81 KZ440 LTD belt cafe/thing build

[Ride509]

Hey Guys, So i have recently Got in to motorcycles. and i picked up a 81 kz440 LTD belt drive from a buddy. and i didn't exactly know what i was getting into at the time, But i had been working on cars and custom fab for a long time. so i wasn't to concerned about how bad this bike was. turns out it really wasn't that bad. in all reality i might have been able to put a battery in it and tune it up a bit and ride it around. but i just couldn't stand the way the seat and handle bars looked. So i started digging into the bike. took the bars off , the lugged rack,tail light, rear fender, tail light. i basically stripped the bike down to nothing. then.. the bike sat over the winter. and now that the weather has gotten nicer i have gained the motivation to finally get back to building this thing.
I started with clip-on's new grips, rear sets. but i guess like most my project i am never satisfied with something. and in this case the LTD's frame drove me nuts. the angled up back just wouldn't let me get the seat profile i wanted. so i decided to cut the seat out and start to fab up a new more cafe seat hoop for the bike. also i am not a huge fan of dual springs and wanted to go to a mono spring setup so i ordered some ex250 rear swingarm ,shock assembly and rear tire to hopefully swap that into place.

i had found a ton of info on this site and others and thought it might be fun to join the party and share what i come up with also.

i do plan on going with a gsxr front end setup.

 

[Ride509]

A little process from the weekend

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[Ride509]

Also to note after looking at a but more I kind of wish I would have made the seat a little higher.

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[Nebr_Rex]

Also to note after looking at a but more I kind of wish I would have made the seat a little higher.

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Then change it.
Wish in one hand ........


.

 

[Ride509]

I am more or leas going to see how it looks with the swing arm on. Just waiting on ups would ever show up with it!

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[two-smoker]

The KZ400/440 platform was around a long time, and had lots of variations. Were it mine, I'd be looking for the spoked 18" rear/19" front wheels from an earlier model. Those little LTD rear rims just don't work with café styling. Plus it'd go a long way towards lifting the rear, visually.
As an aside, the chain drive setup from the early models bolts right on, as well.

 

[M.B Co]

Interested to see how the rear section turns out. I wanted to hack mine off and start with new but opted to make the LTD frame work with my end vision.

I made a simple seat pan out of sheet steel bent to the curve of the frame. I like how the rear section kicks up, makes it different than all the other builds out there.

IMG_20140420_102810 by MBCo, on Flickr

IMG_20140419_193609 by MBCo, on Flickr

 

[Ride509]

I love the look of your kz and I was trying for a long time to make something I really liked with the upswing of the frame . But I just wasn't satisfied with what I was coming up with.

I also encountered a small set back. As I ordered some 07 ex250 parts instead of the 08-12 stuff. So back to waiting on parts to get shipped. And some time to re do the seat a little bit higher. As I think its going to hit the tire were I have it now

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[Ride509]

Well got the new right rear wheel in. But still not the swing arm here is a picture of what I am toying with stance wise and over all look

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[jsnabbs]

For my taste I think the stance needs a few tweaks, it somehow feels to top heavy in the front working all back to a smaller point in the back. Maybe its just the factory speedo and headlight still sitting up too high.

http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=56128.0

For mine i shifted the tank mounting so it sits up higher, but like i said, for "my" taste

 

[Ride509]

Yeah , honestly I felt the same looking at it. But was trying to see what it would come out to. In the end I cut the seat frame off again and used some cardboard to get the design of what I want and this is what I came up with . It looks better I am going to try and take off the speedo and lose the light to see if that helps the overall stance

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[Ride509]

Well I scraped that idea and came up with this. I lowered the headlight and clipons to hopefully give the bike a better stance. I am going to be adding angled supports for the seat frame . Have been working a lot hopefully will be getting more time in the next couple weeks

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[Ride509]

And picture fail

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