New bike, Choppy, Chop, Chop
Discussion
Following on from my "bike with no indicators" thread here is the Z650 Chopper i bought, really pleased with it so far, bit of a departure from my Gen 1 Hayabusa and GSXR600. Sorted insurance yesterday (which was surprisingly easy) so going to try it round the block later. Going to change the headlight as i think the one on it is more suited to a Streetfighter, will be a round bottom mount 5 or 6" chrome light, also will tidy up the battery cable, removed the front guard for now as it looked like it was on backwards to me ?, also paint is rubbish, will need redone, maybe Metalflake black, blue or red.
The sports bike/touring gear i had didn't really suit it so i got a Richa armoured lumberjack shirt, armoured jeans and brown leather gloves
One thing i was going to ask about is the fork lowers (sliders), seller said they are Kawasaki 650 CSR, i'm not so sure ?, these look different so if anyone recognises them as something else let me know as the fork seals will need doing eventually.
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/dDDsbUR6[/url][url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/SMK4zGrU[/url][url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/Upa9iXwY[/url][url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/LeCiNwSM[/url][url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/y62SM1Lx[/url]
The sports bike/touring gear i had didn't really suit it so i got a Richa armoured lumberjack shirt, armoured jeans and brown leather gloves
One thing i was going to ask about is the fork lowers (sliders), seller said they are Kawasaki 650 CSR, i'm not so sure ?, these look different so if anyone recognises them as something else let me know as the fork seals will need doing eventually.
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/dDDsbUR6[/url][url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/SMK4zGrU[/url][url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/Upa9iXwY[/url][url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/LeCiNwSM[/url][url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/y62SM1Lx[/url]
Edited by Markgenesis on Tuesday 19th July 09:49
Looks like a nice job... so many get the lines so wrong when building a a chop. That looks lovely (agree with the comments about the light, but that's just details, it's the stance that's important). Hope you enjoy your first ride - it'll be a bit of a shock to the system. I love hardtail chops, covered a huge amount of miles on them, and have owned and ridden plenty of performance bikes as well - they just take a somewhat different mindset... and try to look ahead and avoid potholes and traffic calming, if you can. All the best with it, hope you enjoy...
Cheers guys.
The Yolks are custom so in practice they could have used any legs.
The guy was certain they are CSR so probably right.
Never thought about just measuring the seals, cheers for that.
gareth_r said:
They look like CSR forks to me, but I'm by no means an expert on old Japanese factory customs. You can always buy the fork seals by the dimensions - inner diameter, outer diameter, thickness - so that won't be a problem
The axle clamp and the milled out bits at the top were throwing me, also the caliper is a Kawasaki one but it's on an adaptor plate but then the caliper is KZ650.The Yolks are custom so in practice they could have used any legs.
The guy was certain they are CSR so probably right.
Never thought about just measuring the seals, cheers for that.
Markgenesis said:
Cheers guys.
The Yolks are custom so in practice they could have used any legs.
The guy was certain they are CSR so probably right.
Never thought about just measuring the seals, cheers for that.
Actually, looking at your pics and photos of CSRs, they may not be the same. Perhaps motocross forks?gareth_r said:
They look like CSR forks to me, but I'm by no means an expert on old Japanese factory customs. You can always buy the fork seals by the dimensions - inner diameter, outer diameter, thickness - so that won't be a problem
The axle clamp and the milled out bits at the top were throwing me, also the caliper is a Kawasaki one but it's on an adaptor plate but then the caliper is KZ650.The Yolks are custom so in practice they could have used any legs.
The guy was certain they are CSR so probably right.
Never thought about just measuring the seals, cheers for that.
gareth_r said:
Actually, looking at your pics and photos of CSRs, they may not be the same. Perhaps motocross forks?
Possible, the CSR forks look a lot plainer compared to mine, and the axle clamp on mine is a four bolt plate, CSR is just a single pinch bolt (looks like ?) maybe suggests a stronger MX axle ?Markgenesis said:
gareth_r said:
Actually, looking at your pics and photos of CSRs, they may not be the same. Perhaps motocross forks?
Possible, the CSR forks look a lot plainer compared to mine, and the axle clamp on mine is a four bolt plate, CSR is just a single pinch bolt (looks like ?) maybe suggests a stronger MX axle ?Bit of progress/change, swapped the headlight for a 6" round "bates" style light, cut the front guard down. With a new twistknot wire brush in the 4.5" grinder i stripped the paint off, bare metaled and clear laquered the bike for now, will get it painted (maybe next year), quite like it the way it is though.
Did away with the rear rack (i liked it too) as it was stopping the springs on the seat working.
Had it round the local streets, rides well (for a chop), sounds great, starts first kick and runs like a champ.
Old school, hard tail chops do take a bit of getting used to, the first time I rode mine I grounded the pegs and as they were solid, it picked the back wheel up... made for an interesting ride especially with just a slither of foam for a seat !
(XBD117W where is it? Been off the road since I sold it in 2004 !)
(XBD117W where is it? Been off the road since I sold it in 2004 !)
The forks look very much like my XR400 ones. Maybe not that model but could be any XR/CRM possibly CR if they have compression/rebound damping adjusters.
The fork gaiters cover all the milled bit and are clipped into the Grove below that area.
The fork gaiters cover all the milled bit and are clipped into the Grove below that area.
Edited by graham22 on Sunday 31st July 15:28
Cheers guys, the sissy bar and plate are staying for now, not sure if i'm keen on a side mount plate and the sissy bar is handy for pushing the bike about.
graham22 said:
The forks look very much like my XR400 ones. Maybe not that model but could be any XR/CRM possibly CR if they have compression/rebound damping adjusters.
The fork gaiters cover all the milled bit and are clipped into the Grove below that area.
Cheers for that, they don't have adjusters so must be the basic ones, one thing i did notice is the forks seem very soft, probably due to the heavier weight of the bike (compared to a crosser), so maybe thinking about stiffer springs which will also mean new seals. The fork gaiters cover all the milled bit and are clipped into the Grove below that area.
Edited by graham22 on Sunday 31st July 15:28
hiccy18 said:
Looking better for your attentions, well done sir! Bin the sissy bar and sidemount the light and plate to clean up the rear end imo.
As always, IMO, but...a side mount might look OK with a tiny US plate mounted vertically (although not to me ), but it definitely looks awful with an enormous, yellow, UK excrescence sticking out about a foot from the side of the bike.
gareth_r said:
As always, IMO, but...
a side mount might look OK with a tiny US plate mounted vertically (although not to me ), but it definitely looks awful with an enormous, yellow, UK excrescence sticking out about a foot from the side of the bike.
I'm not a big fan of side mount plates myself, but I think hardtail chops suit them, BUT it's not my bike and more power to the OP's elbow.a side mount might look OK with a tiny US plate mounted vertically (although not to me ), but it definitely looks awful with an enormous, yellow, UK excrescence sticking out about a foot from the side of the bike.
Nice to see a tidy chop on here.
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