KZ440 rotors and calipers (and pads)

I live in Taiwan (where there are no old KZs like mine) and I have what appears to be a Japanese-made 1980 KZ440 A1 LTD. It has a 19" mag wheel front, with a 7 bolt rotor on it. The caliper uses oddly-shaped pads, one of which uses a screw to affix it to the caliper.

I'd like to overhaul my caliper and get new brake pads, but when I look on e-bay, all the wheels and rotors have 4 bolts, and the brake pads seem to be different! I want to know:

Is my wheel different because it's Japanese and not US-made?

Is there any difference between the calipers of the 7 and 4-bolt bikes?

Where can I get rebuild kits and brake pads for my bike?

Thanks for any help anyone can give me with this.

Post edited by: kamiwaza, at: 2007/12/20 01:26

kamiwaza wrote:

I live in Taiwan (where there are no old KZs like mine) and I have what appears to be a Japanese-made 1980 KZ440 A1 LTD. It has a 19" mag wheel front, with a 7 bolt rotor on it. The caliper uses oddly-shaped pads, one of which uses a screw to affix it to the caliper.

I'd like to overhaul my caliper and get new brake pads, but when I look on e-bay, all the wheels and rotors have 4 bolts, and the brake pads seem to be different! I want to know:

Is my wheel different because it's Japanese and not US-made?

Is there any difference between the calipers of the 7 and 4-bolt bikes?

Where can I get rebuild kits and brake pads for my bike?

Thanks for any help anyone can give me with this.<br><br>Post edited by: kamiwaza, at: 2007/12/20 01:26

According to the parts diagrams, the KZ440 A1 LTD from 1980 should have a 4 bolt rotor. The most likelt explanation is someone swapped wheels a while ago. If memory serves, the shaft drive bikes of that era had seven bolt rotors. Someone probably changed wheels.

Hope this helps...

Thanks Samwell. It helps, but it's little comfort. If it sheds any more light, my front and rear mags are different OEM - the front is Enkei, the rear Asahi. Don't know if this is normal or not.

By shaft drive, I guess you mean bigger KZs. There weren't any shaft-drive 440s, correct?

kamiwaza wrote:

Thanks Samwell. It helps, but it's little comfort. If it sheds any more light, my front and rear mags are different OEM - the front is Enkei, the rear Asahi. Don't know if this is normal or not.

By shaft drive, I guess you mean bigger KZs. There weren't any shaft-drive 440s, correct?

AS far as I know, the shaft drives were only 1000's and 1100's.

My KZ1000A2 has pads like you describe. The inboard(closer to the wheel) pad is held on with a screw. They are a bit odd shaped too, mostly circular with the top and bottom are flat.

kawasaki.com will have a parts diagram and EBC brakes, will have pictures of pads so you can match things up.

Sam