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

[seanbarney41]

Terry, is your rear wheel 18"?

[Terry in Australia]

G'Day Sean, yeah mate, it's an 18" Kawasaki wheel, probably from a 650 I liked it because it wasn't the fat 16 incher that came on the 1000's?

[seanbarney41]

G'Day Sean, yeah mate, it's an 18" Kawasaki wheel, probably from a 650 I liked it because it wasn't the fat 16 incher that came on the 1000's?

jealous...gonna have to find one for mine, because mine has the fat 16 incher lol

[Terry in Australia]

Oops! Sorry mate, but I was lucky, I found that wheel for like 80 bucks including postage, and luckily all the 1000 stuff I bought bolted right on. Still not sure if the chain will line up, I eyeballed it after drinking a bottle of my home brewed Ginger Beer, and I have a distinct feeling that my eyeballs were slightly out of calibration.........

[Terry in Australia]

What motorcycle restoration/service task do you hate the most? There's a thread here somewhere about how much time you spend riding or wrenching, and what you prefer, but one thing I really, really hate, is rebuilding forks. Fork damper retaining bolts that don't want to come out, fork seals rusted/corroded in place, leaking washers, fork oil not burping down, you name it, it always happens to me, and I hate it.

I realised that the PO had stripped the paint off, and polished, the top triple. Of course by now it was starting to corrode, and so I decided to paint it.

Monday Zed Madness 13 Jan 2020 a by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

It was (still is) a hot day today, but to hurry things along, I painted the top triple and handlebar clamps and warmed them in my industrial oven @ 100 deg C, while I quickly (ha ha.........) replaced the fork seals. I mentioned earlier that the PO had lopped off the fender mounts, so I'd bought two new lowers from a FB seller. I had to pull the stanchions out of the forks from my bike, install new seals in the alloy lowers I bought, and marry them, then oil 'em up, and install them on the bike.

First problem I had was the fork damper retaining bolt that didn't want to come out. The standard procedure for removing the allen head bolt is to use your rattle gun to shock it out. That didn't work, it stayed in the damper rod and just spun, uselessly. I tried the "sharpened broom handle up the fork tube" method, also to no avail. Fcuk it, I can't use the alloy fork lowers that have been butchered anyway, so I took the bandsaw to it.

Monday Zed Madness 13 Jan 2020 b by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

This allowed me to put a small screwdriver through one of the holes in the damper tube, and cranking on the bolt. Piece of cake. I must have frightened the other leg, as the bolt came straight out. I then removed/replaced the fork seals (what a PITA!!!!!!) the top metal ring, and wire clip. I tipped in 327cc's of fork oil, and fcuk me, the right leg dripped fork out past the new copper washer. WTF? I tipped the oil out, and removed the screw. (eventually) This time I used a Harley brake banjo washer that I machined down to fir in the fork leg, and to my surprise, when I re-oiled it, no leaks!

The fork seals came with new fork slider dust seals, but for some reason, they were too short? I ended up using the old cracked ones. They'll do until I swap out the front and rear ends. Anyway, I installed new repro Z1 handlebars and fender. Really nice quality, and the Z1/Z1000 front fender is still the sexiest front fender put on a bike in the 1970's.

Monday Zed Madness 13 Jan 2020 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

So I got the wheel on, then went looking for a side stand. Oops, I don't own a side stand, bugger! I had to re-fit the home made alloy stand until I can buy a side stand on Ebay. I loosely installed headlight brackets, and the battery box, and called it a day. all in all I'm really happy, even though it's early days, this is the closest it's looked like a real motorcycle since I bought it back in 2018. I'm getting excited, I've almost run out of used parts to install, so I'm always a happy camper when I can start installing new parts. More tomorrow......  

Monday Zed Madness 13 Jan 2020 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[spotty]

My god, where will this madness end ?

[Terry in Australia]

Well I have to trudge back to work at the old salt mine on Thursday Spotty, so that'll slow down the madness, but the madness will continue until I'm riding down the road. I just realised that I haven't been for a ride in 2020 yet, which is a bummer, but hopefully I'll be riding the big Zed before too long.

[PeWe]

Nice Garage pic Terry!
My garage is a real mess I always have in my mind to  make order in.

Good to know that there are others with same kind of garage, place for bikes and the work with them.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks Per, and please excuse my garbage pile, I've been doing some clean-up work of late, and I have more rubbish than I can fit in my bins. Oh well.........

Wow, where has the last 5 weeks gone? It feels only like yesterday that I started my Christmas holidays. And now sadly, it's Wednesday the 15th of January, and tomorrow I have to go back to work. I fcuking hate work. Seriously, it's the best paid job I've ever had, and yet, the thought of getting up at 5am to stagger off to work tomorrow, sh1ts me to tears. I'm hoping that the DVA (VA in the US) will pension me off this year, but if not, in around 12 months time, I'll be having the same miserable thoughts........... 

Anyway, enough self pity, I'm sure that someone here will tell me that if I'm looking for sympathy, I should look in the dictionary, between "sh1t" and "syphilis"......... So more importantly, what the fcuk is happening with the big Zed? Have I finished it yet? Has it been consumed in a bushfire? WTF?? No, dear reader, it is alive and well, I've just been wasting time doing stuff that will make for a better experience, in the long run.

Yesterday was a fizzer. I only managed to install the chain (which appears to line up, woohoo!) and then I became bogged down with the rear brakes. The rear master cylinder was purchased from a FB guy in the US, and basically, it's buggared. I didn't realise this until I'd spent all day machining up a clevis so that I could adapt a Honda pushrod to the MC. What a waste of a day.

Today was my last day of freedom before returning to work tomorrow, so I was determined to make up for lost time, and get at least the front brakes installed. I looked at the stock calipers, and was immediately depressed again. Big heavy useless single puck calipers, about as useless as stock CB750 calipers, but with better discs, at least. I was gonna have to clean them, rebuild them, paint them, find a couple of useable hoses, find some bolts to mount the second caliper to the forks, and bolt everything together, bleed them, for "adequate" stopping power. Fcuk that.

When I bought the Yamaha XS650, one of the "extras" that came with it were a pair of Brembo 4 piston calipers. Fitting 4 piston calipers to older bikes is a real hassle usually because the angle of the spokes leaves insufficient room for the width of the inboard 2 pistons, but as this bike is fitted with mag wheels, I wondered? I dummy fit a caliper on one of the brake rotors, and just slid it around the disc, and was excited to see that it missed the "spokes" by 2 or 3 millimeters. Heaps!

I first made a cardboard template, then an aluminium one, then a better one, and I finally ended up with this.

Wednesday Zed denial 15 Jan 2020 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Not perfect, and I may re-do them later, but good enough for a test ride once I buy some new mounting hardware and give it a cleanup. I made another one for the other side, and called it good.

Wednesday Zed denial 15 Jan 2020 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

By the time I'd finished I was knackered. It had peaked at 38 deg C here (100 deg F) and it was probably another 4 or 5 degrees inside my steel garage. I cleaned up my mess, put Tim's Royal Enfield back into the garage, and moved the big Zed (Zee) into the patio, as the rain was on it's way. I wolfed down a Ginger Kid and waddled into the shower. By the time I came back out, it was pissing down rain, and the temps had dropped  20 deg C. I sat out in the patio as rain came in sideways, luckily enough, not reaching me, or the bike.

Wednesday Zed denial 15 Jan 2020 6 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I thumbed my nose at Mother Nature, and prayed that some of this deluge makes it's way to the firegrounds to our East. They haven't yet, but hopefully later tonight. I have to get up at 5, so I'll bid you all a good night.        

[seanbarney41]

Terry, those big single pucks may look as bad as a cb750, but they do work much better.  My kz650 with the same brakes would do stoppies with 2 fingers.  But hey!  Brembos 4 puck should be great.

[PeWe]

I'm 2 weeks off work, started this week.
The only reason to go back home next week is my 2 bikes!
(Except for my job making $$)

[Terry in Australia]

Terry, those big single pucks may look as bad as a cb750, but they do work much better.  My kz650 with the same brakes would do stoppies with 2 fingers.  But hey!  Brembos 4 puck should be great.

Thanks Sean, well the last time I rode a big air cooled Kawasaki was my Z900 that I sold to buy my first Harley Sportster (I miss them both) back in 1987, so my memory is that yes, the Kawa brakes were better on my Z900 than on my CB750K1 that I'd sold to buy the Kawasaki, but at the time my mate Peter had a Moto Guzzi 850T3 that he'd hotted up with a 1000cc kit, Dr John cams and pipe, 8mm Dellorto carbs on LM1 heads etc, and back then we'd race each other and swap bikes etc, and I remember getting off the Kawasaki for the first time and jumping on his Guzzi, and almost flying over the handlebars the first time I grabbed the brakes with the same enthusiasm as I had to on the Kawasaki, just to wash off some speed.

I had the same problem on NYE when I blew the gearbox on my K2 bitsa, when I got home (in a tow truck) I took my son Tim's new Royal Enfield 650 for a quick lap around the block, and grabbed the front brake as hard as I had on my 750, and almost threw myself down the road. While the Kawasaki brakes are "Adequate", the Brembo's are "Superb".

[Terry in Australia]

I'm 2 weeks off work, started this week.
The only reason to go back home next week is my 2 bikes!
(Except for my job making $$)

That looks superb Per, where are you?

[spotty]

Terry, those big single pucks may look as bad as a cb750, but they do work much better.  My kz650 with the same brakes would do stoppies with 2 fingers.  But hey!  Brembos 4 puck should be great.

Thanks Sean, well the last time I rode a big air cooled Kawasaki was my Z900 that I sold to buy my first Harley Sportster (I miss them both) back in 1987, so my memory is that yes, the Kawa brakes were better on my Z900 than on my CB750K1 that I'd sold to buy the Kawasaki, but at the time my mate Peter had a Moto Guzzi 850T3 that he'd hotted up with a 1000cc kit, Dr John cams and pipe, 8mm Dellorto carbs on LM1 heads etc, and back then we'd race each other and swap bikes etc, and I remember getting off the Kawasaki for the first time and jumping on his Guzzi, and almost flying over the handlebars the first time I grabbed the brakes with the same enthusiasm as I had to on the Kawasaki, just to wash off some speed.

I had the same problem on NYE when I blew the gearbox on my K2 bitsa, when I got home (in a tow truck) I took my son Tim's new Royal Enfield 650 for a quick lap around the block, and grabbed the front brake as hard as I had on my 750, and almost threw myself down the road. While the Kawasaki brakes are "Adequate", the Brembo's are "Superb".

i still fondly remember riding my mates guzzi Cali II ( pretty much the same as the T3 ) that had linked brembos, you could hit the brakes hard in any situation and it'd just settle down onto the road and haul itself to a stop in a very civilised manner

having said that it used to go through genuine brake pads like they were made of cheese, well worth the expense for the piece of mind

and the noise it'd make when you backed off the throttle was awesome too, sounded like a truck up yer arse

oh and the handling too , and the comfort and other stuff

i know where theres one been sitting in a shed for the last 15 years, maybe one day i'll get my hands on it

[PeWe]

Tenerife, one of the 7 Canarian Islands.  Puerto de la Cruze a beautiful green city with everything needed.
Perfect climate all year around.

My bikes would love to be driven here

[web]

IMO the best brakes are not the ones that throw you over the bars at the slightest touch of your pinky finger, but rather the ones that are the easiest and most intuitive to modulate anywhere from nil to maximum braking. Period!

(Because these are also the least likely to send you into a tumble on wet roads )

So I kinda like a bit of feedback, actually.

[spotty]

i think the issue under discussion is what you're not used to

i've gone from stock everything on the vmax through many upgrades to full 'busa brakes so i've slowly adapted to what would indeed chuck me over the bars if i'd gone straight to them but getting onto a new bike or someone elses toy can be a surprise, even though to them those brakes are perfectly modulatable

having said that i seek a rock solid lever that to many others feels like squeezing a block of wood, suits me though

[web]

Definitely a matter of getting used to if you ride the same bike every day. However if you have one for every day of the week and then some to spare like Mr. Ginger Joe's here... I guess at some point intuitiveness starts to matter

That too, is trained of course.

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, what's interesting for me is almost like "muscle memory", once I'm on a particular bike I can quickly adapt to it. One of the things that used to bug me with my K series BMW's or my Harley (my Evo, not my Ironhead) was the blinker switches being different (left switchblock to turn left, right switchblock to turn right) but now I can just hop on one and I pretty much immediately adapt to whatever I'm riding, so I jump off the Harley (with the excellent PM 4 pot caliper I adapted a couple of years ago) and onto my CB750 (with it's pathetically weak single puck OEM front caliper) and I make sure I've got a lot more room to slow down. Maybe that "muscle memory" should be renamed "sphincter memory"?

What made me laugh a few years ago was a young guy I met who'd been brought up on modern bikes, who'd gone the "Cafe Racer" route and bought a CB500 or 500 (can't remember which) who thought that there was actually something wrong with the OEM brakes on his bike because they took so long to pull him up from "the ton". I'm sure he didn't believe me when I told him that there was actually nothing wrong with his brakes, "They all do that"..............

[PeWe]

Dual CB750 stock front brakes work really fine even after 100mph.
As a motorcycle rider you must be able to plan your route and predict what will happen next. Understanding all idiots in cars that suddenly will cross your lane or doing a quick sudden turn, your life will hang on NOT twisting throttle and pass that car.

Very seldom my safety has been based on the brakes.

[web]

Oh man, don't mention BMW K series. Overrated bike if there ever was one.
Had one for a bit, but could never get used to certain buttons being juuuuust out of finger range on the switchblock. Always had to twist and turn my wrists or fingers in impossible angles to reach stuff, even after adjusting the switchblocks up a bit.

Recently they went more towards Japanese ergonomics, but it took them a while to figure out theirs sucked, because people just kept buying them 

Never had a bike where the brakes truly sucked though, buuuut I haven't gotten to ride either of my sohc/4's yet    Winter is my excuse... and I'm sticking to it

[PeWe]

I forgot to mention that stock CB750 K0-K6 brakes really sucks. OK to max 100kmh, probablt less. I'm sure I have my driving style after that

[PeWe]

Terry, if you are lucky Kawasaki will sell parts for your bike.
Here new heads to Z1
https://japan.webike.net/moto_news/kawasaki-resale-cylinder-heads-for-z2-z1/?utm_source=webikestyle&utm_medium=motonews_eu&utm_campaign=20200118

[Terry in Australia]

Dual CB750 stock front brakes work really fine even after 100mph.
As a motorcycle rider you must be able to plan your route and predict what will happen next. Understanding all idiots in cars that suddenly will cross your lane or doing a quick sudden turn, your life will hang on NOT twisting throttle and pass that car.

Very seldom my safety has been based on the brakes.

Thanks Per, over here on my favourite roads good brakes are really important for staying alive, mostly due to the wildlife trying to commit "suicide by motorcycle", or my own blase riding style, where I tend to ride as fast as I can on roads I've never previously ridden, to suddenly find a 20 MPH corner when I'm doing the ton. (often) Twin discs and stock calipers on a CB750 are certainly an improvement, but the big Zed will be punching out more than twice the rear wheel horsepower of a CB750, and a hotrod bike needs really good brakes, not just OK brakes.

I'm still trying to decide whether I need to invest in some Berringer brakes for my K2 bitsa like Don (Cafe Racer Fan) has on his bike, they look magnificent, and I'm sure they're worth that hefty price tag, especially on a hotrod. It's just a pity that the fork design doesn't lend itself to adapting better brake calipers that are readily available on Ebay, like the Kawasaki forks do. 

I've only owned 3 K series BMW's, the newest was a 1992 K1100LT, so none of mine had switchblocks that were difficult to operate, and same/same for my R1100GS that I (sadly) sold in 2018, I'm still kicking myself for selling it, it was almost the perfect bike. My current K series bike (1989 K100RS SE) has only very basic switchgear, and of course, I don't have Donald Trump sized hands, so no problems there, I must pull it out of storage and ride it, I haven't even sat on it since 2015?

OK, another beautiful day here, the rain here washed all the smoke from the fires away, so I need to decide whether I should be riding, or wrenching? I'll have to think about it some more........    

[Tintop]

Glad to hear the rain has had a positive effect Terry.  That smoke isn't good for the lungs long term.