78 Z1R upgrades

z1kzonly wrote:

Nola wrote:

z1kzonly wrote:

531blackbanshee wrote: curious as to why you would put bronze pivot bushing in place of the needle bearings ????

leon

Leon, he might not be aware that the later year KZ swing arms have needle bearings already?

Correct sir.

Cool Nola. What a Score you got with that motorcycle! Good Luck with it all! I might be wrong with the 78's.
But the 80 Z1R had a double wall reinforcement up at the steering head coming down in the down tubes?
And a little history about the Z1R's. No one bought them in 78, they were called ugly. The Factory had too much inventory. Dealers still had new ones in stock to sell 2 & 3 years after their introduction. That's why there was not a 1979 Z1R.
Then they changed up the 1980. Different sized tank, 19" front rim. But that's about all I know about them.
Your off to a GREAT start!
Enjoy it!

swest wrote: A episode of CHIPS Ponch lost one to a old lady on a game show.
Steve

z1kzonly wrote:

Nola wrote:

z1kzonly wrote:

531blackbanshee wrote: curious as to why you would put bronze pivot bushing in place of the needle bearings ????

leon

Leon, he might not be aware that the later year KZ swing arms have needle bearings already?

Correct sir.

Cool Nola. What a Score you got with that motorcycle! Good Luck with it all! I might be wrong with the 78's.
But the 80 Z1R had a double wall reinforcement up at the steering head coming down in the down tubes?
And a little history about the Z1R's. No one bought them in 78, they were called ugly. The Factory had too much inventory. Dealers still had new ones in stock to sell 2 & 3 years after their introduction. That's why there was not a 1979 Z1R.
Then they changed up the 1980. Different sized tank, 19" front rim. But that's about all I know about them.
Your off to a GREAT start!
Enjoy it!

redhawk4 wrote:

z1kzonly wrote:

Nola wrote:

z1kzonly wrote:

531blackbanshee wrote: curious as to why you would put bronze pivot bushing in place of the needle bearings ????

leon

Leon, he might not be aware that the later year KZ swing arms have needle bearings already?

Correct sir.

Cool Nola. What a Score you got with that motorcycle! Good Luck with it all! I might be wrong with the 78's.
But the 80 Z1R had a double wall reinforcement up at the steering head coming down in the down tubes?
And a little history about the Z1R's. No one bought them in 78, they were called ugly. The Factory had too much inventory. Dealers still had new ones in stock to sell 2 & 3 years after their introduction. That's why there was not a 1979 Z1R.
Then they changed up the 1980. Different sized tank, 19" front rim. But that's about all I know about them.
Your off to a GREAT start!
Enjoy it!

It is strange to me how the Z1R is so popular now, because as you rightly say they were really poor sellers at the time, which is why they came up with putting the Turbo's on them to move them out of the showrooms. I really didn't like them back in 78, much preferred the normal KZ1000. However nearly 40 years later I find them much more appealing than I did in 78, I still recall looking at one in the dealer showroom and calling my friend over" look a Z1R" in those days just the fact it was a 1000cc bike was cause for excitement, but it was not really appealing to me. Perhaps it was ahead of it's time, we certainly weren't used to the "square look" back then and I guess others felt the same way based on sales. Am I right in thinking that as the 78 sold so slowly, there is no 79 model?

Nola wrote:

swest wrote: A episode of CHIPS Ponch lost one to a old lady on a game show.
Steve

So funny, the day I bought it, my buddy and neighbor calls me and says come over....and shows me the very end of that episode....lol

531blackbanshee wrote: here in these pics you can see the mount i was talking about.the peg mounts to it and the header mounts to it.

leon

redhawk4 wrote: Currently it has a bid of $19,500 on it, incredible for a bike they couldn't get anyone to buy in it's day. Traditionally classics have always been vehicles that were highly cherished when new. I really don't understand it, not to knock the PO's bike or anyone else's, but really any vehicle that is rare only because people chose not to buy it when it was being made, just shouldn't be worth that sort of money. When you watch the classic car auctions, they are really specific in terms of years and models that really fetch big money

redhawk4 wrote: This link to a mint restored Z1R might help you with some pointers, the eBay pictures are very helpful for research purposes, save them to a file for future reference, I've done that for some of my bikes,


,
Currently it has a bid of $19,500 on it, incredible for a bike they couldn't get anyone to buy in it's day. Traditionally classics have always been vehicles that were highly cherished when new. I really don't understand it, not to knock the PO's bike or anyone else's, but really any vehicle that is rare only because people chose not to buy it when it was being made, just shouldn't be worth that sort of money. When you watch the classic car auctions, they are really specific in terms of years and models that really fetch big money, To those not really in the know, like me, you see two identical vehicles, but one goes for 3 or 4 times the price of the other, because it was the one to have. It seems to me only a 1980 Z1R should be particularly valuable because that is more desirable than the 78 which had some fundamental problems like the 18" front wheel causing instability and under sized gas tank, all of which made it unpopular in its day.

Fair play on this one though, whoever restored it certainly looks to have done a fantastic job.