Kawasaki KZ650 cafe-racer. Clamps for fork gaiters.

In my mind the image of cafe-racer (so to say its template) always has gaiters (boots) on front fork. So no wonder that every my cafe-racer has gaiters on front fork. And I also prefer gaiters with fewer but of larger diameter ribs. For Kawasaki KZ650 project I chose same Kijima  gaiters I used for Honda CB815.

I also bought P2M aluminum clamps (anodized in black) to fix gaiters lower ends on outer fork tubes. I used clamps of this manufacturer before and found them to be very nicely made.  The most suitable size among assortment of P2M clamps was 67 +/- 1mm which was approximately for 1mm larger than desirable, but I supposed this issue could be fixed.

However, when I fit clamp to gaiter it was obvious for me that I need polished clamps to fit polished fork. Thus, I sandpapered anodized layer from clamps (inner side I left untouched) and by the way I grinded both ends of clamps so they will fix gaiters on fork outer tubes tight. The idea to drill holes in clamps was so obvious and solid that one could bruise a toe by tripping over it.  The only question was: how many of holes and of what diameter?  After simple measuring and  calculations I decided that nine 7mm holes would do. Sure, I didn’t forget to countersunk  holes’ outer edges.

I think clamps looks much better now.

Ends of clamps before and after grinding:

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