TOPIC:

I have a repair manual that came with my '81 KZ750 that says basically all have air forks...but I cant find any sign of an air fitting anywhere on the forks on mine... I thought they were the original forks... did some NOT come with air forks and the Clymer book is wrong?

Thanks

I have a set of 82 KZ1100 air forks (that I am selling)
on the ones I have (that are for sale) the air fitting was on top of the fork toob on the left hand side dead center.
Did I mention I have a set of forks for sale:pinch:

If you have original forks, then you should have an air fitting on them...it was standard for the early 750(4) models.

Have been doing some searching...
I've come to the conclusion this does NOT have the original forks... I was taking pictures with my digital to upload here for help in IDing them, and the flash light up some lettering on the underside that wasnt visible in the daylight (they are nearly worn off)... I used a bright flashlight and the letters still reflect... they are labeled "Forking by Frank".

Which makes me wonder, why would someone have changed the forks? Are non-air better than the air? (I've never owned an air forkbike, so I dont know what advantages there would be other than adjustable ride).

Also makes me curious as to what else isnt original... The previous owner had claimed to be the 2nd owner,said he knew the first owner, and the bike was original, and had only been down the one time when it fell off the kickstand when he was working on it (apparently he didnt use the center stand, just the kickstand, and pushed it off of it while working on the clutch ) which gave it the dent in the tank... I have found another small dent on the other side of the tank, the headlight ring has what looks like a little road rash, and the left 'wing' of the windshield that deflects air from the handgrips has a patch of pretty good scratches. Looks tome like its been down probably 3 times, none look serious,likely slow speed or kickstand drops,but still, it doesnt match his "once in its history" comment..
Doesnt affect the way I feelabout it though, just curious as to what else I may find poking around!

Here are a couple pics of the forks



Close up of whats left of the stamp

I have the same bike as yours (purchased new). It came with air charged forks. They do not hold air now, so I'll be working on that little problem soon. I'm told that the seals are the likely culprit, so I ordered some.

Recently cleaned out and synced the carbs. Runs perfectly. KZR members were quite helpfull!

Well Scott, most people pay good money to be 'forked by Frank' . Those aftermarket forks tubes might have been the result of two things: (1) an accident where the tubes were bent and the PO was able to pick up aftermarket tubes cheaper than OEM tubes OR (2) the PO wanted to customize his bike by installing an extended front end (= longer fork tubes). Measure the tubes to determine if you have 'over-length' tubes. Looks like you will have to dis-assemble anyway to replace both fork seals:unsure: . Since the leaks appear to be bad, you also might want to measure the diameter of those fork tubes to make sure they match OEM specs.

If you have additional photos of your bike, you may want to post them and I'm sure forum members will gladly tell you what bits of your bike are or are not OEM. Just from the few photos it appears (for an E model) that those are non-standard extended handlebars (and by default, control cables).

I had a set of air forks on my my z650 and found the air leaked out in a short time. That ment that the feel of the front end changed from ride to ride. I blocked the holes off and did with out using a heavier weight oil

are there other bikee models with air ajusted forks?

Mcdroid wrote:

Well Scott, most people pay good money to be 'forked by Frank' . Those aftermarket forks tubes might have been the result of two things: (1) an accident where the tubes were bent and the PO was able to pick up aftermarket tubes cheaper than OEM tubes OR (2) the PO wanted to customize his bike by installing an extended front end (= longer fork tubes). Measure the tubes to determine if you have 'over-length' tubes. Looks like you will have to dis-assemble anyway to replace both fork seals:unsure: . Since the leaks appear to be bad, you also might want to measure the diameter of those fork tubes to make sure they match OEM specs.

If you have additional photos of your bike, you may want to post them and I'm sure forum members will gladly tell you what bits of your bike are or are not OEM. Just from the few photos it appears (for an E model) that those are non-standard extended handlebars (and by default, control cables).

I'm thinking someone was doing a customizing job on the bike. They seem to have been blacking out parts of it also... Things that probably came chrome or 'bright' have been changed to black. Exhaust, mirrors, bottom fork tubes, parts of the engine, a few other things, most other KZ's I've seen dont have black on those parts. They put a K&N pod air cleaner set with the chrome on it, it looks like they were going to go black out with chrome, almost like some of the newer cruisers or something. When I took the windshield off over the weekend to try cleaning it up real good and remounting it, two of the bolts on it have been painted with black paint, very think paint.

It doesnt actually seem to be leaking from the forks, In the photo, the dark on the tubes just above the seal area is from the camera flash. The tubes in that section are still polished from sliding action, the rest of the forks are completly dirty/dull (aka not shiney at all anymore, havent been cleaned in who knows when). The shiney area showed up as darker (looks wet) in the picture...Went back out and checked again this morning,the fork tubes are 100% dry (just a little dusty).
Actually there doesnt seem to be any (major enough to find so far) leaks anywhere on it, which surprises me... I've put a little under 100 miles on it since I got it about a week or two ago, almost 80 of those last Saturday, and so far nothing leaking anywhere.

I'll try and get some good pictures of the whole bike and post some up. We have a forecast of 60% chance of rain the next couple evenings, so I'llneed a good project anyway since I wont be out riding after work...

del

Here's the photo from the Kawasaki manual for the 1980 E1, should be the same for your '81.