The motor has no smoke at start up or deceleration. It now has about 1600 miles and there in no oil consumption..It pulls hard from bottom all the way to redline. It carburates crisply with no lean spots or hesitation. I do not have any planes for motor work , cams or otherwisr. I want to just ride the hell out of it and should something break, then I will evaluateit. however, as bullit proof as these motors are, i don't anticipate it breaking any time soon.
When I was younder, i spent all the $ on HP. Now I seem to spend all the $ on brakes and suspension..
Here is a pic of my new EBC rotors going on this week end along with a new front tire.

I think it's built that way so you don't have to consider putting 900lb of Harley on a center stand - you don't need one because it already sits on the ground, no flat spots in your tires during winter storage, firstly because theirs no weight on them, and secondly you'll only be riding it in the winter, you can't ride it in the summer because the sparks will start wildfires.

While a lot of custom bikes are fascinating to look at, I don't get the idea behind defying the laws of physics that goes into so may of the chopper/cruiser inspired designs. It's like buying a Ferrari and swapping out the wheels for bicycle tires and somehow believing that's an improvement. The KZ equivalent would be buying a GSXR and swapping in KZ1000 forks and a KZ1000 swingarm complete with the wheels and NOS OEM Japanese tires. Anything that reduces the safety of a motorcycle. meaning in any situation you have less of a safety margin, is not a good idea IMO, unless it's just a static work of art.

I was staying in a hotel in the middle of nowhere, one evening there were a whole load of expensive custom bikes parked there. One was particularly eye catching and we spent a few minutes looking it over, although ultimately my conclusion was why would you want a bike like that. The next day when we left, we didn't more than a 1/4 mile before coming up on traffic at a standstill. It turned out the bike we'd been looking at had failed to make a slight curve in the road and the rider was being loaded into an ambulance, the bike didn't look as pretty upside down in a ditch. I would estimate my BMW could take that curve at 120 mph, if you were brave/stupid enough, but it was the sort of road you'd generally have been riding at 50-60 mph, so you'd have plenty in hand compared to the bike's capabilities, I doubt the guy was even doing 50 when he left the road from the distance traveled before it came to a stop, As Scottie used to say "Yee canee change the laws of physics"

Street Fighter LTD wrote:

tk11b40 wrote: How much greater an honor than to be chosen by KZ enthusiasts to be the Bike of the Month....

I could not be happier !!
Many thanks.

No Ted, You Honor Us
Thank you for sharing such a special machine with all of us here at KZR

Dave

For sure. It is a real privilege and pleasure to follow build threads like this one.

I keep looking a the bike on the Home page, just giddy.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Thank you so much.
The engine..
Ok this might take a minute.
I did no internal work to the motor. I polished the hell out of it, took many hours. Like hundreds. Why no internal work on the motor? I bought the bike from a friend of mine, who bought it from another friend you know.... we all know each other, because we were in the same Infantry Platoon in the Guard. We all lived in a small town of about 30,000 people (Wenatchee).

The top end was rebuilt with the 998 kit at the local Kawasaki shop, by the same mechanic (also a friend) who rebuilt my Eddie Lawson motor. We called him Mad Jack. Mad Jack went to High School with my wife "The Lovely Miss Karen"... small town fun. He still works on bikes and has since 1977 where he started as a factory mechanic. Mad Jack always did a valve job, guides etc, when doing the big bore kit. I have no receipts as it was probably done a long long time ago when friend number one owned the bike. I don't know how many miles are on the top end and bug bore, but the bike sat for about 5 years before friend number two bought it from friend number one. Then sat for a few years before I got it, where it just became a project as documented here for about ten years.

Mad Jack was a factory trained Kawasaki Tech and aside from a big company like APE is probably one of the best KZ mechanics on earth. I rode the hell out of the ELR after he rebuilt it for me... no problems, and I know of may other KZ's with the same results. So the bottom line was "why?" would I tear down the motor and rebuild it spending a bunch of money where it was not needed.

My plan was to send the engine to Pit Stop Performance and have them build a new one eventually, just to be certain. The motor is basically stock but with the 998 kit, I don't know what the compression ratio was, but Mad Jack always tried to stay on the conservative side, so must likely 12.5 to 1. He liked Wiesco, He also never admitted to having a crush on the Lovely Miss Karen...small town fun. I trusted Mad Jack with the engine work but was wary of leaving the Lovely Miss Karen alone around Mad Jack. Probably just me being paranoid.

If you want to be smart about it, I would perform a leak down test. Those engines are bulletproof, the bike does not flutter or back fire, so the valve train is very solid. "IF" it smokes on star up.. and I don't recall any smoke.. the only suspicion might be the valve stem seals which are obviously old now. These are little rubber seals around the valve stem on top of the head.

You know find yourself in the exact place I was.... why spend the money?

Myke has the advantage of having already had a great deal of work and money put into the bike before he bought/traded for it. So a new engine may make a good deal of sense at this point. Myke Please..please If you go with a new engine use the one you have (polished) and have it professionally rebuilt. I have built several engines, The experiences I have had are all good, but very stressful.

I had Mad Jack put the ELR together strictly so that I would not worry about whether or not I got something wrong. I was right there while he/we put it together, just me and Mad Jack after the Kawasaki shop closed at night. The lovely Miss Karen was not present (see above) I also built a screaming Ford Fe (GT 390) around the same time frame which cost about the same as the ELR motor I was constantly listening to the Fe motor thinking something might be wrong. That motor is still screaming after 120,000 Miles. I was way less stressed with the Mad Jack ELR, I knew it was right, and did not hear every little thing ding click rub rib rub noise... even though it probably would have sounded the same if I had done it. Even when you have the ability sometimes is good to let Mad Jack do the work... I am building my XR 400 dirt bike motor this winter.. I do a lot of that, but I would leave the KZ to a Professional like Mad Jack...

So that's a very long engine story but gives you and everyone else some perspective as to why no internal engine work was done. I sepnt the money on all the goodies that make the bike handle and stop. That motor pulls very hard as is, especially with the Dyna ignition and the flatslides. The entire charging system and wiring is also brand new. Its a new bike, wear that motor out..then tinker with it.

RonKZ650 wrote: I put the tapered bearings in 3 KZ650s, and a KZ1000 and can't say I could tell any real improvement. They were before the Chinese all balls though, so maybe chinese bearings have a better feel . As to the swing arm bearings, why do you think virtually everything needs to be replaced? They used 4 good quality needle bearings in the 78. Those aren't bad I'll wager to bet. The 77 with the sleeve, yes, it's bad, but 78 the bearings most likely are fine.

The guy who painted my frame was able to get the swing arm bearings. I decided not to replace them instead adding penetrating oil and greasing them freed them up a good amount. A couple feel kind of crunchy when I turn them.

tk11b40, well done!Thank you for allowing me to be the care taker..

Perhaps you could comment on what you did with the motor.

How much greater an honor than to be chosen by KZ enthusiasts to be the Bike of the Month....

I could not be happier !!
Many thanks.

The 900 looks great!
Well done.