What would you build?

I've got a stock-ish KZ-650, only aftermarket is a Kerker header & pipe. My intent was to make a Café bike, but now I'm rethinking it; perhaps a Street Tracker or Hooligan bike.

I don't mind the Café riding position, but can you tell me about other categories or directions?

I like the looks of a Street Tracker, but don't really care for the wide bars. My understanding of a Hooligan bike is it's a crotch rocket with the Tupperware removed. Correct?

Café:

Street Tracker:

Hooligans are mostly refered to as streetfighters.

The look lends itself better to de-tupperwared sportbikes.

I vote street tracker.

Google search "KZ-650" and select Images. There are many to look at. Most are boring to me, but there were a few that went a little different, and were at least slightly interesting. Like these two:

If it were mine, I'd restore it as stock. Bikes of that vintage(our youth!) are starting to pull decent resale value. I would think there would be a much better market for it restored than cut up. You know you're not going to keep it for real long!

Those are all nice, but kindof "fussy" to me. This very simple and clean build I yanked from googles makes the bike look really fresh.

Thanks guys. I went front fenderless for a bit on the naked wing, won't do it again.

I'd ride that in a heartbeat. If I owned it, I'd add a tiny front fender.

BTW, IMO, street trackers are the preplastics era equivalent of street fighters, they definitely have a hooligan accent.

^^^^ this. I've done the sport bike thing. Give me a decent riding position, good torque and clean looks.

I'd love to do a kz up to look like a 80's supper bike race bike sort of GPz ish. Rear sets and nice paint. We did a 550kz for my older brother to race a couple years ago.

914Driver wrote: Thanks guys. I went front fenderless for a bit on the naked wing, won't do it again.

I can understand that.

Personally I'd really like a tracker that I can sit on in a normal position. That's the only way my body is really comfortable on a bike for any length of time. I like most of the custom looks but just can't get comfortable on a sport bike or a control forward bike for anything other than a very short ride.

Here are a couple of examples:

I think that one of the biggest questions is, "Are you going to want to ride it when you're done?"

I pretty much ruined a perfectly nice, stock CB400F Super Sport when I café'd it back in the early 90's. It looked cool, but I just didn't really want to ride it anymore. There were other bikes in my fleet at the time and, aside from short trips, I'd usually choose something else.

Me? I'd build a Craigslist ad under the heading "Motorcycles For Sale", and replace it with something that I'd really want to ride, rather than trying to turn it into something that it's not.

Sorry for the rant Dan (and impending threadjack) ...

You could always buy my Sportster and start your café build there.

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/sprockets/im-selling-my-sportster/101612/page1/

What's the KZ look like currently?

On that bike I like they street tracker approach. You could alway cut the bars narrower if you find them too wide.

Woody wrote: I think that one of the biggest questions is, "Are you going to want to ride it when you're done?"

This is an important point. I see a lot of old Japanese bikes modified to the point where they may look cool, but they're only good for parking in front of the local bar. Lowered suspensions, rock hard seats and no fenders make for a miserable ride. Oh, and painting everything flat black is so yesterday.

personally i love the cafe look but being 6'4" and most my height in my torso i have to have higher bars or it ruins my back. here is my KZ750 twin. the bars are as low as i could deal with.

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As far as making a bike so modified that its no good to ride it can just be trial and error, bikes are reasonably easy to adjust to your likings. suspension is easy to adjust up and down, fenders are easy to take on and off. seats (sometimes) can be easy to rework or add/remove/shape foam to make it work to your liking. Just try a few different things and see what like.

like my seat, I cut down the stock seat to fit the bobbed frame because it was really comfy, but now ive had it like that for a few months im slowly starting to dislike its size. So i can simply remove it and try my hand at making a lower profile seat with a bit of foam and an old skateboard and see how i like that, if i dont i can always throw the old seat back on.

and here is it with no seat, kinda give you the idea of how a low-profile seat would look. i like this look better.

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I say be creative. Don't be hemmed in by any one style. Like the taller bars of a tracker and the narrow width of a cafe, make yourself a custom set. Make a seat that fits the way you want to ride. Custom bikes are all about making it to suit yourself.

As long as you have a turbo on it somewhere, you have my blessings for any style.

IMHO you have two choices. First would be street tracker:

Second would be EARLY Superbike. Back in the day there was a guy who'd show up at Brainerd with a blue KZ650 with lil' bitty Canadian flags on the sidecovers that just looked right. Something like this:

In reply to stroker:

And that is an AC Sanctuary build......

Woody said: I think that one of the biggest questions is, "Are you going to want to ride it when you're done?"

Oh yeah. My tastes run the gambit depending on the monthly cycle, the shadows of Stonehenge and what it says about me in the ladies' room stall; but for the KZ I'm leaning toward Street Tracker.