Zephyr 550 build

[WaldaCZ]

Hi, here are some pictures from my start rebuilding. base is kawasaki zephyr 550, 1991.

 

[WaldaCZ]

progress and a bit of photoshop

 

[two-smoker]

Y'know, the Zephyr is a bike I am pretty happy with leaving stock, but I do like the exhaust. In fact, i'm doing pretty much the same thing on my build. Did you wrap the tank in a motorcycle jacket? That's pretty unique-looking.

 

[WaldaCZ]

I agree, the Zephyr series looks great, but I want it a little at my

 

[jaddy10]

Hey! a zephyr! you dont see too many zephyrs. I built my 1990 zephyr 550 into a fighter last year a lot of custom work and parts from other bikes. heres a quick pic.

 

[WaldaCZ]

Great work man!! Please give me more information about this Zephyr, thank you

 

[jaddy10]

Great work man!! Please give me more information about this Zephyr, thank you

Thanks! the zephyr has been great to me last season. I finished the build march last year after working all summer fall and winter on it. Started out just a stock rebuild because the valves were getting really noisy. So I just decided to do a motor and carb rebuild. but in the process of rebuilding I ran across a 1999 zx6r on the craigs for a really good deal so I bought it and then it was months of figuring out how to fuse the front and rear end together.
from the front I milled the zx6r stem to fit the zephyr bearings then mounted a 2000 ducati monster front fender. headlight fork brackets for the stock zephyr headlight. fitted an acewell digital speedo/ tach rewired for the zx6r controls. I changed the tank and rear fairing to a 1998 zephyr 750, jetted carbs to 122 with UNI pod filters. 5/8 offset sprocket.

now for the zx6r swingarm to fit I had to cut the whole middle section of the frame where the pivots are and widened them about .5 wider. it was a task but worked out well. just make sure they are centered and level with the rest of the bike. I welded in a custom upper mount under the seat for the monoshock and welded in lower brackets for the shock linkages. then recovered the seat and fitted a 2004 triumph triple led tail light. It was a lot of work but it worked out great. I get a lot of questions where I go what kind of bike it is. ive only had one person actually ask if it was a zephyr. keep up the build man ive mashed on my zephyr all year and never gave me issues and with the suspension I am able to have more fun in the twisties. heres some more pics.

 

[WaldaCZ]

Thank you very much for the information! Perfect rebuilding

 

[sphynx88]

Was that pic from Backfire Moto?

 

[jaddy10]

Was that pic from Backfire Moto?

Yup I believe the July 2011 meet

 

[sidejam]

Here's a pic of my 550 Zephyr. I think it falls somewhere between a cafe/fighter/bobber...

 

[WaldaCZ]

Nice machine, I looked at him . How do you ride with the handlebars? Where did you get them? If I may ask

 

[WaldaCZ]

Little Update

 

[sidejam]

Nice machine, I looked at him . How do you ride with the handlebars? Where did you get them? If I may ask

Here's another shot of the clip-ons:

For me, riding it is easy. It's a small bike and I'm 6 feet tall so it doesn't feel like that far of a reach. The bars are 41mm Woodcraft clip-ons with a custom spacer made to bring them down to the 39mm forks. Instead of using the aluminum bars that came with them, I cut up a pair of flat drag bars that had a 15 degree pullback. This makes the bars angle down even slightly lower and also helps them clear the tank. It took a lot of adjustments, but the bars are mounted symmetrically and will turn lock to lock without hitting the tank.

You have a great build yourself! I really like the way your tail section is coming along! While I didn't use the seat pan or foam, I used the exact same Ducati seat skin you've used to recover my seat after I cut it down. Keep up the good work!

 

[WaldaCZ]

Thanks so much for all the information! With the modifications I have to hurry, the season is approaching very quickly

 

[WaldaCZ]

short muffler

 

[WaldaCZ]

new side covers

 

[WaldaCZ]

little creativity

 

[WaldaCZ]

left-tune a few details, but otherwise done

 

[thebronze]

I like 8)