modified, aftermarket, or custom. nothing is safe (78 KZ1000)

10 year anniversary of tearing this bike down the first time. I have been working on a slew of updates over the winter.

The wires from the HID unit were getting fatigued and mostly broken from having the inverter crammed in the headlight bucket. I swapped for an LED bulb. Its amazing how far this tech has come in 10 years. When I was first researching lighting I was turned off from the LED bulbs because they looked horrible. I don't mind this, its super bright and 1/3 the cost of replacing the HID.

the ZRX forks were fully gone trough by Matt Wiley from Racetech VIntage, now sporting new springs, gold compression valve, gold rebound valve - with HFR, and new seals and bushings. I also took the time to paint the lowers with 2K spray max black gloss. I thought the bike handled well before but I am truly impressed how this transformed the front end. It feels so much more planted at high speed and hard acceleration out of turns is vastly improved. 10/10 would recommend.

Goldilocks handlebars: Superbike bars too high, Tarrozi clip-ons too low, These new woodcraft clip-ons are nearly perfect with more rise and pull back. The riding position is more comfortable, and I love the way they look.

The new clip-ons required new brake lines. I had to change to a splitter to fit the MC on the handle bars as well. I took the opportunity to black out everything. Custom ordered from Graystone Systems - highly recommend these guys - good prices and fast turnaround.

The tach started having issues reading the pulses so I sent it back to Speedhut and they made good on their lifetime warranty. they upgraded the chip board to their new design.

I fabricated a new front axle, increasing diameter from 17 to 20mm. I remade the spacers, and nut with aircraft grade 7075 aluminum, The other end has a 316 stainless nut i machined and welded to a hollow GSXR axle. It weighs 8oz. less than previous axle. Making this axle is something I wanted to do for a while. I'm not a pro machinist so this took me 30+ hours of machine time with a couple screw-ups along the way. However it forced me to get better indicating parts using a 4-jaw chuck on the lathe. I love stuff like this.

I melted my regulator and got a new one from Ricks Electronics that is specifically for lithium batteries. I also relocated it from in the tail to behind the carbs to get more airflow.

Lots of little things here and there to spruce it up - Painting the rusting exhaust collars, swapping bolts, new clutch cable, cleaned up the wiring loom, painted instrument covers and headlight, it goes on....

Riding this bike never fails to put a big stupid smile on my face - its gonna be a fun summer!

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After 10 years and completely draining it a couple times the Ballistic Battery I was using finally crapped the bed. Unfortunately Ballistic is out of business and even more unfortunately all replacement batteries I wanted were bigger than the battery box I made previously. So since I had to re-make the battery box to accomodate the new battery I decided to re-make the entire tray and clean up the wiring while I was at it. I'm currently in a very small garage with no real fabrication tools available, but luckily I have cool friends and a buddy (Carbon Fiber Yoda) offered to help me make the tray and battery box out of carbon fiber.

I went with an EarthX battery because they have a 3 year warranty and are some of the only batteries for power-sports that have an integrated battery management system. I drew the new battery box in CAD and designed it with 3% of taper to aid in removal of carbon positive. Carbon Yoda then 3D printed it, and then covered the plug with Teflon tape. I used the old battery tray as a plug and filled in the holes with cardboard before coating with packing tape.

We did a wet layup on the outside of the parts and vacuum bagged them both. The battery box is crazy light - 2oz! While i was at it I also replaced the OEM starter relay with a more modern Suzuki relay with integrated main fuse and power output. I re-made the RFID key mount and the fuse mount for that - this really cleaned the wiring up. I ended up painting the outside of the battery box black because carbon fiber bling is not wanted.

I love having this storage area under the seat; I use it to run errands because i can store small stuff. Its also great for storing a sweater/warmer clothes if im going to be out all day/night

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This summer i noticed i had quite a bit of lash in the kush on the rear wheel. at least 3/8" that i could rock easily back and forth, probably more like 1/2"+ under real pressure. I bought this repro kush rubber by PMC from Webike and the fit is perfect, zero slop. I always felt like i had to be very conscious of keeping the drive train loaded, hopefully this will help with that.
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This summer i noticed i had quote a bit of lash in the kush on the rear wheel. at least 3/8" that i could rock easily back and forth, probably more like 1/2"+ under real pressure. I bought this repro kush rubber by PMC from Webike and the fit is perfect, zero slop. I always felt like i had to be very conscious of keeping the drive train loaded, hopefully this will help with that.
View attachment 235094

This summer i noticed i had quote a bit of lash in the kush on the rear wheel. at least 3/8" that i could rock easily back and forth, probably more like 1/2"+ under real pressure. I bought this repro kush rubber by PMC from Webike and the fit is perfect, zero slop. I always felt like i had to be very conscious of keeping the drive train loaded, hopefully this will help with that.
View attachment 235094
It's crazy how much urethane shrinks over time, especially with heat. That's an easy two part mold. I wonder if there would be a benefit to casting those in a different hardness of urethane.
 
probably a good option if there are no reproductions available, but this was cheap enough i don't think it would be worth the effort.
 
Titanium can, aluminum ends, Stainless mid pipe. I welded the aluminum internally and polished it back so no visible welds. Still need to paint the hanger.
Before : 83db idle / 107db @5kRPM
After: 74db idle / 95db @5kRPM

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