Kawasaki Z200 with a twist.... would you?

[BuzzBravado]

Now running. My lovely chromed downpipe is blue already

http://vid77.photobucket.com/albums/j63/mj_skinner...

Edited by BuzzBravado on Monday 25th January 10:43

[BuzzBravado]

And that is it finished and coated in acf 50. The exhaust is a little louder than I wanted and the carb still needs setup properly. The front brake will take some getting used to. I kept track of costs which was a rediculous amount for a bike like this but I don't mind since I'm keeping it.

A few lessons learned on the way:

1) a project bike with cast wheels and no chrome will be much cheaper, like for like.

2) measure the hub offset before cutting out the hubs with a grinder.

3) second hand parts on eBay described as "mint" never are.






Video:

[BuzzBravado]

Time to dig out the v5 and in doing so found some ancient MOTS. When was the last time you see documents like these:



Also laid out my invoices that built up, and these are just the ones outside of eBay, which is where most of the bits were bought.

[BuzzBravado]

Looks to be £1584 but £500 of that was chroming and the bike was free so pretty modest for a restoration but nuts for a z200.

[BuzzBravado]

They are hiding the very slightest of pitting but above the used area. You wouldn't notice in the photos but you see it close up. New forks are still available but they are pricey.

[BuzzBravado]

Taken it out for its first legal run on the road. All good so far and quite fun in a novelty sort of way. The only issue I have is it jumps back down from 5th gear to 4th on its own if I put it under too much load.

Any ideas why it jumps back down gears?

[BuzzBravado]

Sorry just looking back through old posts and see you had commented, might be to late to reply though.....

I'm really glad i went through the restoration and kept THIS bike. At some point this year it will be tax free and MOT optional. So its a toy that has zero cost to keep.

Since i last posted the engine went through a full rebuild with new rings and bearings and now it holds gears. Which after all that could have been fixed in 2 minutes by changing the drum plunger thing underneath. It had the wrong one fitted and let the drum roll around under load.

Would i have another/different z200? Probably not, it is slower than a week in jail and the money could buy a better bike.