OMS kz440 superbike : 04

One thing I want to accomplish with this bike would be to get rid of the LTD look and go a bit more "superbike". To do that I need to get rid of the 16" truck tire out back for some better handling. There were a few 440 models that had 18" rear mags, but they apparently aren't that common in the US. With a little research I found that the first couple years of the kz550 had a drum brake 18" mag with some slight differences than the Euro spec 440. The drum for the 550 is slightly larger, as well as the rim width. Win, win.

Drum pad size differences:
550: Diameter: 179mm Width: 40mm
440: Diameter: 160mm Width: 30mm

Rim size differences:
440 LTD: 16x2.50
440 STD: 18x1.85
550 STD: 18x2.15

New rim and a standard 400/440 tail piece.



New tires. Shinko 712 100/90/19 up front and a 110/90/18 out back for less than $100 shipped.



The more I stared at the LTD frame, the more I realized the dimensions are completely different from the standard. I could modify the rear shock mounts heavily, but instead I bought another frame off ebay to save myself some time and sanity. As soon as it came in, I threw everything back together for a quick mockup.



Messing around with the tail mounts, I cut and drilled new holes a few inches back from the original. I still need to make the second mount to make things more rigid, but wanted to make sure this is the final position first.



Spent some time mounting up the new tires. I struggled to get the bead to set on both at first, but both are good to go now.



The cb350 tank in mockup looked good enough that I decided to check for clearance in all directions and see if it would work as a permanent fixture. Throttle cable, fuel lines, petcock location, etc. are good from all angles. I'll address the mounts soon.










I started pulling apart the forks, so I should have more on that soon.

Derrick