Tweet
Kind of a long build thread. I'll copy and paste from KZ650.info.
Was going to buy a new FZ-09 but decided I would rather build something. I always like cafe racers and brat style bikes. I do some fabrication on the side ie: build turbo systems and make bumpers and stuff for jeeps. I figured this wouldn't be a far stretch. Had a buddy that had this sitting outside at his house. He sold it to me with new tires, tubes, and a spare set of carbs for $425 because that's what he had into it. He also guaranteed it would run.(he is the service manager at the local suzuki/yamaha dealer.)
OK, here goes:
This is the day I brought it home. No carbs, rusted, not running. Kids thought it was fun to sit on anyway!
The same weekend my buddy brought a big box of carbs and a fuel bottle. Threw some carbs together, cleaned the points and it fired right up. No smoke, no noise, ran it through all the gears in the air. Not bad.
Started to pull it apart.
Wasn't going to do much at first then this happened. Not many parts to the bike at all!
Cut off all the brackets I wasn't going to use from the frame and then smoothed it out.
Pile O'brackets.
While I was working on the frame the wheels needed to be addressed. Thought about buying new or mags but just decided to renew what I had in the mindset of low budget.
Here is what I was starting with. Spokes were a complete loss but the rims didn't look bad at all.
Ordered some spoke from Thailand. The guy originally sent 18 rear 18 front. I told him it was 19 front and he sent the replacements right out.
So I sanded and painted the wheels and they came out awesome!!
Sanded and painted the hubs too. Lacing up the spokes was really easy. Then my buddy came over and trued them up on his stand.
Meanwhile I ordered a bunch of parts. Points, condensers, brakes, new 520 chain conversion, clutch cable, air filter pods, oil filter, light bracket, tail light assembly, etc....
Next up was the seat. Thought cafe racer from the begining but my wife wants to ride the bike so I am going for a brat style seat. Here is what I did for the seat pan. I will foam it and send it out for upholstery. I don't like to farm out work but I want a nice seat.
Started with a basic idea of length and went from there.
Then I cut the back portion off and I decided I liked the kick up in the rear so I shaved it, took some angle out, brought it forward and TIG'd it back on. Bent up the piece of 14ga I had laying around.
Still need to finish the seat pan but wanted to get some paint on the frame before it rusted. I used epoxy roll bar paint. I cured hard as nails!! Like it a lot. Notice the piggy back shocks! Ebay but had decent reviews.
Also sanded the forks and swing arm and painted them with the same paint.
Last update brings me up to yesterday. I painted the triple trees and installed new tapered style head set bearings. Put the wheels all back together and got the forks assembled so I could decide on handle bars. I'm going with a very low rise unbraced dirt bike style bar. The old switches on the old bars are a loss so I am sourcing new smaller units.
This is how the bike looked yesterday.
Hoping the fork boots settle in or I will have to cut them down. I will also be lowering the front 1/2-3/4".
Here is one with the tank.
Bars came in!! Got new bars, low rise, gold. New switch assemblies, New push pull tube(still waiting), Oury grips, and bar end mirrors.
Bars were 33" wide! I cut 1.5" off each side.
Chain finally came in correct and I threw that on. Looks nice. (no pics) Gold links. Finally cut down the forks boots to a respectable height.
Got the header all High Heat painted and header wrapped. Getting it back on was more difficult than wrapping it.
Braided line should be in tomorrow or Tuesday. Banjo pressure switch may take longer and I ordered a 2.5" speedo from Dime City on Thursday or Friday. Also ordered jets for the carbs. Almost done!
Seat came out great!! He tapered and rounded the front so it has a narrower feel like I asked. I gave a few pics and he really did a great job.
All the electrical is back in the bike now. All tucked. Regulator, rectifier, new solid stat flasher, and fuse box are mounted to a plate a I made that mounts to the bolts where the rear tank tang is and it sits in the frame under the tank. Need to build a bracket for the ignition switch and get the carbs together. I have a new regulator from Oregon Motorcycle Parts on order. When that comes in it will mount in the same spot as the mechanical I already tucked. Have a shorter speedo cable that should be here this week.
Here is Yesterday
Thanks for checking it out. Since building this I picked up a 1980 XS850 Triple to build into a cafe racer for my wife and I just picked up an 2001 SV650S as a get around for either of us to ride.
Was going to buy a new FZ-09 but decided I would rather build something. I always like cafe racers and brat style bikes. I do some fabrication on the side ie: build turbo systems and make bumpers and stuff for jeeps. I figured this wouldn't be a far stretch. Had a buddy that had this sitting outside at his house. He sold it to me with new tires, tubes, and a spare set of carbs for $425 because that's what he had into it. He also guaranteed it would run.(he is the service manager at the local suzuki/yamaha dealer.)
OK, here goes:
This is the day I brought it home. No carbs, rusted, not running. Kids thought it was fun to sit on anyway!
The same weekend my buddy brought a big box of carbs and a fuel bottle. Threw some carbs together, cleaned the points and it fired right up. No smoke, no noise, ran it through all the gears in the air. Not bad.
Started to pull it apart.
Wasn't going to do much at first then this happened. Not many parts to the bike at all!
Cut off all the brackets I wasn't going to use from the frame and then smoothed it out.
Pile O'brackets.
While I was working on the frame the wheels needed to be addressed. Thought about buying new or mags but just decided to renew what I had in the mindset of low budget.
Here is what I was starting with. Spokes were a complete loss but the rims didn't look bad at all.
Ordered some spoke from Thailand. The guy originally sent 18 rear 18 front. I told him it was 19 front and he sent the replacements right out.
So I sanded and painted the wheels and they came out awesome!!
Sanded and painted the hubs too. Lacing up the spokes was really easy. Then my buddy came over and trued them up on his stand.
Meanwhile I ordered a bunch of parts. Points, condensers, brakes, new 520 chain conversion, clutch cable, air filter pods, oil filter, light bracket, tail light assembly, etc....
Next up was the seat. Thought cafe racer from the begining but my wife wants to ride the bike so I am going for a brat style seat. Here is what I did for the seat pan. I will foam it and send it out for upholstery. I don't like to farm out work but I want a nice seat.
Started with a basic idea of length and went from there.
Then I cut the back portion off and I decided I liked the kick up in the rear so I shaved it, took some angle out, brought it forward and TIG'd it back on. Bent up the piece of 14ga I had laying around.
Still need to finish the seat pan but wanted to get some paint on the frame before it rusted. I used epoxy roll bar paint. I cured hard as nails!! Like it a lot. Notice the piggy back shocks! Ebay but had decent reviews.
Also sanded the forks and swing arm and painted them with the same paint.
Last update brings me up to yesterday. I painted the triple trees and installed new tapered style head set bearings. Put the wheels all back together and got the forks assembled so I could decide on handle bars. I'm going with a very low rise unbraced dirt bike style bar. The old switches on the old bars are a loss so I am sourcing new smaller units.
This is how the bike looked yesterday.
Hoping the fork boots settle in or I will have to cut them down. I will also be lowering the front 1/2-3/4".
Here is one with the tank.
Bars came in!! Got new bars, low rise, gold. New switch assemblies, New push pull tube(still waiting), Oury grips, and bar end mirrors.
Bars were 33" wide! I cut 1.5" off each side.
Chain finally came in correct and I threw that on. Looks nice. (no pics) Gold links. Finally cut down the forks boots to a respectable height.
Got the header all High Heat painted and header wrapped. Getting it back on was more difficult than wrapping it.
Braided line should be in tomorrow or Tuesday. Banjo pressure switch may take longer and I ordered a 2.5" speedo from Dime City on Thursday or Friday. Also ordered jets for the carbs. Almost done!
Seat came out great!! He tapered and rounded the front so it has a narrower feel like I asked. I gave a few pics and he really did a great job.
All the electrical is back in the bike now. All tucked. Regulator, rectifier, new solid stat flasher, and fuse box are mounted to a plate a I made that mounts to the bolts where the rear tank tang is and it sits in the frame under the tank. Need to build a bracket for the ignition switch and get the carbs together. I have a new regulator from Oregon Motorcycle Parts on order. When that comes in it will mount in the same spot as the mechanical I already tucked. Have a shorter speedo cable that should be here this week.
Here is Yesterday
Thanks for checking it out. Since building this I picked up a 1980 XS850 Triple to build into a cafe racer for my wife and I just picked up an 2001 SV650S as a get around for either of us to ride.
Comment