79 KZ650 C3...Project KZ CAFE....begins

As per the title I am running a 1979 KZ650 C3 and converting over to cafe racer. This is my first bike and since I have first had it have just fallen into the personality of the cafe motorcycle culture.
I have started with a very decent bike for 30 years old....paid $800 about 6 months ago to a private owner that took fair care of the bike. I did have to fix the seat lock and the seat adjustment was off a little....other than that great first bike.....on my first ride out I did do the dreaded and dropped the bike while getting off without putting the kickstand down....my buddy just sitting on his bike laughing instead of helping....luckily it had engine guards so no harm done.

Here are some pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/45347629@N07/sets/72157622827219125/

So first thing was to take off the front windshield which too no time at all....then I painted the sides, tail, and headlight mount.....while I was doing the headlight I decided to tape up and paint the top of the trees

After that I order new drag bars and mounted them on...of course I had the same issue as many others with the front brake master reservoir hitting the tach. I just moved it up a little and problem temp fixed.


Still got a long way to go to get were I want to be...
To Do:
Front fork Seals and Boots
Flipping Gauge Mount
Taking off Fork ears and mounting new headlight bracket
Bump stop seat from Roc City
Changing the turn signal, start, brights and horn switches and buttons
Bar end mirror



A couple issues I have been having is the urge to want to remove all electric start from the bike and go purely Kick start for attitude of course....any info on how to do this would be good but am starting to think may not be an option....if not able to then I will just hide the electric start button and use kick start only.

Second I am wanting to change the front brake master reservoir with a more slinder style but I have dual front disk brakes and not sure what banjo size I have. so any help here would be good here as well


Will have more soon as I will be doing front forks this week and hope to be finished by this weekend and will have some more pictures

Let me know what you think, but if you don't like it I don't care cause it is mine and what is done is what I like


Thanks again

If you are going to remove the electric start then you can just remove the starter which is below the carbs under the chrome cover and remove the button from the hand control. But why??? If you do this you will need to make sure your valves, timing and carbs are perfect otherwise you will be kicking it for hours. I have several KZ's and have kicked them from time to time but its never my first choice. Again this is purely opinion so good luck with the removal of the starter if that is what you want. For specific KZ isssues check out KZrider.com

+1 on kzrider.com. I have an '80 kz750E, and the people there have walked me through more fixing more issues than I could ever repay them for.

Keep us posted on your progress.
More KZs the better. 8)
I use the elec start all the time as the kicker hits the rearsets I have.
So if your ever thinking of adding rearsets, keep the elec start.

Well...I have come a long way over the winter. Here in Texas we have been cursed with snow and a record amount at that, so that means working on winter projects.

Stage 1 (what I have done so far):
Change the fork seals and dust covers
Used seat from KZ650 which replaced old King\Queen seat
New gas tank painted Krylon flat black (Walmart Rattle can)
Rebuilt petcock and replace fuel filter and lines
Changed to white 1" Flyrite Chopper grips
Stuffed bicycle tire down the drag bars to stop vibrations
Used bicycle tire to make up for 1" grips on 7/8" bars
New front and rear turn signals with rewiring ($6/pr cycle gear special)


Stage 2 (what I have planned to do):
Switch to Acewell 2802 Guage (Aluminum Black) with speedo cable
Hide the kill switch and start button
Replace throttle with Motion Pro push/pull throttle
Add subtle yet bright white paint


Hope you guys enjoy!!!

Another kawi good to see. Looking good. keep it up.

Cool bike, but I'd move the exhaust bracket from the swingarm to the frame dont want your exhaust breaking when the suspension compresses

m357.5 said:

Cool bike, but I'd move the exhaust bracket from the swingarm to the frame dont want your exhaust breaking when the suspension compresses

Click to expand...

Good eye, I never caught that....that would have ruined a good ride easily!