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Turns out painting is hard - took a few tries but I think it was worth the effort

 

Nice bike! Looks fantastic. 

Do you have any other threads on it here? I’m curious about your other mods. 

Thanks!  Another zr550 owner I see.  I don't have a write-up, but here's a review I posted a while ago with a few mods and my impressions. I have a relatively comprehensive list of mods/repairs I'll share as well. 


Before mods: sweet little bike. After mods: hyper-responsive little torque monster screamer
30 July 2018 by Zaddict
Year: 1990
This is a great bike. In stock form, it's comfy and fun and plenty powerful enough for highway use. With a few mods though, it has the potential to be a dream bike. I upgraded the front shocks with progressive springs and adjustable preloaders and the rear shocks with Nitrons. The stock engine put out 46 hp at the rear wheel (according to period reviews). With stage 1 jetting, a performance exhaust and a K&N filter that number went to 52. Swapping in ZX550 cams (from a GPZ550) and an SPII ignition bumped output to 58hp. It's gone from a sweet little ride to a snarling beast. Dogs bark at me as I pass by because they think my exhaust is growling at them (not kidding). All of my ratings for this review are post mods. Even before I would have put all 4 or 5 stars. Webike has thousands of custom parts still available - just about anything for the zephyr 400 will fit the 550. I can't tell you how much I love this bike.

Most of the mods and repairs I've made to the bike. All worth it in my opinion - maybe will give you some ideas?  

 

Cool stuff! Thanks for sharing. I have some ideas about some mods I might make at some point, but I’m still a new rider so I’m more concerned with just keeping the bike healthy and practicing my riding skills. 

But with that said, I can see how as my skills improve, and I spend more and more time in the saddle on different roads, and at higher speeds, I may desire some upgrades. It seems like the front suspension is the place to start, so I’m thinking about rebuilding the stock forks with RaceTech springs and gold valve emulators. I haven’t yet decided if I want to invest in the tools to do this myself, or if I want to just send them in to RaceTech to be done professionally. Rear shocks should probably be rebuilt or replaced at some point too. 

For the motor, it’s plenty fast for me right now, but I do feel like sometimes I need a little faster acceleration. Maybe it’s cause I’m just timid on the throttle, and that will improve with practice. But I’m not overly concerned with being the fastest guy out there and having the highest top speed. For that matter I do a lot of commuting so mid range power makes more sense. This is why I don’t think that the GPZ550 cam swap is the right mod for me, and when I am ready for more power the Wiseco big bore kit sounds like it will be a good choice. 

But I’m in no hurry here, and have plenty of time to think about my options before I commit to anything that can’t be reversed. 

It's a hooligan bike for sure. Probably about perfect for San Fran. 40 yrs ago I was piloting my GPz550 through the same streets. 
Nice job.