My 1978 KE100

[Chief Ten Bears]

Hi, I've been on this site for a while but haven't really posted much. Lots of good info here. I was putting my bike away for the winter yesterday and took a couple pics, thought I'd post em up and share.

My 1978 Kawasaki KE100. I've had this bike for over 15 years, since I was a young teenager. I would ride it around as a dirt/trail bike. We had CR's and quads as well, and this was just another one of the toys to beat around on. Then, off in the shed it sat for pretty much at least 10 years now. I pulled it out this spring with the mission to bring it back to life and ride it as a commuter this summer, which I did, and boy was it a lot of fun. There is a great saying, its more fun to ride a slow motorbike fast than a fast motorbike slow.

The bike ran when it went away, but has been sitting for a long long time. So I took her apart, disassembled the carb, cleaned up jets and bowl, some new gaskets for the engine side cover, took off and cleaned out the gas tank, clean out petcock, new battery, new fork oil in both forks, took off and cleaned out the injector tank, new tubing for gas and oil, new spark plug, air filter, new steering head bearings, repainted the exhaust, put on the mirrors and turn signals, new injector and trans oil, yadda yadda yadda, and a good top to bottom cleaning.

The bike ran great all summer. Starts on first kick with the choke, idles great. I'm a small guy, 5'10" 150lbs and I can ride this at 70km/h in the city all day long, with do 80 -90 no problem but she's really working at that speed. Its perfect for the city daily commute to work, 50 - 60 km/h throughout the city. Its great for taking shortcuts pretty much over or through everything too.

Here are some pics, and yes, it only has 4000km !

[ricksza]

What a great looking bike! Must make the commute a fun ride. Thanks for the pictures.

[Graceshredder]

NICE ride! Excellent work. It is SO COOL to see the old ones come out of retirement, get fixed up and get out there doing what they're supposed to be doing. Very nicely done, my friend.

[rts1971]

I just bought a Kawasaki KE100 1978 that looks exactly like this only green.... It's my first bike and I really could use a sounding board to ask questions. Stupid questions like how do I check the oil? I see the oil level mark on the outside of the metal cover on the right side of the bike but I have no idea how to actually determine where the oil level is in relation to that line... I'm fairly mechanical and can usually figure things out but I don't want to mess anything up.

[Quicklimegirl]

Nicely preserved! When I was 15 (1973) I bought a brand new '72 G5 100, the predecessor to the KE. They look alike, but there are differences, I'd have to look in my manual(s) to find what they are.

I remember riding it @ the limit, about 60mph indicated, the sales literature at the time claimed a top speed of 65mph (108 kph) which is pretty optimistic. When I was overseas in the Army in '76-79 my Dad sold the bike without my permission...I was ****ed off!

It took me until just a few years ago to find another one suitable to restore. I had started the disassembly, and got some pieces powder coated, painted & stuff then stopped to build a shop. I hurt myself finishing up the shop but getting better now, so I should be able to start back on it soon. Seeing your bike (same color) just makes me want to get it going that much more!

[78KZ650B]

That was my first new bike. She looks great!