That sounds like a plan. The headlight was always kind of dim before, and varied with rpm. I don’t plan on tearing up any trails at night, just want it street legal so I can ride around the neighborhood. Although when I used to take it to Mid Ohio vintage days there was a fair amount of off-reading done at night...


I’m hesitant to take the handlebar switch apart based on past experiences ( not being able to get them back together). I do have contact cleaner I can spray in and exercise the switch.

I went ahead and got one of those headlights off Ebay. It’s coming from Bangkok so it won’t be here till November. Backup plan may be to rig a 6 volt H4 base LED into the old “sealed beam” housing.


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Get a can of Caig Deoxit. Spray it in the switch and cycle it.

The Caig is amazing stuff. You can also spray connectors and plug and unplug them a few times and they'll be like new.

It’s here! Hope it made its long journey undamaged.


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Looks to be a direct fit except for the plug, which I knew going in.


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Nice!!!

Thanks for the update! Is the bulb replaceable?

It does look like the bulb is replaceable, if you can find the right lamp.

I was able to depress a tiny tab on each male spade in the connector and slide them out. I then plugged them into the female end of the headlight connector on the bike.



Had to take it for a spin around the hood. Good thing it’s still warm here, still about 65. Perfect for a nighttime cruise in shorts and a hoodie. Unfortunately it’s getting to be the time of year I’m thinking about putting the bikes away. I still need to bleed the oil injection, I still have premix in the tank.


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Nice work!!!

Well I guess I’m moving on from DT 50 electrical to just plain old DT.

I ride it to a local bike gathering this morning. It ran pretty good, but it does not really seem to have the power it should. I put on a new chain and sprockets and took it back to stock gearing. The new chain and sprockets seem to have a lot less drag, but TopSpeed is the same at about 45 mph. Even downhill with a tail wind.

I did a little looking on YouTube and found this video linked below. His top speed is over 50, and he’s at higher elevation than I am. Assuming it is stock, I think I am down on power from where I should be. This one seems to pick up revs much quicker and appears to go over 50mph.



I’m going to check my compression, and see if I can determine if the exhaust system might be plugged or obstructed. I have a shop manual so I should be able to figure out what compression is supposed to be. Could be needs a top end, it does have over 3000 miles on it.


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5 M.P.H. Is not much difference, I worked at a Kawasaki dealer in the mid 80’s and we uncrated 100’s of bikes many times the same models with consecutive serial numbers, many times if we got a new year street model we assembled, gassed, oiled them and took them out to see what the new model could do, yes meaning red line them fresh out of the box and always there were some that ran better and faster than their serial numbered sister bike. There is so many things that will affect identical bikes in speed, handling and longevity, the biggest factor was weight, as I said we would drag race these bikes out of the box, one stood out to me was a pair of Kawasaki GPZ750 Turbo Ninjas new for 1984 that bike was scary fast, me and the owner would drag race a pair of stock bikes and he would always pull me by about 1 bike length, switch bikes and same result, we knew it wasn’t rider ability as it was well known I was the better rider and had way more trophies and wins to my name, the main factor was I was about 50 pounds heavier than him. We also raced GPZ1100’s mine was way more modified than his, we would do a roll on race from 30 M.P.H. to around 100 M.P.H. and I would beat him by about 3 bike lengths every time, switched bikes same race with him riding my bike and me riding his, he would walk away and pull me by about 6 bike lengths.
many tricks to make a bike faster, these guys would remove disc brake pads from the front dual rotors for less drag, loosen axle nuts and install worn out wheel bearings also for less drag, which equate to more speed. Hard to compare two bikes top M.P.H. without knowing what’s been done to them, as you mentioned altitudes, state of tune, rider size and ability, closed course, just too many variables, now if it was 20 M.P.H. difference then something is amiss

Don't be surprised if you only get maybe 50 psi compression on a gauge.  Normal for that model.  And yes they are not very powerful...  teaches you to keep RPM up.  Starting out from a stop up a hill...  not even that big a hill...  can be impossible.

Are you keeping the RPM up?  You absolutely must take it to redline before shifting the higher gears.  Otherwise you'll never reach top speed.

I dropped the front sprocket one tooth and gained about 10 mph on mine...  might be what the other guy did?