GPZ1100 Frankinbike is close to finished

Bozo wrote: serious?, I've seen these spigots but have never seen anything in them, thankyou for your information. I just wish I ground the thing off before painting the frame. cheers

Yep, serious - I first read that in a magazine road test of the KZ1100A back in 1981. They compared the KZ to the CBX, and had a section on both Honda's and Kawasaki's different approaches to "security"....... :woohoo:

The cable lock that went in there was part number K28000-303. Here's the only picture I could find. Ed

Damn, the cable looks good at least. I had a similar unit to secure my Z1R in 1979 onwards.

Thanks for the information.

GORGEOUS. Grab yourself a cable and put a stamp on the build. It's the final piece.

Here I am trimming the weight off franki to a reasonable level, heck even I lost weight and you want me to add a chunk of steel to the frame to prevent a thief from.......................doing what? LOL :pinch: :pinch: especially with the value of parts for these bikes.

Back again, I have a question for anyone who knows something about the GPZ900R / 750/1100A rear suspension which I have on my Frankinbike.

I just changed the oil on the rear shock because it was too firm and not really compliant (It doesn't appear to have much travel i.e around 50mm on the swingarm end) and is a bit tough on my back over bumpy roads, is that normal?

The shock is standard with around 8psi of air, I just changed the oil to ATF hoping to get a better response (I drained around 180ml and added the same amount through the valve). I played with the dampening rod but I still can't get the rear end to absorb the bumps well. I believe the lower linkage can only go one way.

Any help would be appreciated

Bozo wrote: Here I am trimming the weight off franki to a reasonable level, heck even I lost weight and you want me to add a chunk of steel to the frame to prevent a thief from.......................doing what? LOL :pinch: :pinch: especially with the value of parts for these bikes.

Also, once installed, there is no going back. The end of the cable that goes into the frame has a device like a spring loaded drywall anchor that prevents removal for ever. I have read that they were also prone to leaking, allowing water to get into the frame. It was an interesting idea, but not well thought out.

Bozo wrote: Back again, I have a question for anyone who knows something about the GPZ900R / 750/1100A rear suspension which I have on my Frankinbike.

I just changed the oil on the rear shock because it was too firm and not really compliant (It doesn't appear to have much travel i.e around 50mm on the swingarm end) and is a bit tough on my back over bumpy roads, is that normal?

The shock is standard with around 8psi of air, I just changed the oil to ATF hoping to get a better response (I drained around 180ml and added the same amount through the valve). I played with the dampening rod but I still can't get the rear end to absorb the bumps well. I believe the lower linkage can only go one way.

Any help would be appreciated

You should have closer to 100 mm of rear wheel travel!

Can you see if the shock is using all of it's travel? If it is using all of the shock's travel, then this might be a linkage issue with attaching the linkage to the frame using the old center stand pivot like that. I'm not sure if that will give the same linkage ratio as the GPz Uni-Track had.....

Could be that you are compressing the shock fully with only half the intended wheel travel - which would make the ride very stiff (about twice) I think.

I'll have a look at my frames later today to compare the linkage mounts on the GPz with a standard twin shock frame and let you know what I see...

Thanks Kray-Z much appreciated. I had a feeling there might be a problem with the linkage setup, unfortunately the frame was like that when I bought it and I thought it would be ok. If you/ anyone have a photo I should be able to work our what is wrong.
I guess I'm too soft after riding my FJ1200 with RPM suspension (specially made for Yamaha by RPM in the US - absolutely brilliant-no I don't own shares but I have met Randy in Australia for the FJ rally), if only Randy made suspension for our bikes.

Here is a photo of the linkage on my near stock uni-track....

As you can see, the geometry of the linkage is very different than yours! (keep in mind mine is on the center stand).

The angles of the various links and the shock compression ratio are altered on your set-up.

I can only recommend you find a uni-track owner locally who will let you measure up the geometry and try to change yours, or you might need a different shock. It might also involve the location of the top shock mount, as well.

I'm stripping down another uni-track starting in December, so I could measure the geometry then, but I don't know if you want to wait....

I'm also converting Beater II (my kz 1000 twin shock chassis) to mono shock also over the
winter here, so I will be doing almost exactly the same job as you then....

Kray-Z, thankyou, I am in no hurry so when you do your suspension in December keep me in mind.

I can see the difference, the lever arms on your bike are straighter and the linkage & shock are further back towards to rear wheel, I will sit down and calculate what the difference might be between the two. I will also check the difference between the shock travel and swingarm movement.

Hello there, I am doing a rebuild on a 1981 KZ1000 J2 and was curious about the wide tires from the Honda. Did you have to do any modifications to the swing arm to get the clearance for the wider tire ? Drop me a line when you have a minute please. And i have to say that is one very sharp Frankin' Bike. Excellent job. Be well and thanks in advance.