1971 Kawasaki Bighorn 350

[Vitarious]

I just purchased a bike-in-a-box. This is a 1971 Kawasaki Bighorn 350. The engine was siezed, oil resevoir full of water, carb corroded, etc...
I have all of this fixed right now, having further issues withthe rear brake sticking in full brake position.
What I need to know is more about this bike. For instance, there is a lever next to the throttle marked with a large "S". What is this for?

I am looking for any information you can provide.

[kawah1c]

I'ts the choke lever. Almost. Instead of blocking off the air intake like an ordinary choke, it lifts a plunger in the carb and opens another fuel channel to feed more gas into the carb. I believe kawasaki called it an enrichner.

The 71 350 Bighorn was named F5. In 72 they renamed it F9. Your bike has 33 HP, and should have the Hatta fork which means that you can mount the front wheel in 3 different positions to change the weelbase and the handling to your liking. Very cool bike. Two of my buddies have a 72 F9 and a 75 F9C.

[Vitarious]

Thanks for the reply.
I got the rear brake fixed as well. Next project is to figure out why the clutch will not work, it is not engaging. I think it might just need to be freed up as the bike did sit for sometime.

[kawah1c]

It's probably stuck. If you're lucky, it will free when you try to ride it.

[ElmerFudd]

I get so confused when people say engaging, when I think about a clutch engaging I think when you let off the lever to allow the clutch to engage then to disengage it, you would pull the lever in, which disengages the clutch allowing the engine to run free of a drive train load. I'm not tryin to be a know it all, just seems that everyone has a different way to look at it.