1983 KZ750 Build

Hale

Hale

New Member
Well, here is the build on my 1983 KZ750. I bought the bike from a friend of my brothers about 4 years ago after unsuccessfully resurrecting a couple bikes. I had this 1969 CL175 that I bought, tried to get it running, and did some stuff to along the way. Here she is when I bought her



and after tinkering and trying to get her going after about 2 years



about that time I got a deal to good to pass on a 1983 XT250 which needed a bit of work.



So I was sitting with two project and no running motorcycle. I had them both cleaned up, and close to running, but I was a broke college kid, so I did the next best thing, and sold them both. Ended up making a decent profit on them, and timing couldn't be better cus at that time a friend of my brothers had a running, titled, KZ750 for sale. It was the LTD model, so it wasnt quite the cafe racer project I was dreaming of, but it was another steal of a deal so I dove in and brought home this

 
I rode it as is for the summer, finished college, and moved from Fort Collins to Denver. A buddy of mine had a garage and a couple of bikes he was working on, and we both wanted a cafe racer style so i parked it in his garage and we started working.

Moved in and set up


started stripping stuff down to see what needed what/where we could loose weight on it.
 
I started in with easy stuff, took the air box out and replaced it with pods



decided the seat was way to long, so i shortened the frame a bit


 
I shaved some extra metal tabs trying to get weight off, then took a stab at my first fiberglass project. started with insulating foam, glued it in layers and cut/shaved/sanded it into shape







then I wrapped the bike in plastic, covered the mold and wrapped it in fiber glass


test fitting after the fist layers


added final layers


bondo/sand/bondo/sand/paint and look for defects/bondo/sand....
 
during that process I found a tank from an '83 GPZ750, so I stripped that down and added it

 
Continued with bondo work on the tank and seat




Picked up some lower profile handlebars and a light bracket from Dime City, and continued with the bondo and sanding... It was my first time at both fiberglass and bondo, so there was quite the learning curve...


Added a break light also from Dime City cus... its the law and all


After that i started her back up... and she was mad at me... so I adjusted the jetting and got her rolling around a bit. Felt good to get out again
 
The front break MC didnt like the low profile bars so i picked up a smaller one from a local motorcycle junk yard, Steele's Cycles. Its from a yamaha, not sure which one, it was on a shelf and it fit!



I was a pretty excited, took her out on a few rides, before i thought about much more to do

 
For final paint I decided to go with a vinyl wrap. I have a few friends who work for a company who does cars, so I talked them into taking a stab at my bike. Turned out decent









made the seat padding from a cheap sleeping pad i got at Big 5 Sporting goods. A couple layers on top of a 1/4" piece of plywood. Picked up leather scraps from a local fabric shop and got to stitching. Not too shabby for my first time sewing leather, its not the easiest to work with though... its comfortable for about 30 minutes before I start to get a little sore down under, but its bearable.
 
one last picture on a ride, shows the last piece of seat padding on the back. So right now this is where i'm at. Starting to consider small projects while I ride this summer.

 
Nicely done and great follow thru. College definitely limits the money flow for projects. How is the wrap holding up? I've seen it done on some local trucks. It doesn't seem to hold up wheel around wheel wells and high friction zones due to rocks and what have you
 
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