AUTO WORLD BIKERS

It there anything you can't do with these thumpers? From Frank Naaykens Speed Dealer customs Joplin,mo.

Hello, Just sending you a photo of my bike. Just took it out of storage from 13 years ago. It looked like this when I put it away It is a 1983 KZ1000R2

www.kz1000r.com for bike of the months photos.

You've got a GREAT storage room there Chuck! Thanks for the pics!

To me a bike that doesn't need to be worked on or"fixed up" is of no use.
I bought this one from a guy whose house burned and the bike was kinda sitting out in the drive for a long time. I was visiting my friends shop, Monster M4 Suzuki one day and I stopped and left a card with my name on it for the owner to call if it was for sale.
Sixty dollars later it was sittin in the garage. now what I thought. it was a total junk yard dog. There was decent compression so it HAD to run, right?
The points had been clubbed to death with a dull hatchet but what the heck. Thanks to my cost+10 deal I have at a friends shop/salvage yard it was sparken. About 40 dollars worth of cleaning supplies and a LARGE hand full of quarters fed into the car wash it was clean enough to actually start screwin with. Tapered steering stem bearings, a doner battery, a seat unit and an OLD pair of clubmans I had been saving for 20 years, this and that I scrounged from my goodies and a few pieces from the salvage yard...
I stripped the tank and sealed it with the very effective Caswell tank sealer, fixed a leaky petcock, re-jetted the cleaned carbs to suit the pod filters, new tires/chain cog, a little front brake mod to get in the vicinity of actually slowing down, tilted the pipe up to my likink and cut the end of the cannister to reveal the"reverse megaphone" hidden inside and a bit of elbow grease...it actually rides quiet nice. If i didn't need the money I'd wanna keep it. I get attached to bikes that need love....

Thanks Much Keith! I hear ya on all of it. I love to save lost causes. Just my 2 cents here but you should hang on to it. Get a pair of rearsets on there and a spend a little more time on the details and I bet you'd never want to sell it. You've already done the hard parts. Go take a look at Wrenchmonkees. Those guys would have that thing in a private collection without too much effort. I'd think hard about it before letting it go. Thanks again!

Great Imagination! I like it! Someone send these to the folks at Ural! Here's a link to the Blog. LOTS of potential here! http://sketch-denis.blogspot.com/


Scrambler

Cafe Racer!

And here's a bonus bike. a GSX1400 Cafe Racer Concept!

Man oh man! These old Japanese and British Hardtails are really starting to grow on me.

Love the article in the Spanish mag - my bike is top of the page!!! The only thing I could translate was "addictive blog" - it is! My go to site while having coffee in the morning.... Keep up the good work. Cheers!

My pleasure! Keep up the great builds!

I saw the pics of the finished bike over on ADV Rider and knew there had to be a good story behind such a cool build. So I pm'd the owner to see if he's be interested in sharing a few details and I was not disappointed!. Thank You John! There's a lot of personal touches and one-off parts in this one. It's obvious that you've put some time into it. Thanks Again!

John Writes in:

Hey Steve,
I would be happy to share some info on the bobber I posted on advrider. It started out as a 1974 CB750 which was hardtailed and tranformed into the bike you saw. I have been working on it for 2 years it is almost done. I just need to finish dialing in the carbs. It has been a pain since I use straight pipes and a open air intake. Everything on the bike that is custom I built. I do my own powder coating, except for frames since my oven is not that big. I tryed to go with a minimalistic, clean, old school approach. I am happy you like it. If you have any other questions or want to see any other pics (I have a ton) let me know.
John

Here's the Before and Build pics. That's quite a save!

Beautiful machines! Thanks Eddie!

Still my favorite.

Paul Hutchins Writes in:

Swerved into your site and thought you might post my Big Wheel photos.

I have a almost pathological interest in the 500 Yam and recently sold most of my examples of this great cult classic. My street ride was this SR custom, White Bros. 540cc motor, high lift cam, 38mm carb, with Omar's bodywork. I also restored this 1976 XT, the first ever model in the States, it was mint original and brought a similar price from a collector in Sydney, Australia. The TT is a dirtracker that was once on the street, it is now an ice racer in Michigan.

Thanks, Paul Hutchins

Thanks to Peyotl

I've never ridden one but I've read more than once that the weight of this bike earned it the nickname among racers as "the pig". It's no pig on the eyes though.

Ex Barry Sheen Racebike now on E-bay. And I believe the subject of the very first post on this very blog.

Thanks to Davorallyfan on the ADV Board.

It's like the bike found the right buyer at just the right time! sometime you find a bike and sometimes a bike finds you.
Brian Writes in:

Howdy,
First off I wanted to say I love your site. The bike porn you feature
always gives me inspiration. So much in fact that I finally get to
submit my ride and story!
I looked for a vintage Ducati for years here locally in Seattle. Last
year one finally turned up, a 75 860 GT. The price was REALLY right and
local so I immediately wrote the guy thinking either the bike was gone
or something as it was simply too good to be true. The ad stated a box
of parts and all documentation going back to the 70s came with it. I
went out to see it, and indeed it was all true. Bought it right then and
there. Took it home and started doing some research. It was cafed pretty
early on in it's life. I saw in a DIOC newsletter index the story of a
cafed 860, turned to the page, and saw my bike! Looking exactly as it
looked then, except for a few new additions.
I am actually taking it back to stock now but thought it would be a neat
story to post up on your site. How it got from California to Seattle is
a mystery. Fantastic bike to ride and sounds like a terror with the
authentic Conti pipes!
Cheers,
Bryan

Outstanding! Thanks Bryan!

Vincent!

Stunner! From over on ADV Rider.

I'mw not a "BMW-o-phile" but this definitely speaks to me as they say...

Just stumbled acoss this and had to post it. From Jehu on ADV Rider..

For those of you looking for more info on this engine, here's a link to the "Hedlund Story"
And From the comments. Flickr link to more pics. Thanks Jezza.

I really don't know a lot about these bikes/engines so anything the readers can help out with will be much appreciated,

Your site is my morning coffee. Here is one of the few café I built.