Kawasaki 454ltd circus bike to bobber

[christianyoung]

As it never hurts to have too many projects on the go

15 years ago, the local circus gave my father a Kawasaki 454ltd (sometimes called an en450). It was in bad shape. The story goes they had it imported from America to be part of an act. I think I’m right in saying a juggler rode it around the arena dressed as the terminator, got off, juggled some knives, got back on and rode off. At some point the drive belt snapped and as this is approximately the price of the bike it was left standing until we got it

Unperturbed by this, we bought a stolen and recovered, part burnt out bike for £50, stole the drive belt and a few spares and scrapped the rest

I don’t have any photos of it when we first got it so here is a stock internet photo



Throughout the years, it’s been gifted to my father to me, and back countless times. As a cheap run around bike it was fairly acceptable at best, it makes a good noise, that’s about as far as I can muster to praise it. Countless radiator hoses have exploded across my leg but apart from that it was fairly reliable

(Insert gratuitous picture of it cooling down after one such occasion, while waiting for the rac)


One day, about 2 weeks after I gifted it back to my dad the front drive pulley snapped off as he tried to accelerate out of a junction. On inspection it appears in its history (I’m guessing while in the circus) the output shaft had snapped and the pulley had just been welded back on. Surprisingly it was fairly true but not quite. Luckily the gearbox was one part we had saved. Unfortunately it had damaged the drive belt again

Another belt was tracked down cheaply from eBay, and I set about rebuilding the engine



By this point, my father had decided under no uncertain terms that he didn’t want it back again, and as cruisers aren’t really my thing, I thought if I was going to have a cheap commuter bike, I should at least try and make it slightly nicer

Edited by christianyoung on Wednesday 22 April 14:36

[christianyoung]

The tank was resprayed (Bare with me)



Handle bars changed, forks dropped through the yokes



Rear mudguard and accessories removed and a custom one mounted



Seat cut down, reprofile and recovered







And that brings us up to date. There’s still a small engine problem to fix, and I need to tidy up the front end as that still doesn’t look right to me. Respray the tank again (same colour, better finish) Fit new indicators, a number plate and it’s done!

Edited by christianyoung on Wednesday 22 April 14:37

[gregs656]

I bought one of these to bobber but sold it and bought a late 500 instead.

Here is an after and before of my 500 - this was 'phase 1' I guess I had plans to do more but I moved countries and sold it. I would definitely have another one, they have loads of potential as a bobber.

[christianyoung]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I only really chucked some paint on it to try and ascertain my colour choice in my head would work, I’ll take the dents out etc when I respray it properly

[christianyoung]

Thought I’d give this a quick update

Bike is now, for all intensive purposes finished. It’s booked in to get the tyres replaced on Thursday and then the mot Friday



So while I wait, I’ve treated it to a professional tank respray, all dents removed etc etc



A friend of mine is designing a few graphics for the tank, and it’s finished

I will get better pictures after the mot

[crofty1984]

Haha, funny enough my Dad and I also share one of these (the 400 import at least).
I'm currently thinking of doing similar. She's a bit rough and ready at the moment, but runs at least and is road legal.

[christianyoung]

Bike flew through it’s mot yesterday, Time to put some mileage on it

[Rubin215]

I do love when people take st bikes and make them slightly less st in strange ways!

More power to your elbow!

[V8RX7]

I'm all for a project / customising...

That's not really my kind of bike though, what do you use it for commuting ?