The price was right and I couldn't pass it up. Kawasaki makes a version that's even closer to the old school Z1/Z900 bikes of the late 70's early 80's... And my favorite color combo.... Mechanically, they are the same as mine, just with no cafe fairing and different paint. They sure look old school, but they're truly modern. Disc breaks, water cooled, fuel injected, stiffer frames, LED head light, modern tires, better suspensions...
Yes, those really look like my old 78 kz, especially that bottom pictured one with the dark metallic green paint Mine did have disc brakes, but also the flexy frame, old weak headlight, and not so great suspension. Lol.
2 hour commute this morning for work. 66-68 degrees most of the way. Covering the Cumberland MD shop.
242 miles round trip. It was 95 degree's for the first 1/2 hour home, then 93 for the majority of the rest. My gear is damp.
I picked up a couple free bikes unexpectedly yesterday. 1997 Yamaha Virago and a 2002 Suzuki Intruder. They’ve been sitting for a couple years, and unfortunately the Yamaha was outside for a few months under a pine tree. The bikes belonged to my wife’s uncle in eastern Massachusetts who passed away last year. A few months ago my in laws went up and brought them down here to Connecticut. I got a call from my father in law yesterday asking if I wanted them, as he’s already got a Road King and limited storage space. I wasn’t too gung ho about the bikes, but I could see my wife really wanted them to kind of remember and honor her uncle. So here they are, and now starts the long process of going through them to get them running again.
Scored a lift, finally!! That long ride did in my Duc. Battery is shot so I ordered a USA made Antigravity. ALL of the packing came out of my silencer and it cracked the end pretty bad. I’m going to have to cut off several inches. At least it’s salvageable. Ordered packing and more from a company who’s products are made in… . Refurb pics to come.
Congrats on the lift! I've almost bought one so many times over the years, but in the end I have never been able to justify losing the floor space in my small garage.
Thanks. Rethinking my setup here. I think I'm going to move all my woodworking equipment to the lean-to addition, which will free up lots of room. Its a Titan D Titan SDML-1000D Motorcycle Lift Came with optional roller drop out ($100) so the rear wheel can be spun without lifting. And an extended ramp for low riders ($115), and... their scissor jack ($200). Paid $800. I think I did ok. I've wanted one for a while. THe bike shop I worked is "moving". Owner wanted to keep buying and selling bikes, but he has no one to turn wrenches, so he moving the dealership to a friends shop so he can do that. I'll no longer have use of his equipment, which was a big motivator in finding this. His friends shop already has tire machine/balancer. I'm going to lobby like he11 to buy those, even if I have to take out a small loan.
Misled/misunderstood on the battery. Got the package open and it says made in china. Company located in LA California.. Started the can rehab. Titanium burns white in case you didn’t know. This was the only material in there. If you knew how gut wrenching it is to be hacking up such an expensive pipe. This is the material going in. I got enough to pack another can so the whole bag isn’t being used. More pics to come as I make progress.
I just brought home a barn find, a 91 Sportster 1200, got it for $500, now I’m trying to get it back on the road, so all my spare time is devoted to that for now. It has a Tow Pac Insta Trike kit installed, and the owner also had a side car for it. I gave them an additional $250 for the trike kit and side car, a Velorex 562. It was stored in a barn under a tarp for twelve years so it needs a lot of work. I’ve never owned a Harley so I have a lot of research to do. But I already sold the side car for $1100 so I have some cash left over to start fixing it up. This is the primary cover as it looked when I got it and after cleaning it with a brass wire disk on an angle grinder then buffing it with aluminum buffing compound. I cleaned the tank with lacquer thinner (on the advice of a retired Harley mechanic), changed engine and primary oil, put in a new battery and a new petcock. The original carb float was frozen and the carb was so dirty iand corroded inside it wasn’t worth trying to resurrect. I picked up a used supposedly result CV carb and put is on and managed to get it started this week, but it’s not idling and gas was leaking out of this carb pretty bad. I bought a rebuild kit and watched numerous videos but after taking the float bowl off I realized I was just not prepared for that. I just dropped it off with a local independent bike mechanic to have it rebuilt.
So since no work with mechanicals can be done till the carb is ready, I cleaned up and waxed the tank, which turned out quite nice. The generic windshield was removed, as wel as the entire Tow Pac trike kit frame, and the old rusted sissy bar and the saddle strap from the original two up seat. I picked up a solo seat from an ‘89 Harley Sportster and set it on to see how it looks with the windshield and sissy bar gone. I like it.
Don't give up so quick on the windshield. Think of the air pressure it keeps of your chest going down the road at 60mph. Another thing to look at is the oil drain line that is underneath the battery. It has a tendency to wear thin due to the vibration. Looks nice so far. How many miles are on the bike?
10,100 miles. I prefer bikes with a lot of protection. In the past I’ve had nine bikes, including a Honda Pacific Coast 800, an ST1100, and an NC750X dct, all of which had decent fairings. My current bike is a Honda Silverwing 600 maxi scooter which also has good wind protection. This Sportster is only going to be a fair weather bike, and also one for a friend to join me riding. He had bikes in the past but currently doesn’t have the money for one. I’ll probably put another windshield on it in the future but this one is too far gone and one of the mounts that connects the plexiglass to the frame is broken almost in half. I’m not going to try to repair it.
The outside of the tank is really nice. The inside is fair but not corroded. I really want to keep the original tank but wouldn’t mind a replacement with better volume.
I carry 2x 3.5 liter Jerry cans on the side car, with the side car attached I'm only getting 33 MPG , lots of mountains here. Mine is a 2000 883 Sportster, I bought it for the dog to ride in. Good luck! Sportsters are good bikes.
