77kz650 Cafe

Got around to painting all the ground bits...this might be done soon...this in a way kind of saddens me







ok...here is where your opinion comes in to play...yea or nay on the red side cover badges...keep in mind these are rough and unfinished

mid paint sesh


on the bike




and the whole she-bang as it sits


oh and here is something I forgot to add awhile ago...this is my new kustom brake light actuator...I think it looks cooler then the stock spring and bar

Fantastic job scumbag. My vote is yes on the red badges. And, the brake actuator looks great, but you want a spring in there somewhere or at some point you are going to pull the switch apart, there has to be some stretch in it. Fantastic looking bike.
Ride safe

Hey scumbag. Very nice fabrication work. You have built something very trick and unique and should rightfully be proud of your work.

The red looks kinda cool but I think you should stick to the black and polished look.

One of my customers owns a Benjamin Moore paint store and they just introduced a stainless steel paint that is applied in two stages. The badges might look good with this stainless steel paint on them.

Just my 2.5 cents worth but again, very nice work.

Cheers-Colin Firth-Ontario Canada

The Milkman wrote:

Fantastic job scumbag. My vote is yes on the red badges. And, the brake actuator looks great, but you want a spring in there somewhere or at some point you are going to pull the switch apart, there has to be some stretch in it. Fantastic looking bike.
Ride safe

the way I have it working I really don't see that happening...the actuator is never pulled to its full extent but only to the point where it switches the lamps on...I do understand what your getting at though

reborn650 wrote:

Hey scumbag. Very nice fabrication work. You have built something very trick and unique and should rightfully be proud of your work.

The red looks kinda cool but I think you should stick to the black and polished look.

One of my customers owns a Benjamin Moore paint store and they just introduced a stainless steel paint that is applied in two stages. The badges might look good with this stainless steel paint on them.

Just my 2.5 cents worth but again, very nice work.

Cheers-Colin Firth-Ontario Canada

I have always been sketched out by metalic paints...they have always seemed hokey to me

the flat black is another option that I was thinkin about...

I did however chose the red to compliment the red on the controls and choke lever so its not just out there on its own

thanks for the thoughts Colin

I see ware on your Kick Start lever and your Rear Break lever... just like mine. I always thought they rubbed together because the PO had dropped the bike on the right side.

This seems like a really strange thing for Kawasaki to get wrong after building such a functional bike. Do you think that all the '77 KZ-650-B1's ware at the same point?

Great pictures and mean looking machine.

Best of success.

mine was from the P/O and his in ability to adjust the brake pedal

I like the Red badges.

The wear marks on the kickstarter and brake lever are/were on mine as well, a C2, so Kawasaki didn't get it right for the '78 model either.

your bike looks awesome, i can't seem to find much inspiration for my cafe Z500 project bike on this side of the pond, but this is really smart, loving all the progress shots, definitely stick with the red badges!

good work

scumbag wrote:

back at home it is soooo close (my girl holla)

Looking mighty fine man, the tank tail combo is frikkin awesome! Your girl stoked or what?

I have to say NAY on the red badges, it draws the eye right to it and stops it there - and the side cover is not the interesting part of the bike - not to me at least bwahaha

I've really been enjoying watching the progress you've made. Beautiful work man!

Have you considered just doing the sides smooth and leaving them solid black?

They look great with the red, but I'm with a few of the others in that it kind of pulls attention away from all that great fab work. I like the looks much better with no badges except for the slots where they belong.

BTW... Same wear marks on my 650 too, but the pedal is bent a little on mine.

jjdwoodman wrote:

Have you considered just doing the sides smooth and leaving them solid black?

its another option I might do...I am thinkin of running the badges for a bit because that requires the least amount of work right now...the winter is long and the riding season is coming to an end so the badges stay for now


dutchz wrote:

Your girl stoked or what?

dooode YEAH!!!!!