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Brake Caliper Identification

There are several different front and rear brake calipers that were used on the 1973 thru 1980 Kaw
900's and 1000's.........For easy identification, we have an illustrated table below on this page.
In many instances, parts have been switched and the brakes that are on a bike now are often
not the original equipment for a given VIN #.......


This type of single-piston front caliper was used on the 1973 thru 1975 Z-1 900 models only. Due to the spacing of the mount holes, they will only mount to the lower legs of a Z-1 front fork.
We simply refer to these as "Z-1 front calipers".

This type of single-piston front brake caliper was used on the 1976 & 1977 KZ900's, and the 1977 KZ1000A models.
The rubber brake hose connects to a steel line which feeds the caliper. The picture on the left shows the
steel line arrangement on the single disc "A" models, and the pic on the right shows the curved line as
used on the 1976 KZ900B LTD models. We refer to these as "Early KZ front calipers".


The 1977 KZ1000B LTD models, and all 1978 and later 1000 models used these single-piston front calipers, whether the bike had single or double disc front brakes. The main difference between these and the ones above was the switch to the rubber line extending to the caliper with a banjo fitting at the end. We refer to these as "Late KZ  front calipers".

However - There are different variations of these "Late KZ" calipers...... Not all have the same diameter / length piston - And the later 1979 and 1980 versions use different brake pads than the earlier type.......

If you're not sure if the original calipers are on your bike, you can measure the daimeter - and overall length of the piston to determine what parts it uses... We have whatever it takes.


 
This type of twin-piston rear caliper was used on the 1977 & 78 KZ1000A models, and the 1978 & 80 KZ1000D (Z1-R) models.
We refer to these as "Early 1000A  rear calipers".

 
This type of single-piston  rear caliper was used on the 1976 KZ900B LTD / 1977 & 1978 KZ1000B LTD models.
Very similar to the KZ front calipers shown above, but they differ considerably internally.
We refer to these as "Early 900B / 1000B rear calipers".

 
Except for the Z1-R's, these twin-piston calipers were used on all 79 & 80 KZ1000's....With minor variatons......
We refer to these as "Late 1000 Rear calipers".

e-mail us at > jim@redlinecycle.com

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