TOPIC:

I have a 1978 KZ 650, that has been well cared for. However, the petcock valve is leaking and making a mess of my bike. I found a Petcock valve for a KZ 650 "B". I believe that mine is a "D." Will it make a difference? I also need a gasket kit for the rest of the bike. I hope to keep this bike on the road, and have a hard time finding parts and people willing to help with such an old bike. This bike has taken FIRST PLACE in a motorcycle show, under my ownership. I hope to win many more. It went up against alot of modern bikes, and still took first. It would mean a lot to me to be able to keep it running and on the road, just to show people the VINTAGE BIKE are here and not going anywhere.

Short answer YES B C and D are the different models. B is a standard bike with spoke wheels. The C is the Custom model with mad wheels 19/18 with dual front discs sin gal rear disc. The D is the SR/CSR with the same brakes as the C also with mag wheels but a smaller rear wheel and taller handlebars and different tank / covers.
The frat year bikes had the standard petcocks and all the rest had vacuum operated petcocks

Oh yeah welcome to the site.

Post edited by: Mark Wing, at: 2006/05/23 02:00

Welcome to KZR. Give us some pictures of your 650.

The different models can be seen on this 650 site; 650s


As well as the 650 info site in my signature.

Like mentioned your "D" means it's a SR model, which was a new release for the 650 line in 1978. It's more of a cruiser similar to a LTD line. The petcock from a SR was not the same part as a B or C model, but they will all work. Why Kawasaki always put different parts on every motorcycle was always a mystery. The only logical reason I can see is Kawasaki did not want used parts available at a reasonable cost so by never making 2 models with the same part, the chance of finding any particular part you need laying around on a junked bike is near zero. Kawasakis lettering system is another mystery, a 1000B is a LTD, a 1100B is a GPZ, a 650B is the standard. A 650D is a SR, a 1000D is the Z1R. No rhyme or reason to what letter they saw fit to set on a certain model