I am starting a cafe project on a 1978 KZ200. It is for my daughter who is turning 16 in March and will be her first bike. I am new to this site and new to building (which is why I am here). I picked up the bike for $750, it is 100% stock, yet came with a paint job that makes returning it to stock (which my daughter would appreciate) less attractive than striping it down into a cafe racer (which is more fun for me and since I am not an experienced builder it wouldn't be my most expensive mistake...but then again getting married to my now ex-wife will always top that). Later as I share all I will end up doing to this bike you will probably all be shaking your heads as to why I would put such work into a 200cc bike...and i am shaking my head with you all, my best answer right now, because when I was looking for a bike for her there weren't any 400 to 600cc bikes around in the small town I am from and I didn't want to haul anything.
I bought the bike this past summer and other than messing with the carb, jetting, and fouling a few spark plugs, (I think there was some water or bad gas) I have it running relatively decently. However in Flagstaff, AZ at about 7500 ft and in the cold I don't think I am getting the most power out of it. I think it has the stock jets on it.
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Please feel free to make any suggestions on all of these ideas, your knowledge is very welcome
These are my initial thoughts on the project:
1) ditch the side covers and the intake box and put a pod filter on the carb, which I imagine will require me to jet the carb differently; any suggestions on pod filter and jetting kits?
2) make a new battery box that will hold the be centered and hanging from the top of the frame, probably fabricate this, but still try to keep the center of the bike clean. I have thought about batteryless, but not sure if my daughter would appreciate kickstarting the bike all the time.
3) pull all the fenders, I want to make or find a good mini fender for the front and a shorter rear fender for the back with a custom tail light and indicators and maybe even providing a small storage area accessible under the seat.
4) I would love to find a rearset kit that would work well for this bike, this may be a step 2 after she gets more used to riding, I do want to cut the bracket for the driver pegs off the frame something bad, any suggestions as to good bolt on rearsets?
5) I want to keep the original wheels, paint the hubs and spokes and polish the chrome on the rims.
6) the tires i would like to put on the bike will be the Kenda K761 Dual Sport, 110/80-18 front, 120/90/17 on the rear, I have to double check to see that the stock rims will hold these, I am pretty sure that the front will fit without the fender, but not sure about the rear. I am also wondering if a 1978 KZ650 or KZ750 swing arm would bolt right on the KZ200 frame, and by doing so give enough room for this rear tire; the width of the frame where the KZ200 swing arm bolts on is 8 1/4 inches, I am also worried about the torque link for the rear break rubbing on the wider tire, if just that I am wondering about modifying that.
7) ditch the old seat and fab a new one that is thinner more cafe, matched to the frame, rising some in the back and locking somewhere towards the back with a helmet lock.
8) I would like to lower the bike some as my daughter isn't too tall, with the front I think it would look rad if the fork tubes stuck out just far enough for some clip-ons.
9) I would like to ditch the tach, and center mount the speedo and mount the dummy lights somewhere else like
where the handlebar holders were, I saw this on a KZ cafe racer on here.
10) maybe a new headlight and maybe some aftermarket front blinkers, but I would rather not have any on the front, definitely new headlight brackets as this bike was dropped once and one of the brackets are bent causing the headlight to sit off center.
11) Naturally I am going to paint everything, I will check into the cost of powder coating the frame as opposed to painting it will an epoxy myself. I want the lower forks, frame, and most of the engine black, I will try to polish many of the covers and caps to see if I can get a good two tone thing going on the engine. I would rather just polish the gas tank than paint it, but my daughter loves the orange copper color it is. I may paint just the muffler and wrap the pipes or paint both.
12)I am not going to rebuild the engine, mostly because I am not a skilled mechanic, but really it is running fine. There is a small oil leak on the front side between the head and cylinder, so I will probably replace the head gasket.
In all I hope to make a really cool looking custom cafe that is light and not too fast for my daughter, for her to use to get to and from school in style and occasionally cruise around with her dad, but most importantly to always be the kind of lady that would ride along side some guy rather than on the back of his bike.
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