'81 GS550 Cafe Build

[6pkrunner]

Simply beautiful! Incredible job. Hats off!

Gorgeous bike D-Mac! I have been watching the build form the get go and insanely impressed with the way it has turned out! One thing I have seen several people do is take a piece of plexiglass and have it run on the tail support tube in front of the rear tire to keep any unwanted debris from being flung on the underside of your bike. Easy to remove and clean if you ever want to put it in a bike show

Also have you ever thought of running an 18" rear? Again awesome build!

Congratulations mate, that is an amazing achievement!! One of the best executed projects I've seen in a good while. I'm also loving the area where you have the bike photographed, sort of a cafe themed chill-out area.... no doubt where the 550 and future projects will hang out!?

Any plans to upgrade the bike further - a project is never finished

Be great to get a vid of the old girl up and running too...

Dec

I fabbed a splash shield for my old bike, to keep things clean. Just some aluminum sheet metal, painted black to blend in, rivited to the underside of the backhalf of the frame.

Really inspiring job. I'm not going the cafe route but I like how clean your bike ended up. Are you going to have any rear fender? If not how are you going to keep the underside clean? Just lots of elbow grease?

Great question. I toyed with the idea of welding on some mounts for a removable rear fender (a cover behind the mid compartment I could add/remove as needed). If I was going to ride this thing much (or at all in the wet) I would really want that - or at least something in hard plastic or aluminum that I could zip-tie in place.

I don't plan to use this bike as my daily rider, or much at all really (my BMW RT serves that purpose - I don't even wash that bike!) The GS will be strictly for dry, sunny days on back roads. If it gets to be a chore to clean, I'll likely do some modifications at some point. In that case, a front fender would probably be a good idea too.

For now, it's an incredibly practical engine in an incredibly impractical frame.

Really inspiring job. I'm not going the cafe route but I like how clean your bike ended up. Are you going to have any rear fender? If not how are you going to keep the underside clean? Just lots of elbow grease?

Nothing other than incredible!!!

Just stumble across this build. Wow, D-Mac! That looks beautiful! Now I gotta go back and read from the start! I like the single carb filter. Wonder how that works over individual carbs.

Thanks!

These K&N filters come as a pair (1&2 and 3&4 carbs are linked). I've heard that they are much better than the separate pods. We'll see though. They were expensive and not the easiest to fit.

Before……



After……

Just stumble across this build. Wow, D-Mac! That looks beautiful! Now I gotta go back and read from the start! I like the single carb filter. Wonder how that works over individual carbs.

Whoops! After an hour or two of reading the thread, just noticed they are dual filters. Forgot K&N made those.

[tkent02]

Really really really nice.

Wow! The bike looks incredible!

Here is a Youtube video and some pics of the finished product. I dug out the good camera for these. No start-up yet (waiting until I get home from an upcoming trip to do that).

Video is here (click on link):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjKuY8Me70Q&feature=youtu.be

Some pics from Photobucket (just need a seat cushion now).

Awesome work my friend.

A quick Q re the regulator / rectifier - is the CBR1000 unit a direct plug and play fitment or did you need to strip and re-solder the wires?

I look forward to the start up report / vids

Dec

It has 5 wires that match up easily, but they are on two big connectors. I cut off the original connectors and crimped on bullet connectors to plug into the stator/harness.

Awesome work my friend.

A quick Q re the regulator / rectifier - is the CBR1000 unit a direct plug and play fitment or did you need to strip and re-solder the wires?

I look forward to the start up report / vids

Dec