Cool story of a bike purchase...

Funny story but......One of my current projects is a bike I bought from a small town bike dealer in South Dakota back in 2003. Walking by his lot to and fro work I always glanced inside the fence at his 'boneyard' to see what was around. Many are customers bikes that are awaiting service or repair. Others were obviously parts bikes or wrecks. I had been seeing the tank and emblem of an older KZ Kawasaki in the back row for a couple weeks. One day I went in to inquire about it. He mainly dealt in Yamahas. The owner/operator told me it was a KZ1000 that a farmer traded in for a 4-wheeler a while back and that he wanted to get $350 for it. I grew up riding and wrenching on these bikes in the '70's/'80's etc with buddies, so naturally I want ed to go have a looksee. Anyway he let me go out out back to check it out and I could readily see that it was parts and pieces from multiple models. The bodywork was KZ1000LTD. The neck sticker indicated it was a '77 KZT00'A' standard model frame. Mostly LTD parts. Burgandy body, narrow L TD tank/fenders/seat/wheels/h-bar. I saw right away the carbs were Z1 900 style Mikuni's and sure enough the right side front of the block had the '903cc' casting stamp! It also had an old Mac 4-1 exhaust and pods. Rear tire was flat too. (it looked like it had been used for hearding cattle LOL) I went back in, he told me it would fire but not run on its own and he had trouble finding jets for the carbs. He didn't know what I knew about the motor at that point. Anyway I said "$350 now as-it sits"?...he says "Yes sir". I said "How bout $50 now to hold it and I'll be back in 30 minutes with the other $300"? We did a quick BOS, and off I went. I was back in '20' minutes LOL with the balance. I cldn't get to the ATM fast enough!!!. Aired the tire so we cld push it out front to my trailer to get it home. I tinkered with the carbs and got it running fairly decent. The engine# told me it was a 1975 series Z1 900 engine! I alreaady knew those were 28mm Mikunis. Meanwhile I ordered carb kits, new points/condenser and a week later I had it tuned pretty good and rode up to the bike dealer to order 2 tires and a helmet. I also found that the front wheel was an '18'-inch mag! Z1R's were the only Kaws that I remember having 18-inch Enkei front mags. The owner/sales guy also did his own mechanix so I had him mount the tires when they came in. He'd seen me come and go from the shop a cpl times and riding around town on the old boneyard bike he'd sold me and we got to chatting when I brought in the wheels. He asked me what I did to the carbs and I said I just ordered new kits online. He said "Mikunis!?!...hell I thought they were Keihins!". "No they're 28mm Mikunis. You didn't know that's a Z1 900 motor? It's stamped right on the engine block and I looked up the year/series.". Needless to say, he was fuming for a while after that . We knew each other from shooting sporting clays at a friends sporting clays range. Anyhow that following Spring I rode that old cattle farmers bike out here to Cali with my 5lb dog in my jacket the whole way. Been here ever since and loving life...........Vroom-vroom!!!

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationNo eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationSounds like a cool bike, albeit a "Frankenbike". Have you thought about selling the motor and getting the proper motor for a KZ1000? That motor would turn a pretty penny, especially if you cleaned it up really good. (And below is without the carbs... asking 6,700)



And then there's this: (asking 600 free shipping)

I don't need a 7000.00 + motor but I sure could use a 50 dollar engine stand

bluej58 wrote: I don't need a 7000.00 + motor but I sure could use a 50 dollar engine stand

Contact member Hardgun. He custom builds motor stands. It'll be higher than &50.00 but will be very versatile. We bought one from him last year & have been pleased.

Good Ridin'
slmjim & Z1BEBE

Thanks Jim, I was reading through the parts list and came upon the stand and it looked like a cheap place to hang/store an engine, I have one of those K&L's that I modified to work better and it's fine.
Right now I'm doing a trans swap and the motor hasn't made it more then a foot away from the bike

Thank you for the insight but I have plans for whzt's there. I know Z1 motors and prices they can fetch at various stages of condition. It will remain in my stable to be rebuilt over time. Meanwhile I've been tinkering with it as a modified playtoy project that can go any number of directions. I don't want it stock, I have a stock one already.. That's the beauty of a bike like this...to customise and personalise it to whatever one's mind can dream up. Vroom-vroom!

It's your toy, enjoy!
I've been compiling parts for my next build and she's going to be a total Frankenstein ,not worried about resale, that will be my kids problem

Good luck to ya! Bikes like these can be some of the coolest there are. Completely unique and personalized to one'ss own vision. Resale value is irrelevant...the Tim Taylor mindset of a guy in his garage building what his mind dreams up. I'm on a backup 'puter for awhile so I don't have access to my recent updated pics. Maybe soon. Keep workin' at it!

I had a KZ1000 motor shipped from a friend. It was on a 2x2 pallet and rested on an old tire to protect the motor. I mounted a cpl brackets for auxiliary fuel tank battery etc. Roll it anywhere around the shop. Worked out awesome. For a mobile engine stand...and cheap too. Parts on hand. Wheel it up right next to the bike when ready and lift it right in. Just a thought.