Diff'rent Strokers

[Cal]

Paul,
Got any links?

[1975-S1C]

Hi Cal

The KH and S series forum is at

Kawasakikhregister.myfastforum.org/index.php

Simon Lister's website for sares is at

Www.kawasakitripleparts.com

And Mraxl's resource is at

Www.kawtriple.com/mraxl/index.html

I've also got shop manuals and parts catalogues in PDF form if you need them.

Keep up the good work fellas, it's good to see your progress.
Cheers
Paul

[Cal]

Paul,

Thanks I will check the links.

PM on it's way.

Cal

[1975-S1C]

Karl / Cal,

You have mail

Cheers
Paul

[1975-S1C]

Actually, I've probably swamped your inbox for no good reason. You can get everything I sent you and more from Mraxl's site on the link I posted above.
Cheers
Paul

[arlurt]

Thanks for your help Paul.

I'm still messing about with filler, third attempt and getting somewhere near now.



I'm hoping to get it painted, decaled and lacquered this weekend.
_________________
Light is right.

[arlurt]

That's the last piece of bodywork finished to a standard every bit as high as the rest of the bike.



I'll let it settle overnight then pick the dead fly and piece of blue thread out of the lacquer. If it looks good enough I'll refit the plastic liner that sits between the tail-light and the steel tail unit and have a look to see if I can get the tail-light to fit a little further in to the recess so it doesn't stick out quite so much. Then it can go back to the bike as well.
_________________
Light is right.

[Top-shaggy]

Looking well smart
_________________
We are where we are...

[arlurt]

I've lost count of the number of times I've put this together and taken it apart again.

I've managed to move the tail light down half an inch, and in by about the same amount. I didn't like the way the light appeared to be just stuck on the back of the tail piece, so inspired by SB's modified LC I've moved things about a bit. You can see how it looked on my first attempt on page 9 if you can be bothered...



Much happier with this.
_________________
Light is right.

[Top-shaggy]

_________________
We are where we are...

[arlurt]

Here's tonight's bit of progress:



The tail piece, seat and tank won't quite sit like that. The tank isn't fully forward yet, so it's pushing the seat back over the edge of the tail piece. Should all be OK when everything is fitted as it should be.

Now I must get on with sorting out that rear shock and the wiring. You might have noticed it isn't sat on the paddock stand any more so I can pull the shock and linkage out and decide what to do.
_________________
Light is right.

[arlurt]

I know exactly what you mean, and you are quite right. Yet as you say, there it sits...

Having done most of the easy stuff I’ve been trying to work out if the “new” rear shock I’ve got for the KH will (might) work or not. There are an awful lot of variables to consider and my brain is starting to ache just thinking about it.

I bought a modern rear shock from a CBR125, the reasoning was that the CBR is a good solid and reliable source for parts of decent quality, easily available and cheap. However, the CBR125 shock is not a straight swap for the (very knackered) Suzuki MX item and swing-arm that I fitted to the KH 20 years ago.

The Suzuki alloy swing arm uses a shock linkage where the Honda item is direct acting. I believe the linkage enables more shock travel for a given amount of wheel travel than a direct acting shock, and provides some rising rate. So using the direct acting shock with the linkage should mean it will have to travel more for a given amount of wheel travel than it would have done on the Honda. This might actually work in my favour because the KH (according to the internet) is about 45Kg (100lbs) heavier than the CBR125.

CBR125
- Wet 127Kg (281lbs) - Dry 115Kg (253lbs)

KH250
- Wet 175Kg (385lbs) - Dry 160KG (348lbs)

My theory is that using the (direct acting) Honda shock with the Suzuki linkage will increase the effective rate (lbs/inch) of the Honda shock to cope with the extra weight, and that the rising rate effect will compensate for the effective loss of shock travel. This also explains why I can’t work out if this is a viable solution or not. I’m banking on sensible Honda building the CBR125 suspension to cope with two-up loading and giving me a safety margin for my use of their shock. And my KH should be quite a bit lighter than the standard bike.

I’m going to have to lash something up to try this set up and see if it’s anywhere near good enough to make the bike useable.

Do I feel lucky…?

If it's all a complete disaster I can get a couple of brackets welded to the swing arm and use the CBR125 shock in direct acting mode, just as Mr Honda inteded. I can also put more than one set of holes in the new bracket so that I can alter the shock position to increase or decrease rate as required.

But first I want to roll the dice and see what happens with the shock mounted to the linkage!
_________________
Light is right.

[arlurt]

And if I really am defeated, I've got a red-painted standard swing-arm and a pair of rusty shocks in an old bread tray in the garage. I haven't cut the twin-shock top mounts off yet so I could go that way.

But I don't want to!
_________________
Light is right.

[Gillinghampaul]

Im having similar headaches with the ysr shock! Already decided to modify the arm to take a longer shock, but its a light bike and the arm has half the leverage?
_________________
Gagging for it

[arlurt]

Looking at the picture below you'd think I'd got a real problem, you can see how long the old MX shock is and how high the top mount is in the frame.





With the Honda shock bolted to the swing arm linkage the effective stroke of the CBR125 shock actually looks pretty good.



I need to lash up a temporary top mount and see how it all feels, but I feel a lot happier about the chances of it working than I did yesterday. I might even have room to use the original battery box and to put the regulator and rectifier back where Kawasaki intended.
_________________
Light is right.