Bobber Project.. BEFORE & AFTER PICS

[KZ650Bobber81]

Hey guys! My name is Paul and I bought a 1981 Kawasaki KZ650 a few months ago. A lot of work has been done on this bike and I would love some feedback. My biggest concern on my bike is the seat. It looks a little "lost" but I have looked all over the internet and cannot seem to find a nice fit. I am also looking for different mirrors and some pipes. Any suggestions or ideas for the above issues or for the bike in general, please let me know! Thanks guys!

-Paul

Here are some BEFORE/AFTER pictures:


BEFORE:













AFTER:









MOST RECENT WITH NEW HANDLE BARS, NEW TAIL LIGHT W/ LISENCE PLATE HOLDER:






All comments/suggestions are appreciated.. good or bad. Thanks guys!!

[Alley Rat]

Why did you paint it? The original color was nice. That needs to be a street thrasher. It would look cool with an old school cafe racer seat on it.

[KZ650Bobber81]

A couple reasons.. I'm really not a gold person and I always wanted a flat black bike.. the tank on that bike isn't original anyways. I may add some red pin-stripe on the tank and fender. I also want to put white walls on it to give it that real retro look.

[85kzbobber]

I like the flat black as well- i have an 85 vn700 i'm turning into a bobber and very inspired by the look you have going on. I just bought drag bars but was curious if anyone new if i need risers or not? I also bought these billet grips that don't seem to fit the drag bars - I'm sure i'll figure it out once i take apart the original bars and controls. I will update pics soon...

[KZ650Bobber81]

Hey man, thanks for the comment. I had drag bars on the bike and absolutley loved them but they were too low once I put the seat on. I could have put risers below the drags but I had another problem to deal with.. Whenever I would turn the bars to the left, the hazard button would hit the tank and mess up the paint (before I got it painted). I decided to change out the handle bars and now it is very comfortable and the paint won't get damaged! Good luck with the project man and hopefully you can figure out how to get those billet grips on the drags!! Def post some pics. Ride safe man.

[85kzbobber]

what kind of tank do you have? the Drag bars don't fit the controls and the grips are not going on...So i'm going to have to customize it all...i'll update pics soon.

[Lazarus]

It's tough to be critical when you're the one doing something cool and I'm not. But since you asked...

Too many springs goin' on in back. The sprung seat is the suspension for a rigid. Either go struts or, better yet, weld on a hardtail and slam the back end or, even cooler, go with a homemade seat real low to the frame rails back there and keep the shocks.

Nice work,

rick

[lonespirit02]

Hey Paul, nice job so far. I complement you on your creativity and ability to create art.