bobber

Hello to all! I just got my first bike, a 1983 kz550 ltd. I want to make it into a bobber. I will do some research online and in this forum for some ideas. I have no clue where to begin, but can't wait to get started. I will post a pic of my bike soon. Hopefully I can get some suggestions on how to get started.

Welcome to the nut house :silly:

You will find several bobber threads here and I bet there are some over at the 550 website as well.

Thanks for the advice. Like I said Im new at this so Im sure I will get lost in the forum, lol.

My advice when starting any project is pretty much the same whether it's a bobber, chopper or restoration

1. buy a shop manual
2. get a preliminary idea of what you want. (This may change several times throughout your build)
3. start with what you can afford
4. meet people with like minds
5. avoid complete tear downs on your 1st build
finish it then tear it down for the total ground up. you dont want to spend the money painting and powdercoating a frame only to have to change something later and ruin the paint/poweder coating
6. Take the advise of those who have been there.
7. There are 1000 and 1 ways to skin a cat


as far as a bobber there are alot of different styles the term bobber just means bobbing the stuff off of your bike removing and streamlining the overall look

this can be done without alot of additional expense howevert the bikes you see that you love are probably not bobbers they are complete fabricated visions of years of experience

very well said

Not a bad looking bike! I have an 82 550 LTD. When it's running (not lately ) it's a blast. I love the bobber look, but make sure you are sure you want to do it. Plus, with a shafty your options might be more limited with stretching the swingarm (if you would want to).

Step 1 - before riding the bike or even starting the engine to see what you have - totally disassemble every nut and bolt and neatly stack everything as if you will sometime in the very distant future get around to working on the bike again, and if you do, actually remember where evreything goes. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: NOT! (one other hint - a chalk outline on the patio showing what goes where will certainly be helpful 3 or 4 years from now when you revisit the project). :woohoo:

650ed wrote: Step 1 - before riding the bike or even starting the engine to see what you have - totally disassemble every nut and bolt and neatly stack everything as if you will sometime in the very distant future get around to working on the bike again, and if you do, actually remember where evreything goes. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: NOT! (one other hint - a chalk outline on the patio showing what goes where will certainly be helpful 3 or 4 years from now when you revisit the project). :woohoo:

Oh Em Gee! as mt daughteer says That is the best case fore not touching it you could ever make!

^^Woah lol

Thanks for the advice guys. I do need to get some tires for this thing. I was interested in getting one for the rear that is a little wider than the one on it. How big can I go with the factory wheel? Any suggestions on a type of tire?

Ok, so i might be in over my head with this thing. I started it up today and it will only run with the choke out. It had very little gas in the tank so I added about a gallon of fresh gas. Engine doesnt smoke at all, but it sounds like a little diesel at idle. I thinking this thing might need to be rebuilt, but I know nothing about bikes. I was going to focus on getting new tires first but I guess I need to get her to run right. Any thoughts or suggestions?