pigpin
New Member
Actually I just move to San Rafael, but I'll just go with San Francisco since prolly no one knows where San Rafael is.
I got a kz650 from 1979. Slowly making it into a cafe racer, got the bars, looking at redoing the seat. I got a long way to go on it still, I got it for free from a friend who had it sitting outside for a while. Out in SF that means a lot of fog, and in that fog is a lot of salt. So I've been dealing with a lot of rust and corrosion. All cosmetic, except for my next project. The fork cylinders have little dots of rust on them that are tearing up the fork seals. Got a set off of ebay to drop on there. Doing the rear suspension too, those are just broke.
So far we've pulled the exhaust system, replaced seals, clean up the rust and painted them black with heat resistant stuff. Well, black till it turns white from heat, so I'm told. I think I'll go with some tape in the long run. I like that look. I rebuilt the fuel tap and replaced all it's seals, it was leaking. Pulled half a key outta the ignition. That was fun, before that you just needed a screwdriver to start it. Replaced all fluids, new battery, new turn signals, new cables, new mirrors and grips and of course the clubman bars are on there. Dealing with an issue of them hitting the tank, heard on another site I can space them up a bit for clearance.
Still to go:
Well the suspension, but that's just maintenance. I've got a chrome fender to replace the bent painted one I had on there before. Gotta pull the seat off, going to mod it to be a bit more racer style, though I hope to use the existing foam and just carve it down a bit. Then cut the seat shorter for length for a single rider, wrap the leather behind, and fabricate a cap. Don't know how I'm going to do that yet. Fiberglass would probably be my best option, I've fixed a couple of surfboards, so I'm familiar working with it. But I have access to a model shop for a film company, so i may take advantage of that and go metal. Gotta mount a new tail light to it and license frame. Then ditch the rear fender. Then paint it all up, thinking a metal flake dark green with white racing stripes - one fat in the center with two pins on each side. My buddy thinks I should hide the battery up under the cap and open up the sides of the bike, I'm still on the fence with that one. That'll prolly take me the rest of the year to get done, but it'll be well worth it.
I'm a new rider to motorcycles. A lot of ATV experience and I use to race mountain bikes, I've been associated with hitting pavement at 30+ mph before. Just with a bike helmet and gloves, I hope to never find out what it's like wearing full leathers, hopefully better. I know to be cautious and I don't ever plan to push my limits on it. Owning the thing is actually a lot more appealing not that I don't live in the middle of the city. Despite my buddies claim on how much better his commute is with his bike. I just want it for an afternoon cruise to the beach here and there.
That's about it. This site rocks, I've already learned quite a bit from posts on DIY projects. I love the look of cafe racers and the sub-culture of their history I find awesome. That's one of the reasons I'm all about doing the mods myself and not dropping $400 on brand new seat. The other reason is I'm a cheap B@$t@rd.
Thanks for readin, I'll post some before pictures as soon as I can.
-Marco
I got a kz650 from 1979. Slowly making it into a cafe racer, got the bars, looking at redoing the seat. I got a long way to go on it still, I got it for free from a friend who had it sitting outside for a while. Out in SF that means a lot of fog, and in that fog is a lot of salt. So I've been dealing with a lot of rust and corrosion. All cosmetic, except for my next project. The fork cylinders have little dots of rust on them that are tearing up the fork seals. Got a set off of ebay to drop on there. Doing the rear suspension too, those are just broke.
So far we've pulled the exhaust system, replaced seals, clean up the rust and painted them black with heat resistant stuff. Well, black till it turns white from heat, so I'm told. I think I'll go with some tape in the long run. I like that look. I rebuilt the fuel tap and replaced all it's seals, it was leaking. Pulled half a key outta the ignition. That was fun, before that you just needed a screwdriver to start it. Replaced all fluids, new battery, new turn signals, new cables, new mirrors and grips and of course the clubman bars are on there. Dealing with an issue of them hitting the tank, heard on another site I can space them up a bit for clearance.
Still to go:
Well the suspension, but that's just maintenance. I've got a chrome fender to replace the bent painted one I had on there before. Gotta pull the seat off, going to mod it to be a bit more racer style, though I hope to use the existing foam and just carve it down a bit. Then cut the seat shorter for length for a single rider, wrap the leather behind, and fabricate a cap. Don't know how I'm going to do that yet. Fiberglass would probably be my best option, I've fixed a couple of surfboards, so I'm familiar working with it. But I have access to a model shop for a film company, so i may take advantage of that and go metal. Gotta mount a new tail light to it and license frame. Then ditch the rear fender. Then paint it all up, thinking a metal flake dark green with white racing stripes - one fat in the center with two pins on each side. My buddy thinks I should hide the battery up under the cap and open up the sides of the bike, I'm still on the fence with that one. That'll prolly take me the rest of the year to get done, but it'll be well worth it.
I'm a new rider to motorcycles. A lot of ATV experience and I use to race mountain bikes, I've been associated with hitting pavement at 30+ mph before. Just with a bike helmet and gloves, I hope to never find out what it's like wearing full leathers, hopefully better. I know to be cautious and I don't ever plan to push my limits on it. Owning the thing is actually a lot more appealing not that I don't live in the middle of the city. Despite my buddies claim on how much better his commute is with his bike. I just want it for an afternoon cruise to the beach here and there.
That's about it. This site rocks, I've already learned quite a bit from posts on DIY projects. I love the look of cafe racers and the sub-culture of their history I find awesome. That's one of the reasons I'm all about doing the mods myself and not dropping $400 on brand new seat. The other reason is I'm a cheap B@$t@rd.
Thanks for readin, I'll post some before pictures as soon as I can.
-Marco
