Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Hey guys

i'm new to this site...just signed up.

ive just been given a 82-83 GT750 completly stripped down apart from the motor and wanted to build to into a cafe racer type bike. i've rebuilt bikes before but not anything like this one (the last one was a cbr250rr. (i know, i was a learner))

i know the engine needs rebuilding from what the guy who gave it to me said. he said somthing about the cam chain tensioner bring the problem with it. also it is a shaft drive and i want to convert it to a chain drive. what would be involved with that. can anyone give me the name of a good motor rebuilder in the brisbane southside area..i can post some pics later when i start it. at the moment i'm just trying to get some info on this bike as there is not much on the internet about them being modded much.

thanks for your time and hope to hear from some of you soon.

I have one of these for sale - chain drive one if your interested.
I should be able to find an electronic copy of the manual. Send me a PM with your email.

Cheers
Sim

Also looking for some pics of similar bike that have been done up in this style for some insperation

Mate - the work involved in converting a GT750 to chain drive is extreme. It's not something that you could do in your garage, and you won't find much on the net about modifying GT750's - because its not something that anyone does. They were a good reliable mid-range touring bike in stock condition - but they are *not* a good basis for a cafe-racer. Main problem with this model is that not many of the cycle parts are common to the normal chain-drive z650/z750's from back in the late 70's / early 80's. So 2nd-hand parts, when you can find them, are expensive. Brand-new OEM stuff will send you broke inside 5 minutes, if it is still available from Kawasaki ....

The best advice I could give you, is to fix it up - sounds like it may just need a new cam-chain and cam-chain tensioner - then sell it, and use the funds to knock up a cafe-racer using something like Simon's Z750 as a basis.

Here is a picture of a z650 cafe-racer that one of the boys down here in Canberra has recently knocked up - this bike is an absolute corker, and is how a good cafe racer should look.

Here is another good looker (W650) that is for sale at Betterbikes in Sydney....... 1999 model asking $10,990



More info here for those interested http://www.betterbikes.com.au/bike_listing.php?ClassifiedID=1119#

Hi Guys,

I know this post was from sometime ago, but I am in the same situation as dantheman here, currently have a sr500 and a triumpth bonneville that im working on. Just looking for some inspiration for a drive shaft cafe racer look.

I know what you guys mean with it not being the right bike for the job but i think with abit of inspiration and the drive to want to do it you could make it something really different.

dantheman how did your project turn out?

Thanks for your time guys