Working on my 1983 Kawa KZ1000R

[tommyboah]

Hi Guys,

Greetings from Norway!

I am new to this forum and have recently bought a 1983 KZ1000R for doing a Cafe Racer build. This is my first build, and I have looked at a lot of bikes. I am in the planning face of how I want the bike to end up, and I have made a mock-up in Photoshop to get an idea. I have been focusing on chopping of the tail section and what the seat should look like along with how to mount it.

I don't know if any of you guys are familiar with what the seat section looks like on the KZ1000R, but it is kind of kinked (non straight). See attached image of frame (frame.PNG).

I have been playing around with the idea of using the original seat and shortening it down and then using the original tailpiece, see attached image (cafe.png). Original bike is on the right, in case that was not obvious ;D

Is this a good idea or should I go for making a new fiberglass seat? I would appreciate some thoughts and feedback from any of you guys.

Thanks.

Regards,
Tommy

 

[TGreg104]

Thats a biiig boy you got there! Love the idea of using the stock seat, looks like its meant to look that way.

Do you have any pictures of her now?

 

[Nebr_Rex]

Do you know what that bike is worth?
If you do and you cut it up I have nothing but ill will towards people like you.

 

[hillsy]

Do you know what that bike is worth?
If you do and you cut it up I have nothing but ill will towards people like you.

I won't go as far as to wish you ill will, but I have to agree. That bike is a collectable. Don't cut it up.

 

[VonYinzer]

Do you know what that bike is worth?
If you do and you cut it up I have nothing but ill will towards people like you.

Please. Its worth whatever the hell he feels its worth. If you're so concerned with saving it, buy it from him and lock it away where it'll never get hurt.


Cool project man. I had an 83 GPZ550 that had I kept I was planning on doing a similar seat mod. Looking forward to seeing wjat you come up with.

 

[tommyboah]

Do you know what that bike is worth?
If you do and you cut it up I have nothing but ill will towards people like you.

Wow, that was kind of harsh. Did you wake up on the wrong side of bed today or what?

To be honest I don't care what you think. Sorry for that I love my bike and I am looking to keep it, not sell it again. Why shouldn't I make her a tad more pleasing to the eye, and have fun with experimenting on how to make her ride good for me? That bike is meant to be ridden and have fun with 8), not locked up somewhere.

Anyways, I did not bring this up for this discussion. All I wanted to do was to have a creative brainstorm around how to make this nice bike become a bad ass cafe racer. So please, creative ideas and comments are welcome.

Regards,
Tommy

 

[hillsy]

Will you keep this bike forever? I doubt it.

Best thing you can do IMO is don't make changes you can't reverse. When it comes to sale time, that bike is worth twice as much in original condition than modified.

If it were me I'd probably just change the bars to a superbike bend and call it done - because it IS a superbike. Bad ass cafe racer? It's better than that already.

No ill will or hard feelings - I just hate seeing classic bikes being chopped up for the latest fad.

 

[doc_rot]

This image says it all. You could sell it , buy a different KZ1000 and use the money from your sale to fund its cafe racer transformation. in the end it its yours, so do what you will.

 

[o1marc]

Wow, that was kind of harsh. Did you wake up on the wrong side of bed today or what?

To be honest I don't care what you think. Sorry for that I love my bike and I am looking to keep it, not sell it again. Why shouldn't I make her a tad more pleasing to the eye, and have fun with experimenting on how to make her ride good for me? That bike is meant to be ridden and have fun with 8), not locked up somewhere.

Anyways, I did not bring this up for this discussion. All I wanted to do was to have a creative brainstorm around how to make this nice bike become a bad ass cafe racer. So please, creative ideas and comments are welcome.

Regards,
Tommy

"Is this a good idea or should I go for making a new fiberglass seat? I would appreciate some thoughts and feedback from any of you guys."


"To be honest I don't care what you think."

Sounds to me like that was exactly what you were asking for. Don't ask for opinions if your going to get your panties in wad if you don't agree with them.

 

[spotty]

a tale from years gone by....

a mate of mine (harris) is and always has been into hotrodding and managed to track down a particularly rare 33 or 34 ford in the states and got it imported over here to australia, just after he got it here the local ford restorers/preservation club got wind of this incredibly rare vehicle and sent one of their number round to have a look at the car. this chap sees the new car parked beside harris's older hotrod and asks for reassurance that the new one "isn't going to meet the same fate', harris reassures him that theres no danger of that as he picks up an angle grinder and starts cutting thru the A pillar. the restorer got the idea and left quickly

the moral of the story......ITS YOUR BIKE, DO WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT TO WITH IT, don't listen to the 'originality' grannies or the"think of the value' tightfists

lets see lots of pics as you go, there'll be more people round here who want to see it than don't (and they don't have to look if they're scared of the nasty man with the angle grinder)

 

[tommyboah]

After riding the bike for the summer I've started cleaning her up a bit. Removing the battery and stock airbox, along with the carbs. Gonna replace the stock carbs and airbox with a RS36 with K&N pods. Right now I am working on the seat hoping that it will turn out ok. Never done this before so not sure about how it will turn out in the end.

The plan is to use the stock cowl (putting the battery under it), which i have narrowed a bit and molding it together with the new seat and pan I am making from weaved glass fiber and carbon. Doing a mix of the both, hoping that a layer off woven glass fiber + a layer woven carbon will do it. Anyhow here is the progress:

Considering the lines:

Shaving some foam:

Playing with the glass fiber and carbon weave:

I'll keep you posted as I go on. Hoping that the seat together with the stock cowl works out.

-Tommyboy

 

[jcote75]

Nice bike and cool project.

I don't want to bring back the keep it original or cut discussion... but you do know your working on a bike with a value of around 15,000$USD in it's original condition...

This said, nice work on the seat!

 

[spotty]

looking good, is the carbon any harder to work with than fibreglass?

 

[tommyboah]

Nice bike and cool project.

I don't want to bring back the keep it original or cut discussion... but you do know your working on a bike with a value of around 15,000$USD in it's original condition...

This said, nice work on the seat!

I know all about the bike and the value in the original condition, I have already considered that and made up my mind . Let's not bring that discussion up again as the bike is no longer in its original condition anyways (chop, chop). Let's rather enjoy how one can make this bad boy even badder 8)

I will keep on posting as I go along.

 

[tommyboah]

looking good, is the carbon any harder to work with than fibreglass?

I wouldn't consider my self an expert within the area as I have only done some surfboard repairs prevoiusly, but to me it feels quite okay to work with and it will be super stiff. I just butter down the shape with resin and lay on the carbon weave, trying to squeeze and form it around the bends and corners. When you handle the carbon weave, you can feel that is is a little stiffer and maybe harder to lay down, but the resin will keep it sticking to the shape.

Of course what could be cool is to keep the carbon look on the seat, but I am planning to paint it.

 

[tommyboah]

Haven't posted anything on my build for quite a while and thought I'd give you all an update. I have torn down the engine and stripped the bike competely. The engine I have sent to a workshop for media blasting and painting. I have also decided to bore the engine to 1075cc and replace the valve guides and valves.

Here are some pictures of the tear down:

Pulling apart the engine piece by piece before talking it out of the frame. I don't have any engine stand to put it in, so I decided to tear it down while it was still in the bike:

A fair bit of carbon buildup:

 

[tommyboah]

Next up I started working on the frame. De-tabbing everything that is not going to be used, and creating a rear square (no round hoop) as this fits best with the seat. I also needed to raise the seat a bit from the frame to make it follow the lines from the tank, so I made some rails that the seat will sit on.

The rails have been welded along with the square hoop. I am no master welder, but it will do

Also made a tray for the electronics:

This is what the seat and tail will look like when mounted on the rails:

The rear shot:

Welded on a tray for the battery, which also works as sort of a fender. The battery fits under the back of the seat.

 

[tommyboah]

A big update today

While I was doing some de-tabbing on the frame, I discovered a soft spot on the lower part of the frame. I could literally stick my screw driver through the frame. Ooops :

I ground down a bit of it and I decided to send it away for a real repair, considering my fabrication and welding skills are limited:

The workshop decided to do both sides of the frame, as there was also some thins spots on the other sider. They cut away all the bad parst and welded in some new tubing with reinforcements. This is the result:

I think the result is looking good and I believe the bike to have many more years on the road

 

[tommyboah]

I started to work on a fender/hugger, since I have ditched the stock air box and will be running some K&N pod filters. I first ordered an alloy fender on the ol' interweb that I found to be a little to slim for the rear wheel. I cut it up and fitted it onto the swing arm:

I think the concept is good enough, it's just that the fender is too skinny I think. I had already chopped of the front fender, so I used the to cut of pieces and welded them together. Now I got a more husky looking hugger, which I believe will do good. Just need to sand it down and paint it.

Well, this will do for now. I will post more frequently in the future.

 

[caferay]

looks like that bike was running rich for most of its life. I actually like this idea, as the original bike was popular, but I never actually liked the style.
I would think of using classic Kawasaki racing green (not the dayglo green they use now) and pale gold wheels. Think 70s Nixon 750.

Just remember to wear a N95 particle mask when cutting or sanding the carbon fiber. It's about as easy to work with as fiberglass, but the small carbon particles are toxic if inhaled and have been linked to lung cancer to those working in the racing and bicycle frame industry.