KR-1S.co.uk Forum

Hi to all,

I am Jay currently in Cambs area. I have had a KR1s since 1991.

I am really pleased this site exists for what is in my opinion the best stinkwheel ever made!!

Unfortunately at present it is languishing in the garage with seized brakes leaky fork seals and a blown motor.

In the years I have owned it I have trackdayed it, raced it a bit and generally blown it to bits a few times on the road. The last time was in 2000 and its been in the shed/garage ever since.

I love the bike and will NEVER sell it. Its all original and in generally really good nick aside from the probs mentioned above.

The exciting thing for me is that I am finally about to undertake the full stripdown and rebuild from top to bottom as finances and new house are sorted..(new workshop yipeee!!).

Any advice on an engine builder?
Should I keep it standard or go the full route of different bodywork, running gear etc.?

I am torn between the 'keep it standard' route or the extreme makeover.. Ohlins Marchesinis, Black frame, NSR or something more sleek panels etc etc.

Any realistic ideas greatfully received, and the budget is pretty much unlimited as this bike is a keeper and having had it this long I have no problem in it taking a year or two to finish and spending gradually. The finance manager of the house has agreed that I have a monthly budget of £500 ongoing to get the job done!! How lucky am I?? How little does she know?? hehe

I will post some pics when the work begins and keep you updated if you wish?

Thanks in advance..

Jay

Hi Jay and welcome to the forum, nice to see another long term owner on here, I've had bits of mine since 1991!

Engine stuff, depends what you want and want doing, but BDK are really good for bits and stuff and they're not too far from you. Mick Abbey is a member on here and was offering an engine rebuild service. Then you've got all the other tuners etc.

Standard or special, daft question if you ask me, but then again I'm an inveterate special builder, ask Martin and he'll tell you it should be as Mr Kawasaki intended That can only be your decision-or build 2!

Pics and updates are a must Always nice to see what someone else is up to for help and inspiration.

All the best with the rebuild, you should find this site a real help for bits and info, it's certainly one of the 'nicer' forums on the old www

theres certainly some great bikes on this forum that have been restored to standard (and beyond in some cases), whilst others have applied a bit of lateral thinking and advanced engineering - both routes are equally apreciated here.
My personal choice is the non standard route - I like to see a little creativity applied to these wonderful old strokers.
MJ posted some useful tuning tips that are easy to do at home with the right tools. Popular mods are RGV rear wheels and ZXR400 forks.

I have gone for a bit of everything in mine, donations from 6 other bikes, soon to be 7!

Welcome to the forum anyway, I am sure you will find everything you need to know on here

the basic formula for me is pretty much spot on just needs some refinement in certain area's if you ask most owners (suspension mainly).

though you cant go wrong with the "get on and ride it approach" looking through the Projects section turns up a large variety of what can and has been achieved.

my own approach is at present keeping it standard, tho when its built and running no doubt some improvements and mods will creep in.

the bike is ideal for building a long and special relationship with

standard with a tuned motor is the easy route, graham file is supposed to be VERY good with kr's
the problem with modding a kr is the you cant buy any off the shelf alternatives for bodywork unlike the tyga stuff for nsr's and rgv's.
tyga stuff will fit but once you start hacking into a stock bike theres usually no going back
so be thats the route you want to take and also double check the things you want to fit will actually fit onto
the frame and will also fit together as in getting the lines between tanks and seats to match up.
scooble has done a very good job and there are some very nice rgv's about that have got bodywork from all sorts of
different bikes on them so it can be done but doing it well it the tricky bit.

Thanks for the replies!!

I am stuck as to what to do as yet but a new motor rebuild will be a good place to start..

Graham File eh? the last time I had the motor done it was Stan Stephens who was the daddy. That not the case anymore then?

Replacing the bodywork would probably be the biggest headache, I shall scour the projects section for inspiration.

Cheers

Jay

welcome aboard. times have changed from the early 90's and so has the who's who in two stroke tuning. the man of today is graham file and has been for a good few yrs. the n0.1 race engine builder (2t) and particularly handy with the tz rgv tzr (1kt/2ma) and the kr1s. any chance of a few pics? bodywork wise i have seen nice looking kr based specials with early 90's tz250 bodywork that look spot on. the newer tz and h***a rs fairing looks too big for some reason. aprilia stuff looks good aswell. some nice bikes in the members gallery. the nicest road bikes ive seen though wear std bodywork and various forks/wheels/swing arm/brakes etc with pipes/engine work et al.