So they've arrived! With some fantastic help from my friend Mark, both bikes are now tucked up at home. Yes, I know what you're thinking - that garage is a mess. Leave me alone, we've just moved house, and everyone knows the garage is the first place to suffer. By the end of Sunday it will be sorted, transformed into a fully functioning bike workshop (that reminds me, I need to ask wife for a hydraulic platform to save my back).
So I've had a little time to think about a couple of things. The first is the manifold for the carburettor and the second is the seat design. The latter is a little more complicated so I'll start on the manifold.
My idea is to the left here. That's some 35mm tube that is made up of five segments. I hope the drawing itself is plenty explanation, but here's a helper. The dotted lines are welds, and the shaded box is to be cut away to allow the final piece to be installed. Now I know this is some pretty accurate cutting that is needed, so the whole thing might be reviewed. Overall I think the squareness (I've seen a few round ones) gives a more industrial look, and might be just what I need for a brat style bike. Why are you worrying about a manifold for a carburettor I hear you ask. Ok, so it's not the first job on my list, but it is a job I want to do never the less. The carbs on the KZ440 have a poor reputation, so this manifold allows you to throw out the shoddy factory carbs and fit a single after-market carb. Namely, a VM34. This carb has rave reviews when fitted to this model bike, and adds another advantage in that you only have one carb to blame should things need diagnosing. So I've had a bit dabble in Photoshop and have come up with a few ideas. These ideas are not extensive however, so if you have another suggestion I would love to hear it. I am sort of set on the matt black frame and white seat, but if you have a suggestion please let me know.
Personally, I lean to the white trim, and think it looks pretty nifty with the tiny flash of red on the air pod. Please select two options when you vote: One from the first five options, and then one from the last three - this way you can choose both a trim and an exhaust style. Ok, I have a GPZ500 for breaking - I'm hoping to get rid of this quite quickly so contact me for parts pricing. There are two ways to do it for now (I haven't listed anything on eBay yet): first is you leave a comment on this blog post; second is, and this is the preferred method, you sign up for an account here (GPZ forum) and leave a post on there - doing it the second way will allow me to easier track who wants what.
Anyway, if you want the best pricing contact me soon before I start and list items on eBay. |