Yep, believe it or not! (That's actually more for convincing myself)
Hello to all!
As a kid, my first REAL bike (street) was a 76 Suzuki TC125 - rode it all through high school.
Had all sorts of dirt bikes from age 14 on -
72 Bultaco Pursang 125/250
72 Hodaka Wombat 125
74 HD (Aermacchi) 125SXT (still have this)
75 Yamaha DT400 Enduro
And a few other oddball, junkers that I made to ride.
Joined the US Navy in 1980, in 83 I bought an 81 Suzuki GS 850L and in 83 bought a second 850L brand new 82 (Dealer had a holdover still in the crate).
Got out of the military in 88 and eventually sold both Suzy's to my older brother around 1995.
I was 'bikeless' from 95 until 2004 (got into boats and snowmobiles for awhile and still have 2 boats).
In 2003 a buddy of mine had a couple of Honda 4Trax that I rode several times and one time at the ATV trails there was a fella that had 3 or 4 mid 80's Honda ATC's and let me ride a couple of them ...
And I was HOOKED!!
Ended up buying way too many over the next several years (had as many as 9 at one time).
These were all 85's: 200X, 250SX, 250ES Big Red (still have), (2) 250R's, several 125's (still have a 125G) and so on.
Then one day I realized that I still ride these "Death Machines" (as they were called back in the day and removed from the market) like I was 15 years old and it occurred to me that I have been very fortunate NOT to end up in a traction (yep, rode like a crazy man) and since I'm pushing 58 (2 years ago) I should probably consider something a bit tamer.
And since I was very impressed with Honda, I considered a road bike and ended up with 4 Goldwings (79, 2-84's, & a 96).
Still have them but have always wanted to build a cafe racer.
Really didn't care what brand or size, thought about modifying one of my GW's but thought they were a bit large for a true cafe.
A little research determined that true cafe's are 300cc to 750cc so I started to look for an 80-90 Honda CB.
And I happened across a little gem of a bike that was stored inside and ridden maybe once a year.
This bike was about 2 points off near perfect condition.
BUT IT WAS A KAWASAKI and I never had one, EVER (which was really odd since I had just about everything else!)
Well, long story short (yeah - really long, sorry) I couldn't pass it up for the price and became the proud owner of a 1978 KZ400-B1.
An absolute blast to ride - like a dirt bike on steroids!
But now I have a dilemma - I hate like hell to tear apart this fine speciman.
So here's what I'm thinking -
Remove all the stock bolt on parts; tank, handlebars, fenders, lights, etc. and replace with aftermarket cafe style parts.
That way I get my cafe but still retain everything to make original again if someone wanted to.
No cutting or modifying frame but start with basically a rolling frame with engine and final drive.
What do you guys think?
ALSO, in the KZR Forum service manual section, the KZ400's stop at 77 and start again at 79 - What no 78? Is the 78 that different from the others?
Anyway, glad I found this forum!