1981 KAWASAKI KZ440 LTD-A Custom Bobber

Hello. my name is Todd White. I’m a local bike builder out of Sun City. Ca. I just recently finished a build of a 1981 Kawasaki Z440-A LTD. This bike. I got from a buddy and was rotting on the side of his house. Was looking for a project so I asked if I could take it off his hands and he happily agreed. I decided the look I was going for was a bobber with a Villipoto inspired theme (that’s the reason I have the number 2 plate on the bottom of fake oil tank). So I will start with the front of the bike. The springer front end I made at work. took existing stem from old lower tree and press fit into new lower tree and finished up front end around the ride height. Made old style trunnions for the rockers out of 1” cold rolled steel. Front caliper is off YZF 450 and machined access to run cable reverse direction. Bought cables from J&J aircraft supply. Turned down the rotor . 050 thou to allow for more clearance. Wheels are stock; just powder coated and repacked bearings. Machined cover opposite side disc brake. All spacers I machined out of brass on entire bike. Handle bars. foot pegs. throttle and seat pan mount are from Biltwell. Clutch lever is MSR. Front light is a Bates; I just powder coated trim to match the cases. Used stock tank. pie cut and stretched 3 inches. Used traditional Kawi green with off white on tank and rear fender. The entire motor I went thru. replaced only a center shifter fork in tranny and sand blasted existing pistons with 8 gauge glass and used a fresh ring set. Honed cylinder’s and did some mild porting. Painted it black and powder coated the cases a rootbeerish looking color. Used front half of stock frame and married into my own hard tail design to give it a factory look. all frame tubing is DOM . 120 wall cold rolled. The plate behind the motor I designed to support lower frame tubes. down tube and give motor more mounting options. Carbs were sand blasted with glass and completely rebuilt using Sigma Jets out of Arizona. The air filter was my own design (I work at K&N) I made two filters. one with cotton media and the other with a dry flow media. Both filters come with the sale of the bike and are the ONLY style of its kind. Also made carbon fiber tops to give it a different look. Made battery tray to house a 12 volt Ballistic battery and a cover with custom engraving with company’s logo. Made fake oil tank to house all wiring and most of the wiring was routed thru tubing. Made seat pan with 1” foam core and had Enjoy hook me up with a seat cover. same one they put on Villipoto’s bike! Under the seat I made brass housings for urethane bump stops to add for a more comfortable ride. The seat also flips up to allow access to wiring. The rear fender is compliments of RWD Designs out of Murrieta. Ca. and was bolted in 4 spots on the frame. Brake light is from Zero engineering and the license plate set up I did. Chain is from D. I. D. 122 links (long sucker. and expensive). Chain rollers I made out of 90 shore hard urethane and lower roller has McMaster Carr bearings. Stock drums in the rear with brake stop that I machined with a two stage powder coat and a Team Green logo. I used existing parts for the rear brake switches and the rear brake pedal is stock just had vacuum metalized (cheaper than chroming). This bike took me about 1-1/2 years to build and I literally have gone thru every square inch of this bike. I named it “The Lunch Box Special” because I built it every day at work on my ten minute breaks and my lunches. The bike received Editor’s Choice Award at the IMS Long Beach Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show and took second in its class at the Grand National Roadster Show. It’s a ton of fun to ride but have to sell it and provide for the family. I think I covered almost everything but probably forgot something. If you have any questions at all feel free to call. 951-375-6353. Thanks for checking it out and if you need more pics just send me and email. wht_tdd@yahoo. com.