I’ve also found that one of my favorite bikes is based off a 77 or 78 CB750F that has a wheelbase of 58.9″. My modifications should give it a comparable look with the rear wheel placement.

****EDIT the wrenchmonkee bike description says it has a Kawasaki Z1000J swing arm. So everything I just said is not correct about wheel placement.

Click HERE to check out more about this Wrenchmonkee bike.

Also a picture of when I got the KZ. See how short the rear end looks?

Here’s an example of a 3″ stretch. Look at how they welded in plate into the existing dropout to get the extra length. Looks like it might actually be a little more than 3″ depending how they measured it but its more than I wanted so 2″ should be good.

Forum post about this bike HERE

Looking through some of the old magazines in the shop I found a Cycle Guide from ’81 with a whole article on the 750’s of the same era. This included wheelbase specs that I wasn’t able to find online. Turns out the KZ had a really short rear compared to the competitors so it validated my idea of giving it a slight stretch that wouldn’t make it look like a stretched Busa. There’s lots of different ways to do this, this is what I came up with:

Wheel Base Specs in Inches:
CB750F: 59.5 – 60
KZ750: 56 – 57.1
GS750EX: 58 – 59
Seca 750: 57.3

The old ads are so rad.

Couple photos of it as is. When sitting on the bike my ass is just infront of the rear axle. With the stretch I want the wheel to be a little bit further behind where the seat will be.

Making the jig brackets. Using L stock I tack them together, square them off on the belt sander, and drill the appropriate holes. Then, when I cut them apart they are exact duplicates of each other.

I have two holes in the rear. One for the stock to get everything lined up and tacked to the table. The second hole is 2″ back. This will put my wheelbase at 58 – 59.1 which is comparable to the other 750’s.

Jig all setup.

Next up, cutting the swing arm.

These KZ motors have some decent power, 74 hp stock.

Some of my favorite things about this particular KZ750 model:
– Kawasaki mag wheels. Especially the 18″ rear mag
– Non cruiser front forks
– Dual disk upfront rear disk. Rear disk looks super tough IMO
– It’s a complete turd stock so I think it gets overlooked
– Parts are pretty cheap and there’s plenty of availability
– GPZ engine parts can be nice upgrades to this motor.

Things I don’t like:
– Painted black engine
– No kickstarter (however, a KZ650 kick assembly supposedly can be installed)
– CV carbs
– 2 up sloppy jalopy seat
– Blue spray painted tank
– 80’s era emissions control crap

Things I hope to be able to do with it (biggest restriction will be $$$):
– Kerker exhaust
– Oil cooler
– Kickstarter
– Keihin CR carbs
– Progressive suspension front and back

I’m putting the bike away till winter to give myself time to get the title sorted and come up with a design for the bike. Either way, I’m excited to own it and make it into something unique this winter. Either way it’s gonna rip once it’s done.

I’ve been really interested in the KZ750’s lately. They definitely do not get the same attention as the CB’s or KZ900/1000’s but have a lot to offer and have a good base for modifying.

It’s a basically a bored out KZ650 with better cams and other performance modifications and only weights in around 500lbs. Pretty sure it’ll out run and maneuver any Evo 1200 Sportster.

Every year towards late August a handful of rare souls converge together to wreak havoc on the streets of Brooklyn, like some horrid natural phenomenon emerging from the sea to consume an entire city. The sheer anticipation of the solid one-night rumble attached to your motorcycle, surrounded by the sharpest cavalcade of your most trusted friends, is almost enough to say fuck it and sit at Perry’s Place in Kensington for the remainder of the night. Sense kicks in before another shot is poured and we round up the men, fire up the oil and head north in search of any blood that gets in our way.

Once on the interstate super highway, any driver to do us wrong finds a deluge of vulgar acts in their headlights, essentially making the highway a safer place for the next guy on two wheels, who may find himself in the path of the same now enlightened driver. This display of road justice may include performing sexual acts with your motorcycle tank while slowing the ignorant driver to a crawl.

After battling through heavy traffic on the BQE, we arrived at our destination at the Works Engineering shop. Now this is no back-alley, ram-shackled hut, rather, a highly-fortified, monstrous structure where we can hide from the creatures that appear after a 3:45am last call at the Matchless bar. Somewhere I had stopped taking pictures as I became too diluted with whiskey and beer, but I managed to snap off a few photos in the shop as our friend and host, Ray, entertained with new stories.

No one expects the morning to feel good. The only thing you can do is play catch-up with the weird sauce for the few hours missed while your brain rested. We rolled our bikes out from the catacombs of Works and parked them against the curb, while onlookers of the new york vintage motorcycle show took pictures and rallied down north 14th street. It is a much better show when you emerge from the inside looking out, smelling of road grease, stale booze and a wretched back ache from the floor/roof you made a bed that night—It’s the only way to prepare for this motorcycle show and looks more authentic than some wide-eyed gawker. Eventually we set out for food down Bedford Ave., looking as if some brutes were set loose from their cage. Shirtless Mike made sure to carry our strange vibes to the fullest exposing would be brunch eaters to a full chest of hair.

Somewhere around 1:30, I scouted out Manhattan in search of some threads and found no traffic to be had from Brooklyn to the tunnel (our exit strategy for later that day). I made my way back to the show and met the rest of our group.

After “looking hard” for the rest of the show, we decided to pack our remaining energy into the trip home over the Williamsburg Bridge, across Canal St., through the Holland tunnel, over the detoured Pulaski Skyway, down route one and into PA for a toll-less venture back to our philth down south.

A couple Honda and Suzuki in there.

Pics are shitty low res. whatever.

Pretty cool to see how they set certain things up. I recently added a lockhart oil cooler to my z1 and set it up in the normal spot above the headers and ran the lines over the engine and under the fuel tank.

Take note of how some of the race bike oil coolers are. Wayyyy in front or all the way in the back. Wild. And some are frickin huge.

Some really cool seats too.

I think I may have been the only one who thought I would make it to Ohio.

It bombed. It didnt make it out of the city. Back to work.

I rode it tonight. Here is how it is rolls right now. Richer than Google and the OG LTD tank. The old GT3r tank was starving the carburetors of fuel. The petcock on that tank was built for a single cylinder and could not fill the float bowls fast enough. I also found that after sitting for two years outside, the timing advance mechanism was stuck and it wouldnt allow the bike to fully rev up.

and then… back to work.

Do you think you’re more dirty than this?
Homemade dirtbike footpegs for the KZ.

Crap phone photo.

I should be further along by now. Rear Brakes Fixed!

This is Dave kings Shaft driven 1978 Yamaha 750 triple XS. In between moving from Philly to the Lehigh Valley to be closer to his beloved trails, it took Dave about a year to get the bike to where it is now. It was pretty stock when he first bought it. On a side note Dave is getting married to his long time girlfriend Kerri Kinder. She has the best whiskey tattoo a girl could have and she puts up with Dave’s shit. So she is pretty rad. Going to be a good wedding. If your unfortunate enough to know this son of a bitch, maybe I’ll see you there.

These are Dave’s trail bikes. A 1983 Kawasaki 750 KZ (also shaft driven)  and His FBM Exodus. Pretty Legit setup.