Our Latest Acquisition

You know how it goes, you know someone who knows someone who knows a guy who’s got an old bike they can’t ride anymore and don’t have the time nor energy to fix. We heard tell it was ‘vintage’, so off we went to check it out – and ‘Lo and Behold our latest project was born…

She’s a 1978 Kawasaki KZ1000

We found her in a sorry state!

 

 

She looks down at the heels

and more than a little worse for wear

 

 

but underneath all that dirt, grime

and twisted wiring

She’s still got a few miles left in her and we think there’s more beauty to behold!

Over the next few weeks, she’ll be restored to her former glory with a make over that includes a few upgrades. We figure we’d start her out with:

• a new ignition
• new rims
• and maybe a new power kit

We’ll take an even closer look at her over the next few days and decide what she needs.

Well that’s all for now. Check back often to see what progress she’s making. And feel free to post your questions and comments.

Down To The Frame

Hello fellow bloggers, hope you’re ready for the next stage of our project. Off come the wiring harness, swingarm, upper and lower tree along with the forks, so that the frame can be sand blasted and prepped for painting

This engine is a BEAST and we will have to use great care removing it… now that we have all of the wires and cables disconnected from the engine, we will have to figure out how we’re going to get it out.

Here is a close up shot of the coils

I was all set to pull the engine even though I *Knew* that doing so by myself would be crazy – although back in the day (in my prime) it would’ve been a different story.

I was just about to call one of my boyz when a customer of mine came in; he was just out messing around and stopped by to see what I was up to… so what the hay, I asked the question, “dude, you mind helping me get the engine out of my KZ1000?” Heck, he jumped at the idea just to have a chance to get a peek at what I had going on in the workshop (the inner sanctum, is usually off limits to most folks). So we got down to the heave-ho …
here’s the motor on the engine stand

this beast did not tame easily…

but we prevailed!

Just believe me when I say we could’ve used a third person! [LOL]

 

Ok people this is all you get for now — be sure to check back soon!
We’ll post a picture of the frame when we get it back from the paint shop. Hopefully, we will have it in a couple of weeks. I decided to go with blue as the base color and orange metal flakes…  yep – the Bad Boy Cycle Signature colors
*NOTE: THE PICTURE BELOW OF THE HANDLE BARS AND THE GAUGES.
 ON MOST OF ALL THE OLD SCHOOL MOTORCYCLE THEY CAN BE REMOVED ALL AT ONCE ALONG WITH THE UPPER TRIPLE TREE. THIS METHOD WILL SAVE YOU ALOT OF TIME…
HINT!!! WATCH OUT FOR THE BALL BEARING ON THE 1978 KZ1000 YOU DO NOT WANT TO LOSE ANY OF THEM. THE ONLY THING HOLDING THEM PLACE IS THE NECK..