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bicycleguy

bicycleguy

Joined
Oct 12, 2008
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I picked this up on CL a few days ago to have something else to mess around with it's a '77 Kawi KE 175. It ran pretty good but when I got it but it didn't have any of the lights or signals but it did have a rats nest of wires, electrical tape and zip ties everywhere so I stripped it all and redid the wiring so I only had a kill switch. I want to do kind of a cafe racer/bobber.

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Now were getting somewhere, I had to lower the shock mounts 1/2" to clear the new section of the frame but it turned out really nice so I'm happy with it.

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That'll be sweet!

Those old enduro's are so much fun. I had a 73 Honda xl 250 I bought from an old farmer back in high school. He also had all the lights torn off it and the wiring stripped down to just the kill switch. I got an itch one day to clean it up as best I could so I stripped it all down, sanded and sandblasted, and then got a crash course on how to use a paint gun. Soon as the paint was dry I went out and got it so wet and muddy the engine started dying from the ignition shorting out. That poor bike was treated way worse that it ever deserved. :mrgreen:
 
I found my camera :D :D :D . I finished up the frame, painted it and started to put it back together. The wheels were missing a few spokes and I didn't think it would be a big deal to get them because pretty much any bicycle shop has spokes but I guess that's not how it is for motorcycle shops, I have to send the spokes I need replicated to Buchanan's in California to get them custom made. :roll:

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I haven't made much progress lately but I did get my bars on and I finished up the seat pan, hopefully I can get it upholesterd tonight.

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I've been trying to figure out how to incorporate that side cover somehow but it kind of throws off the whole look, I think it's going to be bare balls now because of the bare metal tank. :lol:
 
i really like where this build is going ... i remember kennyp did a build out of a 70's 125 Suzuki one time called the ace cafe..... yours has great potential....
 
It's turning into more of a cafe racer than I wanted but I guess that gives me a good reason to build another one with more of a bobber feel, I think bicycles are a gateway drug... to motorcycles. :wink:
 
I put some gas in it to see if I could fire it up so I kicked and kicked and kicked some more and nothing happend. I checked the plug and it has plenty of spark and it's getting gas to the carb so I pulled the plug and tried some starting fluid but it still didn't fire so I checked the compression and it only has 25psi. I'm pretty baffled why it started on the first kick before I took the bike apart considering I didn't touch anything on the inside of the engine and it barely has any compression now but luckily I found a place about 45min from me that stocks vintage Kawi parts so I guess I try a new piston and some rings.
 

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