Welcome from Texas. Where are you, we can help find you a bike
I'm in upstate NY,,, and Im pretty patient about finding the right one. Thanks
Do you know which K model you want?
I'm working on a nice K8, a K4, and an F1 right now. And a K2, but it doesn't have a title, yet.
While I am not an expert by any means- I like the look of the 1st gen bikes. The colored headlight ears, the painted airbox, etc. I am even open to getting a later to mid-70s one and painting it to look like a K1 if that was a big money saver and it could be done right. No real time in my life to take on a project, so a bike would need to be 90% there for me to move on it. I am strongly inclined to the K1 Blue color, and I dont have any need to pay for a sandcast bike.
Thanks- and let me know if you could make that work or know of any.
Roger on the Blue! My favorite, too. I am partial to the K1/K2 the most, as many here know about me. The only difference between these two is usually the cosmetics, and which factory it came from. Old Factory bikes had the extra performance, while New Factory bikes had a more polished overall demeanor. The painted headlight ears are pretty much history now, as they rusted quickly. But, modern powdercoating is said to stick well to the [marginal] chrome on the ears today, and makes a passable-appearing front end. The K2 had the "extra hole" ears, where the turn signal stalks were shorter and not coming right out of the headlight: the last of the K1 also looked this way, but painted, not chrome. Those are quite rare today!
I was conversing with Frankenstuff a while back about possibly making the K0 airboxes in his excellent plastics (I have a dozen of his sidecovers, highly recommend!), don't know where he is with that right now?
I have a K2 under construction that was a mid-year version, New Factory. It has the chrome fork ears, I think the tranny might have the 2-row output bearing (haven't been inside to verify yet), and the pipes are showing some wear (it hit a curb, it seems?) but all 4 are there. I haven't broached the topic of these pipes yet with Advanced Custom Chrome, but will get an estimate soon: it could be a grand to get them back in fine condition, though. The engine will become stock, 2nd overbore size, ported and with polished valves and good guides, etc. And, it will get standard K2 sprockets (18/48) with a Diamond Powersport chain, all the 'stuff' that my book prescribes. Most likely I'll shoe it with Avon tires, my personal favorite, although I do have a nice set of Contis with less than 1000 miles on them, if someone desires them instead. These were originally on the bike on the cover of my book, but were removed for smaller tires (and shorter shocks, lowered forks) when the new owner showed up with a 27 inch inseam(!) and needed a lower saddle.
