I put insurance on it and went for a 40 mile ride. Well I ran out of gas at 40. It's at 44 now. It has a cheap aftermarket petcock, I only made it 3 miles on reserve. I rode about 75% dirt roads and it did really well. I averaged about 35mph in the dirt.
I was just thinking a little while ago that my first bike was a green Kawasaki. A 1978 KZ400. Then I started to realize how similar they are. When you strip off the body work, this little Ninja is more like a middle weight, water cooled UJM than a sports bike. Except for the mono shock and weird handlebars. It's similar in weight and displacement, both are parallel twins with 6 speeds. The 500 just has double the power.
If you notice the tire tracks in the sand, the engine was stuck. I sprayed it with a liberal dose of Aerokroil from Kano Labs and tried to rock it in gear. I believe it broke free on the 6th day.
Wow, major undertaking, Big single?? 4 Stroke.? ETA, Didn’t see the 200 up top. guessing it’s a two stroke at that size. back in the Day, I had a bud with a KZ400, that bike was a screamer.
He said that the last time that it ran, it wouldn't run for long. The cable operated front disk brake caliper is missing. The tank is full of rust. I'm waiting on a carburetor boot and auxiliary fuel tank to try to get it started.
Ha, yeah, I believe you are correct, this was 40 years ago. This was the bike, https://www.ebay.com/itm/3644006733...BUhwzi8cN4S45HmUX06ZXJIsC2xQS7UhoC_roQAvD_BwE Even the right color
I cleaned the points and installed a pwk28 carb. today. I hooked up an auxiliary fuel tank and got it started. It's running rich, but it sounds good. I'm not sure if it's charging, it died when I turned the battery charger off. Hopefully it's just the bad battery.
It could, but I found bare wires coming from the stator. The case is broken around the top bolt hole for the sprocket cover and the cover is cracked. It looks like the cover chewed the wire.
I ordered a ttr225 rear wheel and a set of tires, tubes, rim strips and wheel bearings for the xt225 that I bought a few weeks ago. I drug it home and cleaned the carburetor and put a battery on it and it runs good. It was a death trap though, I bought it from a cute girl in her 20's. The front wheel bearings are gone, the wheel is flopping around and I think there are 7 broken spokes on the rear. Broken spokes seem to be common on these bikes. That's the reason for the ttr wheel.
Just plugging along as parts come in. Still waiting on a coil for the KZ, just finished cleaning up the chain guard. You can see the reflection of my Stetson in the pic.
