Wanting to start planning a project

I can get a few decent frames around these parts, but I was wondering what late model motors any one has used in any of these older frames, also which frame would present the best possibilites from a kz stand point, and i'd like to keep as much of the bike kaw as possible

Thanks for any and all info as I start the planning/bugeting/research part of my project

I thought I might get some help at least

Take a look at caffcruisers project thread, he's got a project going with a later year engine (well, if an 86 gsxr750 is later year like you mean, i don't know) into an older kaw frame, there's a start. Good luck!

kzrider.com/component/option,com_joomlab...mit,20/limitstart,0/

Post edited by: 77Davo650, at: 2007/01/18 16:17

his thread gave me the idea, and I was kind of thinking it would be nice to have a later model engine with parts being more available and all

plus the mpg might even be better as well

Post edited by: AJCrader, at: 2007/01/18 16:20

If you can stick a one-liter motor in the frame, then maybe you can find some old police bikes. Lots of cities used the KZ1000P for alot of years, and now they're being phased out for Harleys and Beemers. If you could find where old cop bikes go to die, you'd have a good source for motors and parts.
There's a place here in the San Fernando Valley that has a contract with the city to take LAPD bikes.... they're stacked up like kindling in this salvage yard that I drive by every day. I talked to the guy that owns it, but he wants to sell reconditioned bikes for $3000, and doesn't want to part them out. But I talk to him maybe once a month.... I'm just looking for a motor and a frame for my next project.

Would a tom cruise gpz 900 be a good bike to make a street fighter or is it too new?

Post edited by: AJCrader, at: 2007/01/19 10:45

Engine parts for the newer bikes are more available (to a certain degree) but they are also pricey as hell! Plus, there are very few aftermarket parts (pistons, cranks, heads etc.). An older KZ can be bought cheap and maintained just as cheaply.

However, if you want to do it just to do it (hell ya!), your best bet to keep it Kaw. would be either a GPZ, as you suggested, or something like the older ZX1100 bikes. Plenty out there, dead nuts simple and fast in stock form. Plus, you can still get parts for them. Just my 2 cents.

chetriply wrote:

Engine parts for the newer bikes are more available (to a certain degree) but they are also pricey as hell! Plus, there are very few aftermarket parts (pistons, cranks, heads etc.). An older KZ can be bought cheap and maintained just as cheaply.

so as long as my motor is at least a 900 I can find parts fairly easily for the older kaws?

You bet. KZ 900's - 1000's are hugely popular and have a strong aftermarket following. Ebay is full of parts and several manufacturers (APE, Wiseco, Progressive) still make a ton of parts for them. The J head motors are very popular but any 900 or 1000 would be supported.

Yeah, but if you're talking about a ZX900 Ninja motor the motor parts are not really out there b/c the demand never developed. If the motor is smoked you'll play heck trying to 'build' or re-build it. If you are talking about KZ or Z 900 they still make LOTS of stuff for those, and there is tons of stuff out there.

'Streetfighter' is a strange term as it is still in the process of defining its borders; so, in short, you can make a 'Fighter out of just about any bike (almost any bike).

No matter what bike you go with you can 'mod' the suspension the way you want; the motor is where you are going to face design constraints.

Good luck, and share details on your ideas.

Well I like the big cc motor in a low sport frame, I hate hardly's and I have a late model sport bike, but as anything I really like, I like how these old kz's with newer forks and extended swing arms with no fairings look, but I want it streetable, of if I decided to i could go tear it up at the drag strip, i'm not much of a corner carver yet, as I have only been riding for about 2 months yesterday....I guess right now i'm just very limited, and want to know what parts I should acquire as a beginner that would fit that picture...i have seen a few in the gallery here that I love to death, but as someone told me, make my own so I know what it is, and not having to try to locate parts from who knows what.

do yourself a favor and keep it simple as you start out,that way it will be fun instead of a nightmare you lose interest in and never finish.youll have plenty of time for radical projects later trust me i got my first z1 almost 30 years ago and i still have a hard time finishing projects!

Post edited by: wireman, at: 2007/01/22 10:52