Topic: Terry's Kawasaki Z1000 Mad Max Bike, my er, 2020 summer project.

[Terry in Australia]

Terry, why would you mount the tires before you painted the wheels? Seems out of sequence to me, but you must have had a reason.

Thanks mate, I had no intent to paint them, I did think about powder coating them, but I just liked the blasted look. Paint doesn't stick to aluminium well, so I'd rather just hit them with some WD40 to keep them from corroding. My first Henry Abe wheels were just bare aluminium, and I liked them like that.

Terry's K1 Cafe Racer circa 2009-ish by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr   

[Terry in Australia]

OK, OK, so I changed my mind. I took a closer look at my freshly blasted wheels, and noticed lots of greasy marks from where the tyres were fitted, so I took a rag soaked in acetone to clean it off, then decided it'd be easier in the long run, to just paint them. I used plenty of etch primer to help make the paint stick, after I'd made a masking template.

TGIF 27 Mar 2020 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Being a nice warm day, the etch primer dried real quick, so I hit it up with some silver engine enamel (no expense spared here, it was what I had laying around in my garage) and it looked good.

TGIF 27 Mar 2020 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The biggest pain in the butt was masking it off, but the end result was fine. I'll unmask the front tomorrow, then I'll wait for the new brake shoes and disc pads to arrive before I bother installing them.

TGIF 27 Mar 2020 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[vik351]

looks shmiko ...

vik...

[PeWe]

Look really nice, Terry!

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, nothing much to report on the Kawasaki front, except that my second Z1000 frame is on it's way from the US, so shortly I'll start another build thread on the 1428cc beastie. In the meantime, here's another pic of those wheels, they did come up nice, and I'm glad I painted them after the tyres were fitted, or I'd be touching up all the chips from tyre levers etc.

Saturday ride day 28 Mar 2020 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[RAFster122s]

Terry , is it true what I saw...??

I was watching an Australian cooking show, and the audience applauded when the chef made a meringue.
.
I was surprised. Usually Australians boo meringue.

[bear]

 

[Terry in Australia]

Well I personally love a good lemon meringue pie mate, my old Ma still makes one occasionally, with real lemons off her tree. Maybe it's that "Real men don't eat quiche" thing? Of course, Egg and Bacon pie is fine..........

[RAFster122s]

Read my post out loud Terry if you didn't get it...

 

Key Lime is really good too, but imagine Key Limes aren't plentiful there...or are they?

[Terry in Australia]

Oops, sorry, now I get it........... My big sis lived in the US for over 20 years, and she made me a Key Lime pie, wasn't bad.

[Terry in Australia]

Well I guess I'll start another Kawasaki ZED thread when the new (to me) KZ1000 frame arrives from the US, but as a teaser, here are the Lester wheels I'm gonna put on it. Thanks to EBay and DaveZ here, I'm the proud owner of 3 Lesters, an 18 inch rear, 18 inch front, and a 19 inch front. (thanks to Dave) OOh, I've just remembered I've got an 18 inch rear Henry Abe, maybe I could have a Lester/HA combo on a future build?

Anyhoo, the 18/19" combo were gonna go on my K1 build, but I've decided to donate them to my newest Zed. Vik pointed me in the direction of a guy selling cast iron drilled rotors for CB750's on Ebay, so we ordered some, and I think with the help of a spacer, I'll be able to install some big arsed 6 piston calipers on the front of the new beastie.

As I now have a frame on it's way, some wheels, forks, swingarm, shocks etc, I thought tyres might be a good idea, so I ponied up the dough for some new Stinko's today, and the nice man at the shop fitted and balanced them for free. Not the best tyres in the world some folks say, but better than what was available back when Zed's were new, so good enough for the time being. More soon.

Monday Lester Rubber 6 Apr 2020 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[vik351]

got one on the front of the Matic and havent slipped yet     

vik ...

[RAFster122s]

Saw this on RevZilla about Sportster exhausts they are going to test/review...
You have a Sportster, right?

[Terry in Australia]

Saw this on RevZilla about Sportster exhausts they are going to test/review...
You have a Sportster, right?

G'Day David, thanks for that, and coincidentally, the Bassani "Road Rage" pipe that Joe is holding and apparently so impressed with, is the same pipe I installed on my bike in 2016, and I love it. A little too loud and antisocial perhaps, but it really works well with my Mikuni HSR42 mm flat slide carb, and turned my sporty from a lean running wimp into a hotrod, that I still average 63 MPG (imperial gallon) when riding with a modicum of common sense.........

Sunday, bloody Sunday 8 Mar 2020 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I always wanted a Bassani pipe for a CB750 "Back in the day" because they were one of the best pipes out there, but I haven't been able to find one anywhere. If you see one on Ebay or CL etc, let me know?

[Terry in Australia]

got one on the front of the Matic and havent slipped yet     

vik ...

Thanks Vik, I was happy to spring for a more expensive tyre, but couldn't get a "set" of anything in my preferred size at the tyre place, apart from the Stinko's. I've been in a situation before where I've had "mis-matched" tyres on bikes, and it hasn't worked well, so was happy to go with a matched set. I really couldn't get over how cheap they were, I didn't ask until they'd installed them, but $220 (AUD, about $140 USD) for the pair, including fitting and balancing, was a bargain.

When he told me what type they'd be putting on, I did a google search and Lemmy from Revzilla (I think?) actually gave them a very good review, so hopefully they'll be fine, but if not, I'll just put better ones on, we'll see.

[vik351]

Sposed to be Yokahama’s under the shtinko name ,,,???

good enough for what I do...

vik...

[Terry in Australia]

Sposed to be Yokahama’s under the shtinko name ,,,???

good enough for what I do...

vik...

Yep, sort of. Stinko bought Yokohama out many years ago, and the tyres are made in Korea. I haven't had a problem with them yet, but I haven't done a million miles on the ones I had on my Goldwing, and even less on the Swamp Rat, but they seem OK. Any new tyre is better than an old tyre, I've got a new Bridgestone BT45 that's been sitting in my garage for at least 10 years, but for the price of a new stinko, why bother risking life and limb? (having said that, the tyres on my Triumph Rocket III are 13 years old, and still full of English air........

[vik351]

my rear seppo tyre ,tire, is 10 years old now , Jon the pom from Franga where i got the Matic from (US import)said it would soften up ( it was like new, still had the (.V.)’s on it) and it’s been ok so if it aint got dry rot  use it, chuck it in the esky 

vik...

[Terry in Australia]

my rear seppo tyre ,tire, is 10 years old now , Jon the pom from Franga where i got the Matic from (US import)said it would soften up ( it was like new, still had the (.V.)’s on it) and it’s been ok so if it aint got dry rot  use it, chuck it in the esky 

vik...

Yeah, the hardest thing about old tyres that have been sitting for years is they go hard and shrink slightly, and are almost impossible to fit on rims, I got Jeff at Ace Motorcycles do a "strip and fit" for me one time, taking a relatively newish tyre off one wobbly rim and installing it on another one, and it almost killed his tyre machine, and our friendship. I did think about swapping the Michelin Commanders that were on my wobbly spoked rims onto the Henry Abe rims, but for the price the Ebay seller was selling the new Stinko's (3 new tyres and tubes, and fitting/balancing for $450) I really couldn't be bothered.

My brother in law Bruce (RIP, sadly) was a mechanic, and told me that his neighbour would buy new tyres for his car, and save them in his garage loft for a couple of years before fitting them. His theory was that once they go hard they wear a lot slower. I don't know if the theory actually had any merit, Bruce came home from work one day to hear his neighbours wife screaming so he ran into their garage, and found his neighbour had hanged himself from the rafters.

Anyway.......... it's a nice looking day here, so I might finish putting that Lester rear wheel's hub assembly back together, after I check the wheel bearings and re-grease them if they're good. I'm tempted to pull out the Swamp Rat's dead engine and do an autopsy, and see if there's any useable gearbox parts I can swap into my engine, I'm looking forward to taking my K2 bitsa for a ride, and so I might just tip the engine upside down and take the bottom case off, to see what damage lurks within.    

[vik351]

The servo I used to have my petrol etc account with,all the old school mechanics there used to say the same thing about put the tyres under your bed for a year or two...

Now I have retired and have a motorhome I am hearing all this BS if your tyres are more than five years old , regardless of plenty of tread, ya need new ones...

So unless they have changed the compounds WTF...

vik...    

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah, I did an advanced riders course back in the 90's and the instructor was trying to convince us all that we needed to buy new helmets every 5-7 years, because the styrofoam layer between the outer shell and the inner liner degrades over time, and goes rock hard, so if your head goes bouncing down the road, there's nothing to cushion your noggin.

I've checked all my old helmets and the styrofoam liners all seem fairly soft to the touch, so I don't know whether I'm just lucky, or whether he was full of sh1t. Having said that, I bought a new lid recently, just because my head has shrunk since I lost almost half my body weight, so I've gone one size smaller, so all my old helmets will go into the dumpster.

Tyre-wise, bike tyres need to stay soft, or they don't grip so good. I'd ride my 13 year old tyres on my Rocket III today because it's nice and sunny, but not on a wet day, for that reason, it's a big heavy bike, and I don't want to have to pick it up if I drop it. I almost dropped it riding it up the ramp into the 20' shipping container it lives in, and broke the clutch lever off.

[spotty]

Don't go heaving those helmets out just yet, after all your pre Arnie-like physique bike clothes fitted me just fine, the helmets might be the same , I'll have a look anyway
I can always give them matching paint jobs for the bikes ( for those special dress up days )

[RAFster122s]

Was having a discussion with a fellow MC guy who has been riding since he was a kid and was a Honda Master Mechanic. He is an engineer. He was saying there was a huge lawsuit several years back and as a result of that and the lawyers all the auto and MC tire makers adopted the same philosophy that tires had a limited life even before you started seeing dry rot. This is all part of the lawyers doing and there is something to be said for heat cycling and it’s affect on tire grip but it is largely a function of lawyers doing CYA for the tire makers. It is a way to distance themselves from liability and it helps them sell tires. Problem is insurance company lawyers will use it in the US to deny claims or try to weasel out of claims...or even assign blame against you if you were at fault.
There are many reason lawyer jokes are popular and well deserved.
What do you have when you have 12 lawyers buried up their necks in sand?
Clearly....not enough sand!

Fortunately here in southern AZ we won’t have a lack of sand being available...

[spotty]

My first scooter ( a Fuji Heavy Industries Rabbit Superflow 200 ) had 3.5x8 tyres and they were totally unavailable from any motorcycle tyre manafacturer so we had to use wheelbarrow tyres
Picture your average wheelbarrow tyres....yep, they're square profile, not a hint of round
That's before you start thinking about tread pattern, water dispersion, roadholding etc
If you went out on a wet day you fell off, no question
Just as well we didn't have lawyers back in the 80s or someone would have got their arses sued

Another mate found a quite rare vespa with really low miles so we safely assumed the tyres were original fitment from 1964, we tried and failed to cut them with a Stanley knife, absolutely rock hard, roadholding was minimal at best

[dave500]

i just picked up an old dirt bike with road trail tyres on it dated 2004,its an 87 tt600,the tyres have good looking tread and no obvious cracks etc,their mitas brand from checzh,im gonna run em carefully and see?