircraft 0.032" diameter safety wire secured to the wire bundle as a pulling medium, Nylon string or small diameter cord will work for this too.

Silicone spray or electricians pulling lubricant should be applied to the end of the wires to ease the operation. It's best to have a helper while doing this to avoid problems of possible pinched or damaged wires. Have your helper apply a steady pulling effort while you carefully feed the wire bundle into the handlebars.

After the job of pulling is done, get a multimeter, set it on the lowest ohm setting, open up the switch housings to access the wire ends and then see if a wire of two has shorted out.

Put one probe on the handlebar and the other on any soldered wire ends on the switches and see if the meter indicates continuity by either making a buzz(some meters have built in buzzers) or a display on the meter face.

An analog meter(the type with the needle indicator) will act similar (except no buzzer) by showing usually a full deflection(needle movement)if there is a short by again, checking with the lowest setting on the ohm scale of the meter.

Finding a short now is a whole lot better than when it's wired up & blowing fuses or possible stranding you on the road.....

When splicing or extending wires, I've found the best, to be moisture resistant ones, to be the type that first crimped and then shrunk with a heat gun like in these video's:


Aircraft Electrical Tools, Basic Overview 001)


(Heatshrink Terminal Installation)


(Heatshrink Terminals And Connectors, AAA Protection)


(Heatshrinkable Crimpable Terminals)

Most auto supply stores and electronic stores carry good heatshrinkable splices. Good hobby stores carry a selection of lower priced heat guns, especially if you find a hobby store that carries flying model aircraft.

TowerHobbies.com | TOPTOPR2000 TOPR2000 Top Flite Heat Gun

I ran all the wiring through the frame tubes on a Harley I built. The harness was 100% custom though.

Thanks for the info, but i should have been more specific. I was mainly taking about all the electrics under the side covers. i want to clean up the whole area. i dont have side covers anyway

you want to sell the side covers and other parts?

You can use a motgadget "m-unit"($$$$) to simplify your wiring harness and make it easier to hide. LIthium battery($$) is also smaller and easier to hide. You will have to modify the tail to hold the electronics or fabricate a box to hold them either high under the seat or low just above the swinger pivot. make sure your rectifier is still exposed so air can cool it.

Not quite sure how your bike will look without sidecovers - even if you minimise the wiring, but then that's your choice. The Z1-R sidecovers fit inside the profile of the frame as opposed to the Z1000 ones which sit outside the subframe members and this gives a very streamlined look - maybe you could adapt or modify your sidecover mounting brackets/holes to accept some sidecovers which don't project outside the frame to give you a nice clean look?

Not ready to sell anything just yet. i onley have one anyway

Unfortunately this bike has been hacked up and mutilated by previous owners. Tabs for side covers are gone, rear part of frame hacked off. If it was in stock condition i would never change it. I love stock kz's, fyi

462Thanks for info

Depends on how much stuff you are keeping. You can hide all of the essentials between the frame rails under the seat (where it will stay relatively cool). The frame rails hide them well. I usually hide lighting related stuff under the tank.

The battery is obviously the most difficult thing to hide.
If you will be using electric start, then you have to keep it full size, or you could try one of the new LiFe Po batteries. There's up and down to those.
If you will be using kickstart only, you can use a small scooter battery, or possibly even eliminate it.

On this KZ550, I eliminated the battery. That's a capacitor in it's place (along with a spare).
There is also the reg/rec and igniter module.




This KZ650 uses a similar setup, but with a scooter battery. You can see about half of the battery hanging down.


This KZ400 uses the same setup, and before we painted the battery hanger, you could see it well.