pre 98 kats vs post 98 kats

[GaryS-NJ]

Total newbie question but I did look around here first. what are the major/key differences between pre and post kats,?? I have a 1995 kat750 and I'm going to look at a complete bike minus title tomorrow so I'm thinking about part swaps (and I don't even know what year/size this bike is,,, is there an obvious difference looking at the bikes?

[92xjunker]

Everything but the motor, not much changes there. Totally a different bike.
Pre is an 80's sport bike styled tourer the post is more bubble shaped with dual headlights. Not much directly changes over between the two.

[GaryS-NJ]

pre-post

thanks, that makes it real easy. I was going to buy a kat either to flip or parts and the owner who bought in in a lot of bikes from a police auction, didn't even know the year or vin. turns out it's a 97, with black wheels to replace my crazy '95 purple wheels but no title which might be a pain in NJ.

[92xjunker]

96-97 is a unique bike in its own. The electrical is only specific to those years. The cam sprockets and chain is also different.

[Chowtoo]

"96-97 is a unique bike in its own. The electrical is only specific to those years. The cam sprockets and chain is also different".
Were they better or worse electrical/ cam sprockets and chain parts for those two years versus the prior years? Was there a reason that they changed them?

[92xjunker]

They were the start of the cross over to the post kat. Controls were changed, the igniter box was changed and the cam sprocket and chain were changed. Not sure if the cam parts were carried over to the post or not. Although none of the electrical carried over either. When built an 88 with 97 loom, I had to change a lot of other parts to match it so, I didn't hack the new loom or related parts.

[GaryS-NJ]

97/97 unique?

Great stuff Junker// so to be clear, I will not be able to use the '97 kat600 ignitor on on my '95 kat750? And regarding the chain & sprockets.. I was planning to take the black wheels off the kat 600 and swap them onto my '95 kat750 using my kat750 chain and sprockets. Then install the '97 rear sprocket on my 1995 wheel and install that (along with the front sprocket and chain cut to size) on my '79 gs1000 (also plan to move the '97 kat600 front end onto my '79gs1000). Regarding the cam you mentioned, I guess you mean the '95 kat600 cam vs the 96/97 kat600 cam.. I don't care about that as I'm selling the motor complete asking $300 (already have a buyer).

[92xjunker]

Sprockets and wheels will swap over.