7aliveatlast7
the bearded hessian
i'm new here from customfighters.com. my '81 kz440 project is well underway, but all the work done thus far has been on that site. however, i grabbed some progress pics off there to make somewhat of a timeline for you all so you can see what i've been up to with this thing for the last year and a half!
this is how i bought it, as a "cool idea but pretty ugly" bobber...
i had a set of gsxr forks and kawi zx6r wheel waiting to be used, so i threw them on...
got some beefier tires, ditched the dirt bars and went with clip ons, scored a front brake setup on ebay, and a set of progressive shocks, which were desperately needed. the PO had cut the original rear springs, so not only was there ZERO travel in them, but the springs were working their way up over the upper bump stop. this is what i ended up with after all that went on...
as you can see from that pic, the front tire looks HUGE compared to the rear. that's because the zx6 wheel was wider than the original kz wheel in the back, so even though both tires were a 120 width with the same size sidewall, the wider wheel up front allowed it to expand more. also, the rear wheel was an 18", while the zx6 wheel was 17", so something had to be done. ebay to the rescue. $100 later got me this whole setup...
that's the rear wheel off a 2010 ex250. 17" like the front, slightly wider, and the spoke patter now matched haha.
so, that takes us up to last december, a little over a year of having the bike. work was slow because i was able to ride it all last season, so i didn't do any work during that time. but once it started to get cold, i wrapped the pipes, threw on some shorty levers (hard to see in pic) and finally got the new rear wheel on...
the stock swingarm wasn't wide enough to accept the new rear wheel, so my wife got me an ex250 rear swinger to match the wheel for Christmas i then started entertaining the idea of monoshocking it...
over the winter i cut up the tank and made an attempt at some knee dents. also made my own exhaust (except the muffler, that i bought). but, as you can see from the pics, it was way too close to my rear end!
so that had to be re worked. a lot has been done since then, but not much has been done as far as picture documentation. as a landscaper, i had planned to be laid off over the winter, so i tore into a bunch of stuff on the bike that i thought i'd have time to complete by spring. however, here in PA it never got cold enough for long enough, so we worked straight through the winter, and i ended up not having nearly the amount of time with the bike that i thought i would. so that leaves it in it's current state: exhaust nearly done, monoshock setup nearly done, engine painted and mostly hooked back up, seat still needing to be completed. a lot of little things, but hopefully it will be wrapped up by july. much later than i wanted, but what are you gonna do haha.
anyhow, that's my bike! i'm excited to be a part of this community now, and i can't wait to show you all progress as it comes!
this is how i bought it, as a "cool idea but pretty ugly" bobber...
i had a set of gsxr forks and kawi zx6r wheel waiting to be used, so i threw them on...
got some beefier tires, ditched the dirt bars and went with clip ons, scored a front brake setup on ebay, and a set of progressive shocks, which were desperately needed. the PO had cut the original rear springs, so not only was there ZERO travel in them, but the springs were working their way up over the upper bump stop. this is what i ended up with after all that went on...
as you can see from that pic, the front tire looks HUGE compared to the rear. that's because the zx6 wheel was wider than the original kz wheel in the back, so even though both tires were a 120 width with the same size sidewall, the wider wheel up front allowed it to expand more. also, the rear wheel was an 18", while the zx6 wheel was 17", so something had to be done. ebay to the rescue. $100 later got me this whole setup...
that's the rear wheel off a 2010 ex250. 17" like the front, slightly wider, and the spoke patter now matched haha.
so, that takes us up to last december, a little over a year of having the bike. work was slow because i was able to ride it all last season, so i didn't do any work during that time. but once it started to get cold, i wrapped the pipes, threw on some shorty levers (hard to see in pic) and finally got the new rear wheel on...
the stock swingarm wasn't wide enough to accept the new rear wheel, so my wife got me an ex250 rear swinger to match the wheel for Christmas i then started entertaining the idea of monoshocking it...
over the winter i cut up the tank and made an attempt at some knee dents. also made my own exhaust (except the muffler, that i bought). but, as you can see from the pics, it was way too close to my rear end!
so that had to be re worked. a lot has been done since then, but not much has been done as far as picture documentation. as a landscaper, i had planned to be laid off over the winter, so i tore into a bunch of stuff on the bike that i thought i'd have time to complete by spring. however, here in PA it never got cold enough for long enough, so we worked straight through the winter, and i ended up not having nearly the amount of time with the bike that i thought i would. so that leaves it in it's current state: exhaust nearly done, monoshock setup nearly done, engine painted and mostly hooked back up, seat still needing to be completed. a lot of little things, but hopefully it will be wrapped up by july. much later than i wanted, but what are you gonna do haha.
anyhow, that's my bike! i'm excited to be a part of this community now, and i can't wait to show you all progress as it comes!