Kawasaki

2009 bikes that I like!

I’m going to stick to modern 2009 release bikes that catch my eye for the next week or so. First up (and a candidate for my garage) is the Kawasaki ER-6N. The naked version of the “Bike of the Year”, the Versys. I’d love to run Deals Gap on this beauty.

I’m already longing for spring and a Deals Gap trip…

All the 2 strokes line up at the Deals Gap “resort”..


My RD an My buddies H2 taking a rest.

Yours Truly…

Doug Nye’s Badass Kawasaki KZ900.

Sun rims, big bor, sidewinder boxed swingarm… Goes like stink!

The Sam Simons posts.

One of my favorite bike builders of the last decade or so is a gentlemen by the name of Sam Simons. It’s not surprising really since Sam is such a big 2 stroke fan and has built many a wicked special. We’ve never met in person but we’ve exchanged the odd e-mail from time to time and lately he’s been a busy builder indeed. He’s sent me a lot of interesting stuff over the last week or so and gave me his blessing to post it here. So for the next few posts or so and whnever the occasion arises I’m going to pass on some of his creations here. I hope you enjoy it.

I’ll start it out with the creation that first caught my eye. It’s a Kawasaki H1 powered RD400. The RD-K. The best of RD handling and Kawasaki triple power seamlessly grafted together.

LOTS more to follow.

Sweet Old School Reader Ride! KZ750 Cafe!

Before

After…
(mostly) 1980 Kawasaki KZ750-H1 “LTD”.

Long story short, I traded a $50 Peavey guitar amplifier for this bike, then had to dig the bike out of a sand dune in a junk yard in Amarillo, TX. I moved it around with me for a few years while I was in music school before I had the time to get into it. I replaced bearings and rebuilt brakes and carbs, found a seat for it and bought some tires, got it on the road and went around for several years like that, and didn’t even have to get into the engine!

Fast forward to April 2008. I decided to freshen up the top end, replace some leaky gaskets and such. I found that the forward cam chain guide was broken in two, and apparently had been for some time. The engine never complained!

One thing led to another and I ended up taking it down to the frame and redoing a whole lot of stuff. Now the only things original are the wheels, frame, and the top end of the engine! The bottom end is from a 1982 LTD750, tank and fork is from ’82 GPz750s, the seat is an Airtech Streamlining fiberglass piece for a Yamaha TZ250-U.