1st time builder

Hello fellow kz lovers. I just picked up a 77 kz650 w 6000 miles. Sat around for 20yrs in a garage. Put a battery in it n fresh gas n it fired right up! Wanting to build a chopper n wanting to know the best hardtail to put on it. Just started tearing it down. 1st time builder n any info will be appreciated.

Patrick wrote: Hello fellow kz lovers. I just picked up a 77 kz650 w 6000 miles. Sat around for 20yrs in a garage. Put a battery in it n fresh gas n it fired right up! Wanting to build a chopper n wanting to know the best hardtail to put on it. Just started tearing it down. 1st time builder n any info will be appreciated.

lmgtfy.app/?q=kawasaki+kz650+hardtail+kit

I don't really understand. You plan to convert a very good handling KZ650 to a poor handling hardtail bike? Why? Do you not really ride much? Ed

Not to add to the dogpile of disapproval that's about to happen, but...

It does sound like an awful lot of effort to do something that, at best, will compormise the bike's handling and, at worst, could be really, really unsafe. If you've got serious engineering and fabrication skills, it'll be a rolling sculpture. If not, it could well become a death trap.

Can help you with a hardtail recommendation but my experience with choppers has been a lot better that you'd expect based on what you typically hear when the topic comes up. The blue bike is my first motorcycle (only bike for 10 years). When I was building it in the early 80s choppers were out of style (as were Harleys). My friends who rode were taking bets as to whether I was going to fall on the left side or the right side first the first time out. I rode it all around Chicago land side streets and many trips to Wisconsin on the highway. The photo is at the strip in Union Grove Wisconsin. It only ran a 14.6 @ 90 but there was no drama with the chassis. The front brake was useless so stationary burnouts weren't possible but it could do nice rolling ones. It would top out about 110. I only had about one hour of seat time on motorcycles when I built so it all seemed normal to me. Now that I've go a lot of time on "normal" bikes It say it takes much more effort at low speed (It definitely has "flop") and more lean in turns but the throttle picks it back up when you want to straighten out after a turn. The black bike isn't raked and is about 6" over on the forks. I'd describe that a just a little "slowed up" as far as how it handles. Maybe I've been lucky but I found the horror stories to be over stated. I think fours can make great looking choppers. Good luck with the project.

I've personally never understood the attraction of hardtails - but it's your bike and you can do what you want with it. Having said this, I'm not sure that a low-mileage KZ650 is a good candidate. These bikes were made to be reasonably powerful (by 70's standards, for being a 650 especially) and have a good compromise of handling and comfort - they are a bike intended to take through the corners. Take away the handling and comfort (which will happen with a hardtail conversion), and you're left with a bike with a frame designed for highways, but an engine that's not optimal.

You could certainly do it, and I do appreciate people doing different things to their bikes. But a kz with 6000m is becoming rarer, and it seems a shame to cut up (what seems by your description) a good example of one of these bikes. By way of comparison, my KZ750 has 114,000km on it.

I think fours can make great looking choppers. Good luck with the project. [/quote]
Hi, just seen the Shovelhead picture! I painted my good friends 81 Superglide with a flame job that I 1st did on a 100cc Suzuki trail bike. I hung out with older guys when I was 15-16-17 yrs old. I learned how to paint with them.
So I had this trail bike, I turned 16 after car license I got MC and drove on the road with it.
I found xtra paint used silver, gold and red to do flame job. I did not paint it 1st.
But Same damn colors and flames on this bike.
Just sharing! Build something! Anything!
I actually re-cleared this 3 yrs. ago after 20 yrs ago doing it.
Cool!

Like your use of classic colors! I painted both of the Harleys in 1985 using House of Color products. Candy red and candy yellow for the flames over black and candy red and purple over the candy blue rigid bike.

Patrick wrote: Hello fellow kz lovers. I just picked up a 77 kz650 w 6000 miles. Sat around for 20yrs in a garage. Put a battery in it n fresh gas n it fired right up! Wanting to build a chopper n wanting to know the best hardtail to put on it. Just started tearing it down. 1st time builder n any info will be appreciated.

"I have no idea what I'm doing and Google is a mystery. Please help me ruin this low-mileage original bike." :sick: :sick: :sick:

The simplest way is to just fabricate some struts to replace the shocks. It may be possible to buy some struts for another model that uses the same length and style shocks.
If you really want to permanently replace the swingarm and shocks with a fully welded hard tail, I suspect you will need to custom fabricate everything.

TexasKZ wrote:

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I wood ride that.