1978 KZ650B Sportstyle - Progress at last!

[beachcomber]

Re: New reader, old rider, broke builder.

Logic,

you've hit on the right formula for setting the spring / dampening. I just spent two intensive years developing and tweaking the RAM alloy bodied shocker [ see other thread or www.realmengineering.com.]

You should be aiming for about 20mm of sag from bike to bike + yourself. You need to set the MINIMUM amount of dampening you can get away with.
A lot of folk make the error of screwing up the dampening to mask a failing / incorrect shocker / spring.

Starting to look real purposeful ..............

 

[Deadlogic]

Re: New reader, old rider, broke builder.

well currently i'm on setting 2 of 7, and it's still very stiff. will have to check measurements tomorrow and see how much sag I have, if not enough guess I can go down one more and see where that puts me. I'm in love with the new stance of the bike and will post a full-body pic soon as I can get one during daylight hours. You guys have no idea how much I appreciate the input and advice, especially since this is my first modified bike, and definitely my first real suspension work. I'm decent with engines and great with anything on 4 wheels but as far as bikes go I was always a fix 'em and ride 'em as fast as possible person. gives a real sense of satisfaction to see something take shape that started as a vague shadow in the mind, and take a very nice shape indeed.

 

[Swapmeet Louie]

Re: New reader, old rider, broke builder.

Cool... Nice to see another boise builder.

 

[Deadlogic]

Re: New reader, old rider, broke builder.

Indeed so, happy to know i'm not the only person in the valley that's got the bug...

On a side note, got the rear suspension finished finally, and just need to bolt up the rearsets and will be good to go for that portion.
As promised, here's a couple of pics of the new stance, and my "Custom" (a.k.a. homemade) gauge faces.

 

[Deadlogic]

Re: New reader, old rider, broke builder.

Well, started in on my fiberglass molds for the tail and headlight fairing, also got my rearsets mounted, was wondering if anybody had an idea for what to use for the shift linkage, have the ends but not really sure where to find a piece of rod that's threaded and strong enough to use for a linkage without a lot of flex. sourced the rearsets from a GPZ750, if that helps (prob not, but worth a shot) also got the tank sanded back down and dents filled. apologies for no pics but camera is charging atm so will post when I get a few spare minutes. due to our nice chilly weather up here in Boise my molds are having to dry indoors, so I figured i'd take the time to check in and see about that linkage.

Oh, one more thing. looking for some inspiration for some sort of taillight to blend in nicely under that little V that makes up the back of my tailsection, if anyone has any suggestions on something that's not gonna cost me a fortune (or make me build another fiberglass mold, i'm beginning to regret the 'glassing part already and haven't even popped the lid on the resin yet) please feel free to toss an idea or two my way.



apologies for the random posting, been awake oh, around 60 hours at the moment. hopefully sleep will come soon.

 

[Deadlogic]

Alright, so I got the glasswork almost done, still working on finish sanding and such after some trial & error work on the tailsection. had to grind down and fill a bunch of air bubbles and lay a couple more layers than I was planning on in order to make it so I could actually smooth everything down the way I like. Note to self...fiberglass is tougher than it looks, especially when trying to lay it in the garage in the middle of a rainstorm...nothing like humidity to totally screw with the drying process. anyhow, pictures are here. still need to cut it away from the frame and do the final sanding but here's where I'm at so far.

as you can see I definitely still have work to do, but it's coming along nicely IMHO, the black marks are where I did a quick coat of primer and sanded it back to find my low spots to make sure and get them filled and smoothed before painting. turnedo out I needed to add the extra layers to fill in all those low spots. great learning experience though, that's for sure. next time i'm making a mold that ISN'T attached to my frame.

Along the way, also got my tank, front wheel and front fender sanded, filled, primed and ready for paint.

any tips for getting that fiberglass smoothed out like a baby's ass? working with 80 grit 'till I get the form down where it belongs, then moving to 220 for finish sanding. Thinking 2 coats of primer, then a quick buff with 600 wet/dry before paint like I did with the tank.

 

[Ringo]

Sometimes a little body filler can be your friend. It's certainly easier to use than fiberglass resin for filling the low areas...

 

[Deadlogic]

definitely learning the value of that stuff. have the spot putty and bondo handy for further air pockets I run into. trying to shred matting, sop up the resin and shove it into little air pockets with skewers is not as much fun as it sounds like...

 

[Deadlogic]

Well, I finally dragged the old beast out in the yard for a few mins to take a couple decent pictures of it, It's still far from done but it's getting there... Here's some teasers, just got the taillight done about 10 mins ago, so no pics of that setup yet.

Lemme know what ya'll think so far!

 

[reelinfeele]

nice. I think you got the stance perfect. looks stock. nice job. I think my next bike I will grow some balls and mono it.

 

[Deadlogic]

Thanks, definitely a lot of trial & error on the stance as you can probably see. Though once I switched the swingarm out it was fairly simple to get the ride height where I wanted it. Couldn't have done any of it without everybody here at DTT though.

 

[Erskine]

nice. I think you got the stance perfect. looks stock. nice job.

+1

 

[warpedworm]

CHEAP TRICK Best band ever!

 

[Deadlogic]

Well, couple of things here...no new updates to the bike since my wife's new addition to the family

Is taking up a lot of our time...she doesn't know it yet but the fuzzy little guy is destined to be my new shop dog ;D

Also, after looking at the front of my bike (repeatedly) I've decided to switch back to the standard headlight bucket...anyone have a line on a good replacement headlight with a bit better light output? I've switched all other lights on the bike out for LED so the power consumption should be slightly reduced. Any info would be appreciated...

Also, I have several pieces and parts left over from tearing the bike apart, stock rear fender and plastic tailsection, taillight, turn signals (shortened stalks), Original tank emblems, side covers w/original emblems, original rear shocks (work nicely, had some surface rust so they're sprayed black, easy enough to strip the paint off) and other such stuff... If you have need of any of this stuff send me a PM and I'd be happy to send it for just the shipping cost, or bring it over if you live in the area. I leave apr. 25th for Army BCT though so lemme know asap if you have something you want. will post pics soon in the selling thread or I can send you a pic if you have a part of interest.

 

[Deadlogic]

Well, as much as i've been dreading it, the time has come for progress to be halted on the bike temporarily. I will be gone for the next 4 months in BCT and artillery training, so the bike gets to sit in storage until my return. On the plus side, progress should be fast when I get back as I'll have a replenished budget for fine-tuning (e.g. exhaust, digi-dash and a proper carb rebuild) and I should have her on the road fairly fast.

So I bid you all adieu for now, and thank you for all of your support, advice and ideas, and look forward to seeing how everyone is progressing when I get back. Happy riding and Good luck on all your projects!