Ground-up build: A Kawasaki bobber rises from the weeds
Everyone loves a good barn find story, but what about digging an old motorcycle out of the weeds" That’s where Edi Buffon found the basket case Kawasaki KZ250 that would eventually become this incredible bobber-style piece of art.
Edi lives in Sydney, Australia, where he works as an engineer. Outside office hours, he wrenches on bikes as Machine 1867, from a 380 square foot space inside a shared warehouse. His area’s stacked with welders, grinders, hand tools and a lathe.
Edi wasn’t really shopping for a KZ when he found this 1980 model. He had a lead on a bargain pair of Honda CB900s, and when he went to collect them, the owner threw in the forlorn Kawasaki.
It wasn’t running?and yes, it was literally lying in the weeds?but Edi saw potential.
The KZ’s odometer showed less than 17,000 miles, so he cracked open the top end to figure out why it wasn?t running. ?It looked immaculate,? he reports. ?However, while assembling it, I found that the CDI was faulty. That could have been why it was dumped.?
Edi took the now-running motor, the section of frame that cradled it, and the rear wheel…and tossed the rest.
So most of what you see here was built up from raw materials. Edi started by fabricating a chromoly rigid frame?opting for a more shapely design than your garden-variety hardtail.
Next up was the front suspension. ?Aesthetically, my favorite type of suspension is the leaf spring,? he tells us, ?so this build had to have one....
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