Lee's 1978 Kawasaki KZ750 Cafe Racer

The idea for this project came to me a long time before I got the actual bike. The idea was to take a bike that I felt had the potential to be a café racer, then use my skills, enthusiasm and time to realise the bike's potential and transform it into something special. The only real firm conviction I had at this time was that the bike would be a café racer, but it had be rideable, and it had to be based around a twin - no singles, triples or four cylinder bikes would suit.

Why a twin? Well, I reckon twin cylinder bikes have the 'right' shape of the old British cafe racers. As this bike was going to be heavily modified, I couldn't bring myself to alter a perfectly good example, so I needed a bike that was mechanically sound, but a cosmetic mess. My eyes drifted over Moto Guzzis, Yamahas, and anything else that had a twin.

After many failed attempts to purchase the correct bike, I came across a 1978 Kawasaki KZ 750 online for not much money. Being a twin and a bit ratty, it suited my purposes perfectly. KZ twins feature a very reliable motor with plenty of torque, a five-speed box, kick and electric start, and are extremely easy to buy parts for. These bikes are very easy to ride, so it ticked that box, too.

As soon as I saw the bike, I was wondering what I had got myself into, as it looked in very poor shape. But it was what I was looking for and just about all of it was there. Buying the bike was easy. Getting it home was more difficult! I'm in Gympie QLD, but the bike was up past Cairns. So a compromise was made - the seller would travel down to Mackay and I would travel up to pick it up from there. The time and fuel that it took him and myself to drop it off and pick it up most likely outweighed the cost of the bike! Unceremoniously,
I shoved the poor thing into my station wagon and headed home. It would have been more than two weeks after I brought it home before I even looked at it again.

First job was to see if the old KZ would run. I connected the battery and put some fresh fuel in, and lo and behold she fired up, spitting a mud wasp nest out of the muffler, which frightened the crap out of me! Knowing it was a runner, I was inspired to take spanner to hand. It only took me a day to dismantle the bike, but for some funny reason, six months to put it all back together! I am sure some readers can relate to this. As this was my sole project at the time, it took a lot of my focus. It seemed I went to bed thinking about it and woke up still thinking about it.

To start this project, I took a 'blank canvas' approach. I had the frame completely sandblasted, repainted then placed on a bench to start the reassembly process piece by piece. Even though I had a blank canvas, I still had an 'end product' pictured in my head. So, as I was slotting the reassembled motor into the frame, I was thinking about what parts I was going to add to give it the right café racer look. Thinking about it was the easy bit! After that came the research and looking for parts that resembled 'café' style. This isn't as easy as you'd think, because what works on one bike doesn't necessarily work on another. Additionally, being a relatively rare model, there wasn't much in the way of KZ750-based café racer customs to take inspiration from.

Being a café racer meant it had to be light, too, so I had to think about what parts I could do without to keep the bike as light as possible. With comfort being a goal as well as looks, I was determined to keep the riding position as standard as possible - I wanted a bike that I could just jump on and go for a ride without getting a stiff neck and back afterward. To achieve this, I got a set of clip-on bars custom made and set them high on the forks so the riding position wasn't too 'flat out'. I was originally going to change the fuel tank to a more authentic cafe racer-style, but the KZ 750 tank has a beautiful tear drop look, so I kept it, working the rest of the café racer elements around it.

When it came to putting the new set of spokes on the wheels, I was at a loss as to how to perform this task. Relacing wire spoke wheels truly is an art, but I was determined to do it myself and to learn something new. So, by asking friends and googling the net as you do, I got all the information together. Boosted by my newfound knowledge, I thought it would be easy, but with spoke spanner in hand, I spent the next 3 days - yes, THREE days! - scratching my head. So you can imagine I felt no small sense of achievement when they were completed. At this point, the cost of the project had started to mount, as always seems to be the case with projects like this. My advice here is that it's a good idea to "lose" some of the receipts in order to preserve married bliss!

One thing I was keen to have from the start of this project was a Norton-style head light. There is just something about the big chrome bullet-like shape of these units that turns me right on. I found one, but it took me ages to find the tiny little instrument lights that go in it. I don't know what it is, but when the chrome bits like this and things like the bar-end mirrors go on, it seems to lift the game into something different. For paint, I went for a simple black, which always looks good with chrome, but the striping colour for the tank and tail unit was more difficult to select. I was looking for an old fashioned colour and came across a shade called 'Copper Coin' which seems to fit well with this style of bike.

While I had ideas on how the project would look, I really didn't know what it would come out like. Standing back after it was finished, I was really happy with the end result and, if I had to start the project over, I would do it exactly the same way.

With everything cleaned, painted, fastened and tightened, it was time to fire her up and find out if all of my hard work had paid off. To my amazement, there were only two things that let me down. I had left the original brake lines on, which made the brakes a bit soft, and the chain clattered against the chain guard. These were pretty easy fixes, all things considered. I replaced the old brake lines with braided lines, which made all the difference, and of course, they look a lot better. Altering the chain guard was simple, too.

With this sort of project - where you're creating something that isn't to factory spec - the 'first ride' is always done with apprehension, because you don't really know how it's going to handle through that corner, or how it's going to pull up when you apply the brakes. Also, will everything run smooth and hold together long enough to make the return trip home? With all these worries, I was out on the road for my café racer's first serious ride. I thought it would be only a few kilometres round trip, but it didn't happen that way! It was such a great ride, I felt she was telling me to keep on going because her long rest was over and she was ready to go again. For an engine that's more than three decades old, I was impressed with the twin's ability to cruise at speed and how nimble she was.

I enjoyed this project so much that I am looking forward to a new challenge and the next adventure. In order to do this, I've put the KZ café racer on the market. I'm asking $7800 ono. With its blend of looks, comfort and performance, it's a bike I'm sure the new owner will enjoy. I will be looking around for a similar type of project, as I have some free time now being semi retired. So if you want to buy this bike, or you have an old motorcycle that needs a second chance, call me on 0422 345 821.

LEE MOORE