Improvised “Disk Lock”.

I have seen a lot of motorcycle disk locks out there. The only problem with a lot of them is that they are very bulk or expensive.

I have found an alternative to a the commercially sold disk locks. What I am now using is a Master Lock Round Pad Lock variant. I happen to have a UHAUL version that I bought when we were moving so this is what I am using on the front disk of My DR-Z400S. It is a perfect fit as can be seen in the photos, and it is much harder to get a pair of bolt cutter in to cut it. The other thing that I like about this lock is that the size and shape in nice and smooth, so putting it in a pack or bag on the bike is easy.

If you are in need of a lock for your bike this one works nice and can be had for around $10 or less.

Dave

DR-Z400S Brake Reservoir Fix

My rear reservoir on my DRZ400S was goofed up. It seems that for some reason the sides decided to bend out after being in storage for many years. Since I have a machine shop, and Suzuki parts are unavailable around here locally, I decided to come up with a fix. Here is what I did:

Here is the reservoir with its splayed out sides:

I took a piece of .250″ thick 6061-T6 aluminum and squared the edges in the milling machine to 2.2″ x 1.65″.
After taking measurements and deciding how I wanted the hole to be cut, I made a shallow .050″ cut to get the initial size:

After making the first pass, I plunged the center cutting end mill all the way through and took a .200″ cut the rest of the way.

Here the piece is after cleaning the chips off:

After cleaning off the chips I did a quick test fit. Perfect!!!

I milled the edges at a 45 degree angle:

Final test fitting:

Installed with new brake fluid on the bike:

And the final product installed with the guard over the reservoir:

Hope you guys enjoyed the little write up. I just wanted to show what a little ingenuity can do for you if you have some tools and a little time on your hands.

Dave

Desert Sled Build

I bought two KZ400′s a year ago with the intention of making one into a bobber and the other into a Cafe Racer.  Now my ideas have changed a bit and I know that I want one to be a desert sled.  I personally think that a desert sled style bike would be more useful for where I live.  There are a lot of dirt roads and places to ride off-road, which I enjoy more than tooling around in town anyway.  As far as the other KZ goes, I will have to decide if I want it to become a bobber or cafe.  Heck, who knows, I might end up turning it into a desert sled as well so that my wife could ride it.

The first one is a 1974 KZ400.  It only has about 4000 miles and has a good body.  The engine has a leaking head gasket which I need to find a replacement for.  I like the body styling better on this one.  The tank and fenders have a nicer look.  I think this one might get turned into a cafe racer at some point, once I get the engine rebuilt.

The second bike is a 1978 model.  The engine is in good shape but the body is not as nice as the ’74.  For this reason I think that this one will get turned into the desert sled.   I plan on modifying a lot of the parts and removing anything unnecessary, so the ’78 seems like a good choice for this.

I already started work on the ’74 and will post some images of what I am doing with it in a later post.  I plan on starting the ’78 Desert sled build in the next few weeks.  Keep watching for updates.

Dave

Extreme Mountain Top Riding!

I found this video of some pretty extreme mountain top riding!  I tend to think that I do some crazy things when off road on a bike, but there is no way I would be riding that.  I would screw up and  fly off of one of the sides of that mountain.  None the less it is pretty cool watching someone else do it.

Dave

The Way of the Desert Sled

I saw this video the other day and thought that it was pretty cool.  It has inspired me to turn one of the two Kawasaki KZ400′s into a similar styled desert sled.  Steven Mcqueen is kind of a motorcycling hero of mine, so this jives with his style as well.  The bike in the video is named “Jack Pine” and is made to be reminiscent of the desert racing bikes of the 60′s-70′s.  There are to be 300 of them made by Hammerhead Industries.

I really like the style of this bike and will talk more about my build ideas later.  Until then enjoy the video.

Dave

First Motorcycle and First Post!

I have been interested in motorcycles since I was a young boy.  I would day-dream about riding around on a motorized bike and fantasize about all the places I could go.  At some point I started buying issues of Dirt Rider and Dirt Bike magazines which gave me a longing for an endure or motorcross style bike.

The day dreaming came to an end one day while I was walking down an alley in our neighborhood.  I was around 11 years old and I can remember it like it was yesterday.   Right there, leaning against a fence in the alley amongst a pile of trash to be picked up by the city, was an early to mid 70′s Bultaco Motorcycle.  I checked to confirm that it was indeed trash and then rolled it a few blocks home.

It was either a 73-74′ Bultaco Pursang MK7 dirt bike.

Or it was a 75-76′ Bultaco Frontera MK9.

I believe it was the Frontera as I can remember my friend from next door and I pushing each other around in the street and trying to see how fast we could go.  Ahh those were good times.

Anyways long story short, I brought it over to my grandfathers cattle ranch to try to work on it but he really did not want anything to do with it as he despised motorcycles.  My parents were also divorced so I did not have my father around to help.  As the situation was, I ended up setting it in our alley about a year later when we moved.  It bums me out because I would have really liked to have kept that bike.  I think it would be pretty cool to still have it and to have eventually gotten it so that it was running.  Oh well.  Maybe one day I will run across another one.

Dave