This is my 1987 Zx750f NINJA that I brought at an auction here in Calgary for $150.00 I intially brought the bike thinking that I was going to put the engine in my Go-Cart. After I was stripping down the bike I noticed that It wasent in that bad shape. (I wanted to fix up a street-bike so bad into the bike in the red pic right below this message. It seemed like a great idea!.) Anyway wouldent a 110 H.P. engine seem a little big for a very small and flimsy go kart?!!
This is the bike that I am trying to customize it towards. (same bike.) I am really making progress on it.
I finally drove the bike for first time at roughly the Halloween time. I have never drove a street bike before so this was really something. It ran like shit, because the carberators wern't yet set up to accept the K&N Filters, (the jetting was totally off)
This is the exact same bike, just a different view of it. Note the bumper and the "gas tank dome" are so much easier to see in this pic
What was wrong with the bike when I got it?
- Bike's front end was so far bent back it almost caved in the Oil cooler and the radiator -All the gauges were pretty much history - The gas tank had two massive dents in the left side decreasing the fuel capacity by about 3 litres -radiator was very badly crushed and scraped up from the crash (all on the left side, this was irrepairable, and needed to be replaced)
-Had no keys so had to hot wire bike to get it started
as well as had to get keys cut to get the gas tank repaired
What I have done to the bike so far
- Replaced the whole front end (Shocks, rim, Triple trees, And had to have new axle custom made (for the width of the 750 triple trees but to fit 1987 ZX600 shocks) new tire, new brakes and other odds and ends total cost so far.. $650.00
for everything - Used gauges of a 1987 Kawasaki EX500 (Complete) for $150.00 Total cost so far.. $800.00 -Keys cut for gas tank, $60.00 plus $100.00 to have it repaired and repainted. Total cost $860.00 -Customized body work myself to give it a more cool, sleeker look to it. Total cost... $880.00 -MEtal, suppies and Bondo. Did I mention Gas costs to drive around looking for parts? Total cost $120.00 (approx.) -Paint, and lots of it (totally repainted bike to make it look like a million bucks) Total cost $50.00 Which brings us to a grand total of $1000.00 -K&N Filters individual style $1100.00 So far -Had the whole bike re-tuned, and set up, as well as had some washers installed, now we are at $1370.00 (I made the mistake of having the carbs tuned by a guy, that was something less then qualified to tune a high end streetbike)
- Brought styrofoam from Craft place to shape the basic DOME with. As well as all the Bondo and fiberglass too, now were at $1425.00- Still plenty more stuff to come
I am still working on the dome, It's about 2/3rds done I dont have any pics of it yet though. I have now put in 60 hours into the body work and apperience of the bike alone
- $417.00 Later, The Bike is Running top notch, It's been Dyno tuned for best performance. ( Wow was this ever costly though!!) Were now at $1,900
- Im just about finished the Dome now, Im getting the Rims painted sort of a Silver, with a Yellow tint $70.00 for this. $1970.00 Roughly, GRRR this is getting costly! (^_^)
Now the gas tank dome is just about done, Im about to get the Bike Custom painted, which will cost about $500.00, I'm about to start construction of the Bumper, As it is though, I'm just about finished the Radiator Guards. More sanding on the Body work still to come. WOW! this is getting close to being finished, but is it really worth it?
I abandoned the dome idea and fiberglassed the guages right to the gas tank. I was just about finished it, but I soon realized that this was unachieveable as well as dangerous at high speeds
~I brought a pair of spot lights that you commonly see on streetfighters. These ones are made by "Bates" and are 13 Cm Diameter, they have chrome casing. I have now to find some coloured bulbs for them. (There aren't any so I painted the bulbs myself with transparent paint, and they look absolutely amazing.)
this brings me over the two grand mark ($2100.00)
This is now June 1st 2000.
Im just about finished all the body work, and am soon going to get it painted. About another week to go, (Editor's note: excuse the french located in the next line) FUCKING FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!
So Much for the one week it was July 16th when I finaly got the bike riding on the street. Oh well. I repainted it myself because I got sick of waiting for this drunken loser (literally) that susposed to repaint it for me. Right now it's just a dark metalic grey (it looks like ass). Im getting the film devoploped so be expecting pictures soon. WOW is this bike iever quick though!!! zero to 140 Kp/h in about 6 or 7 seconds!!!!!
It's December 27th 2001 and I've found out some new things about these 750 ninja's. wanna hear it? alright.... DONT BUY THEM!!! Out all the 1980's NINJA's, Kawasaki's 750 line was the worst, their lemons. as I've found out numerous occations over the summer. Bikes to look at are the RD350 by Yamaha, and all the other models of NINJA's excluding the 750 line, as far as decent old school streetbikes are concerned. I had the bike repainted professionally, it cost me $250.00 the colour I choose is TITAN SILVER METALLIC. It's the exact same colour (literally) as found of 1998 and 1999 BMW's. It looks stunning now.
however, I found out at a school bush party that Streetbikes arent all that good for off-roading, so I did quite abit of body damage to it. As well as during school, some fucking sore ass loser pushed over my bike in my high school parking lot. so I need to get the body panels re-worked again. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, I had some custom plastic work done on them, they have the knee panels and the side panels welded together to make one piece per side. (You'l see when I get the new pictures posted, soon,..... I hope.....) With all the b.S. I forgot to add, the cost is near $3000 now, and all I'm left with is a 100 horse power streetbike, that's 1987, and has about $1750 worth of resale value, just thinking about that makes me click my heels with glee!
Advise (for it and againest it) at bottom of page
-A great place that customises bikes here in Calgary is "Saxon motorcycles", I didn't deal with them personally, But they really do know what there doing (their bikes win trophies)
This is me on the ninja thes pics were shot when I got the bike running for the first time in 2 years! It ran like shit, because the carbs were totally off tune. These pics were takin at about the Halloween time
Ive drove the bike for the first time, which was Feb.27 It ran really nicely actually, IT is so freaking powerful it just surpirsed me. I was doing burn outs in the alley, when the Rear Tire burned through the snow, then It wheelied..... That bike was sooooooo much fun though, holy shit was that fun. You should have seen some of the burnouts I was doing, It even surpirsed me!!, After I had to bike Dyno-tuned, it runs somewhat better then Awesome. It's Phenominal just how quick it is (well for an 80's 750 at least). The Graph read-out of it's torque shows it is almost as torquey as an average car, perhaps more... hoping that car is a civic, or a sprint.
~Trust me this takes a ton of work and frusteration to do this right, it is not easy, and is quite costly at times, just so you know, this is not something to be underestimated. (I really mean that!) It is easy and fun for me because I have lots of time and money to put into this, but for the most part, you probally dont, so dont consider doing what I did unless your absolutly ready..... Big emphisis on READY!, I say this because I've already spent about $2200.00 Canadian on the bike and Im still only about 6/7th the way done
~If you really want to have a totally "one off" bike like me, then this is the 2nd most logical thing to do The 1st being to Buy one thats already been customized). If your not intrested with customs and dont want a kick ass ride that, everybody loves, then take my two cents worth: and DO NOT buy a wrecked bike, then totally redo it
~Yes I am in fact saying that it will not work out if you dont have a very thick wallet, and tons of time and dedication, like me. This is a very costly thing to do, and probally is unachievavle for people with little faith, commitment and short money. To Give you an example, the Bike is still not ready after two years, Two years that this clunker has kicked around the Garage. To do massive work, it's extremely costly and Trouble some, YOu should have seen the State of the Garage! (What a mess!!). Also, Im was between 16, up until now, that I'm 19 which is three years,... of course.... so I had to make massive sacrifices to do this. Some people can't make sacrifies that are any bigger then; Putting off watching T.V. later, for internet surfing now. If this is you, stop reading and continue surfing, your wasting your time right now. If your still reading, good job, I have a lot of respect for you, your among the top 15% of society! Quite often, people that can't make sacrifices, just stop dead (almost one cue of) half way through the project, when they realize just how much dedication it takes, then they want out. Selling the project they lose massive amounts of money and all they time the spent up untill then, so essencially it is a complete loss. B.T.W. To pay $2000.00 on a bike for a teenager, takes a ton of commitment. I also had lots of resources too, most people dont. I cant begin to tell you how many Trips out to the Local Garage, and repair stores I've had to make to get this far. Yet Im still quite a ways to go. I am totally regreting this. I've spent 200 hours of some of the best years of my life working on this Son of a bitch. Im getting so damn sick of working on it, it's amazing. Thank bloody God that I'm just about finished, Id sell it as is, if I werent. I dont think Id ever, ever do this again: WAY to much work for what it's worth. Come to think of it, if I would have spent my last two years working, at a restaurant or whatever, I could have paid someone to do this for me, had this finished about a year ago, and had valuable work experience to boot. (See I told you it's not worth it! Keep in mind though, what took so long, is that I did a lot of the work
myself.
Hi everybody, the bike is now offically on the street, but I still have a little more work to go, I dont have any pics now, Ill scan them in as soon as I can, untill then please be patient
If you have decided to go through with this, then learn from my mistakes 1) SIT DOWN, AND DRAW UP SOME DESIGNS, before you touch ANYTHING. I personally wasted tens, if not hundreds of hours and LOTS OF MONEY doing things to the bike that I decided to ditch at the last minute, because they were impossible and impractical to do. Sit down with a very talented artist, as well as someone that HAS customized a bike before (and done a good job) only then do a "think tank" by drawing up the core ideas. DO NOT CRITISE THE IDEAS YET. If there is anything that kills creativity, it's critism. Anaylse the ideas later, but for now just think of very unique things, such as a certain look, and then add to it through customizing the intricate things of the bike every here and there. Most of all stick to them at all cost. You won't be as proud of the finished product, if you decided to leave out some really cool ideas, at the last minute, simply because they were too costly or time consuming.
