'81 GS550 Cafe Build

[Zbradley1215]

where did you get the tail light?

 

[D-Mac]

where did you get the tail light?

It's kind of a weird story. A guy I met in my motorcycle course told me about a warehouse in Ann Arbor that ships bike accessories. I went to the address in an industrial park and walked in. It was a bunch of boxes and a few guys packing stuff. I asked if they would sell me a taillight and they said to just pick one off the floor. I found one and they took $15 cash for it. It must be some kind of wholesaler.

I suspect it's just a Bikemaster part, or they likely make one exactly like it.

 

[Bonehead]

Still love this build D-Mac. A little late, but congrats on the master mechanic

Those electrics re-located are exactly what I am going to do... Eventually lol. That license plate braket looks awesome as well. I wish I had HALF of the things that you have access to for fabrication etc. But, maybe soon! haha

 

[Zbradley1215]

It's kind of a weird story. A guy I met in my motorcycle course told me about a warehouse in Ann Arbor that ships bike accessories. I went to the address in an industrial park and walked in. It was a bunch of boxes and a few guys packing stuff. I asked if they would sell me a taillight and they said to just pick one off the floor. I found one and they took $15 cash for it. It must be some kind of wholesaler.

I suspect it's just a Bikemaster part, or they likely make one exactly like it.

d-mac, go back and get me one please and thank you

haha its a good looking tailight combo thats nice and small

 

[D-Mac]

It seems like these updates keep getting more frequent.....

Brakes are bled. Front one was a PIA.

Fresh oil added.

Pulled the plug caps and decided to quickly check compression. The first bit of good news is that the engine cranks! Compression is OK, but not great yet (quite a bit of variation among cylinders, although when I went back and re-checked my low cylinder it had already jumped up from 120 to 130). Once I run it in and the rings seat, I expect it will get better. Let's hope so anyway. It was done cold too, and on a low battery, so a warm engine and more juice might bump up the numbers as well. If the compression numbers don't even out once the bike is running, I'll do a leak-down. For now I'm pretty happy.

Next step is to install the exhaust tonight. Then the petcock and tank go on.....and then.........ray:

 

[Good Times]

Wow wow wow.....

You've done such a great job on this bike DMac. I'm impressed. I love everything you've done to it. Paint looks great with the gold touches.

 

[D-Mac]

Thanks for the comments and support.

It's done (other than the upholstery for the seat, which I will do in a couple of weeks). A friend and I put the headers on the other night, and I spent an hour today installing the muffler, adjusting the shifter, putting on some new hoses and cable holders, and mounting the seat.

Sooooo.....I just need to put gas in it and push "start." I might do that as soon as tomorrow or I might wait until I get back from a holiday trip early in the new year to do it. The possibility of gas leaking all over my basement makes me a little nervous, and I'm enjoying looking at the bike too much to try and haul it across the snow and ice to my "shop" just yet. It's also happier in my warm basement than in my shop, which doesn't have a real heating system yet.

I'm gonna clean the bike up a bit tomorrow and post some pics + video.

I'm also considering starting a small commercial shop on the side - perhaps as early as May 2013. I'd like to do some restoration work and basic maintenance. If I enjoy that even half as much as I've enjoyed working on this project, and I can eventually break even doing it, I'd be thrilled.

 

[Dec79]

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

 

[D-Mac]

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.

 

[D-Mac]

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).

 

[Toasty]

Wow! The bike looks incredible!

 

[tkent02]

Really really really nice.

 

[Road Rash]

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.

 

[D-Mac]

Before??

After??

 

[D-Mac]

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.

 

[musicman]

Nothing other than incredible!!!

 

[MAJikMARCer]

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?

 

[D-Mac]

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.

 

[Road Rash]

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.

 

[Dec79]

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