Kawasaki 175 Enduro F7 -

[dooder]

Hi, I'm new here but have been reading as many threads as I can find about my new bike.
It's a 1975 *I think* Kawasaki F7. It doesn't run and is partially disassembled and I'm hoping to put it back together and get it running. I have no key and no manual and really don't even know where to start but I'm really excited to have a project...

Here is a link to a bunch of photos I took: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v3...1738/Kawasaki/

There was an offer for a PDF copy of a manual earlier in this thread. If anyone has one of those, I'd really appreciate it.
-Chris

[Dave in Wi]

Originally Posted by sjc56

I order a key, battery, so hopefully this will get me to see if it will run. Till I get the parts I'll spend some time cleaning up grounds and connectors.

I don't think you can get it to run without a battery. This was my first bike, I bought a 74 in about 1980. It hadn't run in a long time and the battery was dead. I bought it for $110 and with a new battery it started right up. I rode the snot out of that thing for a few years, really fun bike. I was very tempted to buy one at Vintage Days a few years ago, it was nearly mint and ran great.

[vernon dent]

i had a red 1972 that my parent's bought me new, my first bike. wadded it into the back end of an oldsmobile at a stoplight doing about 40 mph six months later. insurance covered a new orange 73 model. 21.5 horsepower, indicated 80 mph+ with my 17 year old, 160# ass on it. great bikes.

[sjc56]

Mine will run fine with out the battery, I just don't have the lights and horn.

[dooder]

SJC56, what all did you have to do to get yours to run?
Did you end up getting a new spark plug?

[sjc56]

Rebuilt the carb, added gas ,new plug. Starts 1 or 2 kicks

[catzass]

I know I'm bumping an old thread but hey! Not quite a year later how's that little bike treating you? My girlfriend just bought a 75 F7 175 it's her first bike. . It runs good but we are in the process of getting the lights and such to get it back on the street. A PO removed all these goodies at some point to use it on a farm. I just pursing thread to gleam all the info on this bike that I can.

[sjc56]

Last time I tried to take it for a spin back in the fall it didn't want to stay running, I haven't gotten back to it yet while I get my 74 Guzzi back together.
I want to pull the motor apart and put in new seals maybe a new piston from what I have read mine is way down on power, given enough road it should do 70 mine struggles to get to 55. A friend suggested I go up on the main do to the alcohol in the gas. 2 strokes don't like it.

[Sniper X]

The F7 is still one of my all time favorite bikes. tourquey little suckers. great to ride.

[sjc56]

I keep hearing that and mine will not even lift the front wheel my old 80 XT250 had no trouble getting a wheel up makes me think my bike needs something.

[408Fairmont]

Sounds like it needs a rebuild, gotta love the old bikes for running even when a rebuilds needed lol. If you like it now, youll love it after the engines back in.

Looks like a nice bike though, my brother almost bought one a few weeks ago, had we seen this thread we might have been more inclined to get it. Ended up with a TS185 that was a bit closer to home.

[OldF7Guy]

I had one of these back in the day. Bought it with 500 miles on the clock and sold it with 15000. I rode the snot out of it and it was reliable as the sun coming up. In good running order they were very strong 175's and could give 250's fits. I often wondered what ever happned to mine and I love to see people restore them. Mine was a 75 model in green with the black hash stripe.

I wish we could still buy bikes like this new. Mine topped out at the time at an indicated 80 running just over the red line. I only weighed 130 lbs back then. I could cruze at 50 and road it back and forth to college which was 75 miles away. It never dawned on me at 18 it was too small for that. My how times change. These were very very good motorcycles for their time.

[TDM Rider]

USe dto ride one of these when I was a kid as well and it was a great bike for the day. My father in-law has one that I ride once in a while now and it has never been rebuilt after all these years and still has great compression and gobs of torque for a 175.

But there is no way they ever weighed anywhere near 130lbs. More like 330

[jontow]

I've got a new-to-me 74 F7, and am glad to find an active thread here in the 2 smokers subforum. Actually landed a pair of bikes, a 1975 KE125 in amazing shape (cosmetic *and* mechanical) for my wife, and a 1974 F7 for myself.

Hers starts right up, mine is a bit more finicky. If I get it to fire on the first kick, I can ride all over and it'll start right back up when warm; but if I miss it on the first kick, I've gotta let it sit for a few hours. I've got a few bits and bobs on order for it, including a new inlet tube gasket. The old one is being spit out. The previous owner also lost the little rubber plug over the air mixture screw, so It's got duct tape covering the hole. Anyone know where I could get that plug, so I don't have to screw around making one? Couldn't even find it on the parts fiche!





Runs great, when it runs, and has a fair bit of power. Bike has ~2000 miles on it; wife's bike has ~3000 miles on it.

While doing some maintenance, I think I've figured out that either the choke cable is seized or the choke mechanism in the carb is; her bike has a lot more movement in the choke lever. I suspect thats partially whats preventing mine from starting easily, along with probably a few million air leaks! The inside of the tank on mine has been treated with Kream (Cream?), but it looks like a nice enough job was done. Tank cap was lost and replaced with a car oil filler cap, which leaks a bit. Brake light switch broke and was replaced with a hackish little pushbutton on the lever itself (ebay perch/switch on the way), Tail lens is broke but usable for now, petcock was a bit leaky and PO put an inline shutoff just below it (forgot to thank him for this one.. ) and a few other issues, but so far so good. Doesn't help that its only 40F around here the last few days.

[jontow]

Having had a bit of sun today, though ~40-45F, I got the F7 out and fired up on starting fluid. Seems to idle way high, and not want to come back down. I noted that the air mixture screw on the carb was set at 5.5 turns out, anyone know what the baseline setting should be for that screw? Its usually more like 1.5-2.5 turns, so I'm guessing that mine is leaned way the hell out due to air leaks, and someone tried to 'fix' that with an adjustment. Anyone have some thoughts on where to start tracking down air leaks that would cause high idle on this bike? I'm sure the answer is "replace everything rubber", but .. c'mon, gotta be some biggest offenders