Where I Shop

Z 1 enterprises. They specialize in NOS(New Old Stock) and aftermarket parts for Vintage Japanese Motorcycles. I have been a customer of theirs for some time.

I read somewhere that the owner of the outfit, Jeff Saunders is a huge Z1 fan(hence the company name) and starting to purchase parts for his Z1 in bulk so that he can sell some to his follow Z1 riders. Then non-Z1 riders stated to ask him "what about parts for my bike?" Thus the operation grew.

I like them because they will cut you deal if you order them in bulk and always looking into better way to serve customers. For example, they are going to switch delivery service from UPS to Fed-Ex since they realized Fed-Ex is faster and cheaper. One time they called me to apologize because they had only 9 oil filers when I order 10 of them. I told her that I don't need 10 of them right away so not to worry. They gave me the discount and store credit.

I also do a lot of research on parts and the vendors on-line and Z-1 enterprises always comes to the top part of the list. In fact, I have not heard anything bad about them, yet. I am not getting paid from them for this write up, by the way. I am telling you this from my experience.

The only thing that I would not buy from them are rectifier/ regulators because they get theirs from the place I don't like. I buy those electrical parts from other company, which I am gonna talk about some other time.

Performance Machine Ad

Can't read them? Click to enlarge.

Power of the Sun to keep your Battery alive

Battery dies a lot on bikes. Especially during the winter for those who don't have many warm days to rev it up. Yeah, trickle chargers are supposed to be attached during the hibernation, but that seems waste to me like having a cell phone charger permanently plugged into an outlet.

The best thing to do is riding, I don't remember who said it, but "Bikes deteriorate more while sitting in a storage than being ridden" is really true. Well, you can keep trickle charging your battery if there are lights. I stumbled upon this product and thought about getting it one time.
"Velleman's SOL5N 12 VDC solar cell trickle charger is great for keeping an automotive or motorcycle battery fresh and charged while the vehicle is parked outside. The solar cell produces up to 1-1/2 watts of power, so there is no worry of overcharging and battery damage. A built-in protection circuit guards against current reversal. Included with the solar cell trickle charger is a cigarette lighter plug with lead wires for temporary charging, two battery clamps with lead wires for long term charging, and four suction cups for vehicle window mounting). Specifications: *Maximum voltage output: 14.5 VDC *Maximum current output: 125 mA *Maximum power output: 1.5 watts *Dimensions: 4.7" H x 13.4" W x 0.6" D."

If you are interested, it is about 30 bucks with life time tech support. Good folks at parts express sell them. I buy almost all of wiring stuff from them and they have always reasonable prices.
Parts Express- solar cell trickle charger

Yeah yeah, this can be stolen when it is on bikes but that is always true on any bike parts if you park your bike unattended, out on crowded public. I got my bike kicked by some mindless coward and got fin broken the other day while I had my bike parked outside of the garage.

Parts lamp

If you keep it at your bed side, you can use it as a heavy blunt object to fend off intruders.

Beer can parts

I remember cutting out Milwaukee's Best( Go Away Garage's official beer) can and punch some holes then place on them on carburetors to restrict air flow, some time ago in the garage. Seems like it is popular to use them as a oil filter cover if not for exhaust.

For Lazy but like to be Polite

I have mentioned before that if you go to some kinda bike rally, you will end up giving peace sign or waving whole time to other riders and your shoulder is gonna get tired soon while you are riding.

I really thought about making some kind of automatic waving device, or quit waving all together. ( Mitch is against waving to other riders, by the way.)
I guess some people thought the same thing and came up with this mirror. I have spotted this product while I was doing research for Japanese stuff so it is sold in Japan and meant for left side traffic, like Japan, UK, Australia and such.　It is about 15 bucks, and says it is imported. It doesn't say from where, though.

Via :Amazon Japan

It seems like they are selling it as "Rock, paper, scissors" mirror, but I did not see any "rock" or "paper".


ところで、日本からの皆様　愛読有難う御座います。