Time to dust Bucephalus back off.

Hey, friends.



After a long ride a couple years ago of my KZ750L3 - from Seattle to Fairbanks, Homer, Deadhorse, Jasper/Banff, Black Rock City Nevada, Seattle - I had so completely satisfied my itch, and had so many bike problems, that I parked the bike and haven't ridden it since. Well, after helping fix my friend's clutch yesterday, I can feel it starting to come back. And I have a real job now, so I can spend some money.

My rear brake is seized. Like, on the last leg of the trip, my disc was changing colors. I tried to fix it but probably made it worse. My front brake is super spongey, which makes sense given I have 30 year old brake lines. I could pay a professional to fix them, but at some point I would be tempted to replace my extremely heavy wheels and get some modern brakes at the same time.
I found, after 7 years, that my brake ground wire was extremely loose and sorely decroded. That's why I burned out so many starters, and probably why I murdered a bunch of irreplaceable gauge clusters. I would like to simplify my wiring if possible.
I need to go back in and clear out some oil leaks.
I need to clean and rework my carbs.

I would be grateful for some advice on the brakes and wheels: Are there drop-in modern replacements for an L3? Does anyone know of any exceptional service providers who would rebuild and repair them both as well as set up new lines? Has anyone ever swapped wheels and brakes out at the same time on one of these?

Cheers, folks. Ride crazy and have fun.

Regarding the brakes, first thing is a full tear down including popping out the caliper pistons using compressed air and pulling the master cylinder piston. If the caliper pistons are free of pits they can be reused; install new OEM seals in the caliper bodies and use heavy black caliper grease on the sliding pins. Inspect the bore of the master for any pitting; if it's clean then a new master kit will take care of that business. If the front master bore is pitted throw it in the trash and look for a new master with 5/8" or 16mm bore. There are tons of them on ebay. I used an EX650 master on my 750 and it worked great. If the rear master is pitted you have a bigger problem because replacements are not ready at hand. You can pick up a new generic master and then adapt it though. There are several threads here to serve as inspiration in that regard. Or, gamble and buy a used master, only your chance of finding one without pitting is low. Regarding brake lines, I made my own from Earl's parts. The 750 rebuild thread linked in my signature detail the process. It's easier than most people think.

Good luck.,

staniel wrote: Hey, friends.

I would be grateful for some advice on the brakes and wheels: Are there drop-in modern replacements for an L3? Does anyone know of any exceptional service providers who would rebuild and repair them both as well as set up new lines? Has anyone ever swapped wheels and brakes out at the same time on one of these?

Cheers, folks. Ride crazy and have fun.

There is unlikely anything that will bolt in. most wheels could be made to fit if you have the budget or skills.

The easiest way to swap wheels is to swap a complete front end, ditto for the back. The front end is fairly straight forward. remove the steering stem from your stock triple clamp and swap it into your new triple trees. Rear end will be trickier, easier to stay twin shock. may require a bit of machining. Many people have done swaps on here. Possible candidates for good swaps are ZRX1100 /1200 or ZR750 ZR1100. There are many considerations for doing a swap as it will effect the bikes geometry, and in turn handling.

that being said, its fairly easy to rebuild brakes. and probably the easiest most practical way to get back on the road. Its extremely easy to build braided steel brake lines using Goodridge brake lines and fittings, they just screw together; no special tools needed. You can get them at z1 enterprises.

if you have a center stand you can remove both wheels at once by jacking up the front end of the bike under the engine. Or alternatively a good set of paddock stands work best.

On your back brake, have you checked to make sure that the adjusting bolt( # 21) hasn't come loose and spun out ?
That would cause the master cylinder to not release.
It happened to me.
As far as the front brakes try some fresh fluid.