Topic: 1977 Kawasaki KZ1000 LTD

[MauiK3]

Nice shocks!

[Kelly E]

I've been riding the KZ 1000LTD now and it's a great bike. We had to put a clutch in it last week. We also changed the clutch springs, the original set were all .5mm too short. All the new parts are Vesrah, standard frictions and heavy duty springs. The lever pull is only a little bit harder but not enough to be even noticed after a while.
It's already my favorite bike to ride. The new RS 34 carbs work great, it starts easily and pulls hard throughout the range. Paul and I had fun riding it with the 80' Suzuki GS 1100E. It was a pretty even match with the weight difference between us. We got a lot of comments whenever we stopped.

[Stev-o]

Great looking bike!  When I had one, I also thought it was a joy to ride...

[RAFster122s]

It's kind of no longer a 1000LTD with your mods...great looking bike. Glad you are enjoying it.

[Kelly E]

It's kind of no longer a 1000LTD with your mods...great looking bike. Glad you are enjoying it.

It's definitely still an LTD, just a better one. It's still got a stepped seat, the bars aren't as tall as stock but fit me better. It came new with a Kerker(dealer option) and still has a 4 into 1, but the carbs have been replaced and so have the shocks but they are the same length. It has the original bodywork, still has the original 16" rear wheel and the motor is stock.
If I changed to the bigger gas tank, get rid of a front brake, change the headlight and front turn signal mounts, change to spoke wheels, change the rear brake from disc to drum and install the A model banana seat then yeah it's not an LTD anymore.

[Kelly E]

Today we installed the new lighter weight springs. We replaced 90/130 springs for 70/120 springs but they sent 75/120 springs. The bridge abutment type of bumps aren't harsh and hard anymore, but it is still a little firm. We ordered 70/120 springs so on Monday we'll send a message to find out what happened to the correct springs. Who knows maybe the other weight springs aren't available. Progressive was out and we got them from C&J Cycles.

[grcamna2]

Today we installed the new lighter weight springs. We replaced 90/130 springs for 70/120 springs but they sent 75/120 springs. The bridge abutment type of bumps aren't harsh and hard anymore, but it is still a little firm. We ordered 70/120 springs so on Monday we'll send a message to find out what happened to the correct springs. Who knows maybe the other weight springs aren't available. Progressive was out and we got them from C&J Cycles.

We need better companies here to offer different rate springs('Just Springs' an idea for a new supplier name !)in measured sizes and different spring rates,so you can mix and match spring rates on all different types of shocks.
The suspension companies aren't much on this;they would rather just Sell shocks and not deal with customers..

I should have put this in the Pissed-Off thread because this issue has Always Pissed Me Off.

[denward17]

Great looking bike Kelly, good job on making it a runner.

[Mark1976]

There's one on ebay, looks like the sister to yours, located in w. Palm beach fla.

[Kelly E]

I was never happy with the mirrors, one was stock and one was a repop. The repop was blurry at anything over 3k rpm and stock wasn't much better. The other day I was cleaning up 78' KL 250 parts and it hit me, the enduro won't need mirrors for a couple of years so I put them on the 77' KZ 1000. They work great and look right, the boy can buy his own mirrors when he gets his MC endorsement.

[BenelliSEI]

Brilliant!