18" wheel '81 750 ltd

Well going to the 18" rear was a great thought and seemed fairly easy but after shopping for tires it just wouldn't be worth it in the end. Having the 19/ 1.85 wheel up front doesn't allow for a lot of options in the look I was going for in the money I wanted to spend. I bout the bike for $500 and with a baby on the way I'm not "allowed" to spend that kind of money on tires lol. I got it fired up and idling correct today, the carbs fought me the whole way. It only has 15,283 miles on it and since 2012 it's only been ride like 5 miles. And only around 40 miles since '07. After getting it running now I get to start turning it into a cafe-ish bike. New paint, lowering the front, clip-ons, new fenders, it was in really good condition for sitting so much so I hate to and haven't cut up anything on the bike. It awesome how much you can find on eBay for these bikes. In the end if I get sick of the look I can take it back to stock in a weekend. Here's a pic of it. It's got a strap on the front so I could get an idea of how lowering the front 2" would look. First time I've ever done a motorcycle so I'm pretty excited and all over the place right now so thanks for the patience with all my questions.

The 82-on KZ1000-P Police bikes have an 18" Fr wheel.

Z1-R's also had 18" fronts.

martin_csr wrote: The 82-on KZ1000-P Police bikes have an 18" Fr wheel.

There are a few tire choices in 19" for the front, but unless you are considering changing the forks and the front end for something wider you are pretty much stuck with a 100/90/19 or perhaps at a pinch a 110/90/19 front tire, depending on brand because you will be short on clearance. What did you have in mind for the front? If you need new tires on a budget the Shinko 712's are a decent tire and you can get both front and rear for under $100 if you check online especially with the winter promotions.

I wanted to do a classic looking tire and there just aren't very many that would fit the forks and i don't really plan on changing the whole tree out. I'm changing the forks but that's about it. Maybe later on down the road i may change it out but as for now i will just leave the stock ones on. Not real comfortable with changing out axles and things like that so ill have to find a complete front end swap. I'm fine working on trucks as far as lifting and suspension, motorcycles are a whole different ball game to me.

I like the classic looking tires, have some on my 73 Triumph Tiger, Dunlop K70's, but despite the modern rubber I'm not impressed with overall performance, they are really bad at following grooves in the road, one section near my home has a concrete surface with parallel groves running in the direction of travel, first time I rode along there, I thought I was getting a flat in my rear tire as the rear was fishtailing slightly, but unnervingly from side to side. None of my other bikes have a hint of that on the same road, so when it came to tires for my KZ1000 I decided that as the bike was somewhat more modern looking than the Triumph, I would go with modern tires for the improved performance and safety they provide over what came stock on these bikes in the day and even modern replicas thereof, as opposed to being concerned about looks or originality. I went with the Shinko 230 Tourmasters as they are also V rated and fairly heavily built in terms of their load carrying capacity.

If you really like the classic look, take a look at Coker Tire's website they have all sorts of retro looking stuff, there should be plenty of 3.25x 19" about. When I got my KZ650B1 that still had the original 1977 front tire the type that are like the old Avon Speedmasters with the ribs that run all around the tire, that took me back and reminded me of riding on the greasy wet roads of the UK on Japanese tires in the 70's where your rear wheel would start to spin even under fairly gentle acceleration, very scary . Modern tires a truly amazing many times more grip while lasting 2 or 3 times a long.

Can anybody tell me how to move this to projects instead of chassis

I can do it if you'd like.
Steve

redhawk4 wrote: I like the classic looking tires, have some on my 73 Triumph Tiger, Dunlop K70's, but despite the modern rubber I'm not impressed with overall performance, they are really bad at following grooves in the road, one section near my home has a concrete surface with parallel groves running in the direction of travel, first time I rode along there, I thought I was getting a flat in my rear tire as the rear was fishtailing slightly, but unnervingly from side to side. None of my other bikes have a hint of that on the same road, so when it came to tires for my KZ1000 I decided that as the bike was somewhat more modern looking than the Triumph, I would go with modern tires for the improved performance and safety they provide over what came stock on these bikes in the day and even modern replicas thereof, as opposed to being concerned about looks or originality. I went with the Shinko 230 Tourmasters as they are also V rated and fairly heavily built in terms of their load carrying capacity.

If you really like the classic look, take a look at Coker Tire's website they have all sorts of retro looking stuff, there should be plenty of 3.25x 19" about. When I got my KZ650B1 that still had the original 1977 front tire the type that are like the old Avon Speedmasters with the ribs that run all around the tire, that took me back and reminded me of riding on the greasy wet roads of the UK on Japanese tires in the 70's where your rear wheel would start to spin even under fairly gentle acceleration, very scary . Modern tires a truly amazing many times more grip while lasting 2 or 3 times a long.

Most of the FWY's have rain grooves. The ribbed front tire on my new Z1 would have me all over the lane. That was the first thing I changed. Dunlop K 81.
Steve

Steve that would be great. Just rather not clutter up the site so might as well turn this into the project thread, lots of new pictures to load from the last few weeks.

As for your and redhawk4's advice I've gone away from the original plan and following your advisement.

Done.
Steve

Thank you much Steve
So like I've said this is my first bike, and my first project, and much to my surprise I'm really enjoying myself on this thing. Bought the bike for $500 and it was supposed to be running,. Went to pick it up and he was like, "I already winterized it so we can't start it." For the money I wasn't really worried about it, just getting the wife to say ok to finally buying one (been wanting to for a few years) I took it and left. Got it home and man were the carbs gummed up. Got them all cleaned up and adjusted and the bike running well and then it began.
15'000 on the clock

Started out as a pretty clean but neglected LTD

First thing was to play with some color (my truck is the same color so used some plasti dip to see if I liked it)

Next made a seat out of a one piece pan from a 750e I believe not sure if I like it yet







Next was the forks up front lowering an 1" inside and sliding up in the tree as well as painting the front wheel, pretty happy with the way it turned out.





I work at a high school in Texas with a fairly prominent football team and for the first time in 10 years they didn't make it past the second round of playoffs so the last 2 weeks I've been able to get a bunch done, at least paint wise












And as it sat before I left her tonight because my mother in-law got back from shopping with my wife and she is totally against it. (Did I mention we have a baby girl due in March? Explains the mom in-law)