TOPIC:

Hello. This is a KZ200 with 2300 miles on it that has been sitting for the past 20 years. It was my mother's before she stopped riding it, and it is my first motorcycle. I've been working on trying to get it running. My goal is to get it into pretty good shape to use as a commuting bike. I've never undertaken a vehicle-oriented mechanical task like this before, so I'm learning as I go. I'm glad this thing only has one cylinder and one carb. I've rebuilt the carb with new parts, taken apart the cylinder head and piston. I have new rings to put on the piston because I wasn't getting good compression with the kickstarter before I took it apart. There was a good deal of carbon in the combustion chamber. I'm waiting on a gasket set to replace gaskets and reassemble the engine. I need to open the crank case and replace the oil filter and oil. I also replaced the oil in the front forks. The gas tank had some varnish built up in it, but wasn't in terrible shape. I used a POR-15 cycle tank kit and it looks pretty good to my inexperienced eye.

I have a couple questions that someone here might be able to answer. Tires for starters -- I will be replacing them. What style or type should I be looking for? The carb boots are pretty deteriorated. Could I find new ones somewhere and is this important to do? The chain looks OK, but should I replace it? The aluminum parts of the bike all have a layer of aluminum oxide or whatever the aluminum turns into when it rusts. This gives a dull appearance to the engine and other parts. Should I bother trying to make it shiny, and if so, how should I go about doing so? On the chrome and steel parts, I'm having good success getting rid of the rust, albeit with some pitting left behind. Down the road, I might want to put some luggage on the back. What kind should I look at? Do I need to do anything with cables like the clutch cable or the front brake cable? Are the front forks going to need any work besides replacing the oil, which I already did?





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Post edited by: Romulux, at: 2006/07/23 18:46

Romulux wrote:

...I have a couple questions that someone here might be able to answer. Tires for starters -- I will be replacing them. What style or type should I be looking for? The carb boots are pretty deteriorated. Could I find new ones somewhere and is this important to do? The chain looks OK, but should I replace it? The aluminum parts of the bike all have a layer of aluminum oxide or whatever the aluminum turns into when it rusts. This gives a dull appearance to the engine and other parts. Should I bother trying to make it shiny, and if so, how should I go about doing so? On the chrome and steel parts, I'm having good success getting rid of the rust, albeit with some pitting left behind. Down the road, I might want to put some luggage on the back. What kind should I look at? Do I need to do anything with cables like the clutch cable or the front brake cable? Are the front forks going to need any work besides replacing the oil, which I already did?

Tires - I reccommend you cheap for starters. like ChengShin or something - be sure youre *in to* it before yo udump a bunch o' dough.
Carb boot - yep, you don't want air getting in there. Well, you know what I mean. You can replace the carb manifold if it's cracked, or you can slather a buch of black silicone on it for now. The "boot" to the airbod should be soft and pliable with no cracks. Look on eBay for those...
Chain - Jeez, those are such low miles, the chains is probably fine as long as it's not rusty.
Cleaning - I'm no expert there, but do a search. There's been quite a bit discussed on this topic.
Cables - Again, really low miles. You can probably just lube them thoroughly and be fine, but give them a good look-over.
Another note - the fork tubes look pitted in the pictures. If so, the seals will be bad after you first few bupms, and the oil you just put in will start coming out...

mothers aluminum polish works great

I would check ebay and other places for the forks. You will never get them to look great. My idea with forks is if they are pitted get rid of them. You can always find a better set. I would also get rid of the bars with a stock set and the headlight ears. Some things you might never find you should rechrome as time and money allows. But, if you can find good replacements for cheap go for it. With a bike like that I would try to use OEM parts as much as possible. You can try some Turtle wax chrome polish. It works pretty good. As for the motor, try a Dremmel tool with the little wire wheel and get a few of the biggest ones they make. It will take a while but they do a good job. Looks like a good bike. I have always wanted one of those and kick myself for not buying the one I found last year. Good luck and keep it all original. (That one was for Ron)