WolfTechnics
Forum Apprentice
Hi guys,
I've been working on 2 GS500e's that I am building up to be the best looking GS500e's out there (in my opinion
). I've been keeping track of the progress on a forum in my native tongue but I figured I'd start a thread here as well.
You might remember me from the GS400/500 GR650 hybrid build which I started here in 2014, 12 frikking years ago! I'm happy to say that finishing that project is still very much in the planning, although it will be a couple more years. I've always been very much in the habit of allowing things to enter into my life which distracts me from actually finishing anything. In the last couple of years I have started to shed some of this burdening weight off of my shoulders and shrinking the baggage I continuously drag behind me through life. I've adopted a household philosophy of minimalism and together with my beautiful wife we run a low maintenance, clean and peaceful household. Besides that I have stopped my powder-coating company which I ran besides a full-time job, I've downsized from a large workshop to a 1.5 car garage and did away with lots of things that distract. Also I have sold my Nissan 350z, a money pit, an energy pit, a black void sucking up all thinking power needed for other thing also (yes that thing was fun). Gotten rid of my beater car, which had an endless, ever growing "to do" list attached to it, and have gotten a daily car with a not so endless "to do" list attached to it.
And now, with a baby boy on the way (our first!), I've decided to keep my hobby's purely to motorbikes, I need to focus, and can't allow my energy to be diverted over many different things anymore, many of which end up dead ends anyway.
Now, everything I do, everything I plan, eventually it has to lead to actually finishing the most extreme small capacity GS ever build, the GS450 hybrid build. I need to finish it, it occupies such a large part of my brain, it has become one of my life goals. But before I can do that, there is something I need to get out of the way first.
...boxes...boxes full of parts, two motorbikes and parts for a third stacked up in boxes, bins, tubs, you name it. I've grown to understand that looking at unfinished projects, projects without plans or actual actions to do something about it is a massive energy drain, a leak if you will. So I decided to finish the GS500e's that are housed inside those boxes first.
Now at the end of this emotional dribble lets talk actual actions and plans.
For clarity sake, I own 3 GS500e's, one of which is fully custom, and I keep track of that one in the GS450 topic (updates soon!). One of the other two remaining GS's I have owned before, put a GSXR-750 front fork on it, rode it for a couple years and then sold it. I have bought that bike back some years ago and it has been collecting dust ever since, let's call this bike "Woodcutter" due to the large amount of sawdust it had collected over the years. The third and last GS500e I own is a random GS500 I bought from someone, the bike was pushed into some bushes and was heavily corroded all over. I've been calling this bike in Dutch "Struikrover" which loosely translates to bush-bandit or highwayman, let's keep it short and call this one "Bandit".
The plans are to rebuild both Bandit and Woodcutter to an OEM+ standard. Over the years I have learned to appreciate the stock look of the GS500's, as fun as they are I always believed them to be not very good looking, now I always enjoy seeing them. There will be only slight difference between the two bikes, these difference are, but not limited to; Clip-ons vs superbike bars, front forks. There will be no cutting, no welding, and no crazy custom paint colors or anything. I will paint these bikes in the one and only really good looking paint scheme, 1989 black with red and silver, white wheels. The only real big modification will be the GSXR USD front forks.
Summary of end-goals for both bikes:
I already have two rare OEM belly pans, and 2 much rarer OEM Suzuki headlight fairings. I may or may not be permanently disabled after selling some crucial organs to be able to afford the OEM fairings, seriously, I could have bought a whole good-condition running GS500E for that money. Also I have already acquired two GSX600F/Katana wheels. I have chosen this type of wheel because it has dual disc brakes and the same styling as stock GS500e wheels. The wheel hubs will require spacers to lineup the discs with the calipers, but more about that later.
The color scheme is shown below, it is not my photo, I found it on a sellers listing, but it is the color scheme I am going for. But mine will have the more aggressive looking thicker USD front-forks, and the headlight fairing. I may or may not go for non-OEM blinkers and mirrors though, I think they are just too big to look good.
The decals are being made in Poland as I am typing this, I send them some OEM decals for the belly-pan as they had no archive on this, and the NOS OEM decals are all but useless for anything else as they let go of the backing paper.
To be continued...
I've been working on 2 GS500e's that I am building up to be the best looking GS500e's out there (in my opinion
). I've been keeping track of the progress on a forum in my native tongue but I figured I'd start a thread here as well.You might remember me from the GS400/500 GR650 hybrid build which I started here in 2014, 12 frikking years ago! I'm happy to say that finishing that project is still very much in the planning, although it will be a couple more years. I've always been very much in the habit of allowing things to enter into my life which distracts me from actually finishing anything. In the last couple of years I have started to shed some of this burdening weight off of my shoulders and shrinking the baggage I continuously drag behind me through life. I've adopted a household philosophy of minimalism and together with my beautiful wife we run a low maintenance, clean and peaceful household. Besides that I have stopped my powder-coating company which I ran besides a full-time job, I've downsized from a large workshop to a 1.5 car garage and did away with lots of things that distract. Also I have sold my Nissan 350z, a money pit, an energy pit, a black void sucking up all thinking power needed for other thing also (yes that thing was fun). Gotten rid of my beater car, which had an endless, ever growing "to do" list attached to it, and have gotten a daily car with a not so endless "to do" list attached to it.
And now, with a baby boy on the way (our first!), I've decided to keep my hobby's purely to motorbikes, I need to focus, and can't allow my energy to be diverted over many different things anymore, many of which end up dead ends anyway.
Now, everything I do, everything I plan, eventually it has to lead to actually finishing the most extreme small capacity GS ever build, the GS450 hybrid build. I need to finish it, it occupies such a large part of my brain, it has become one of my life goals. But before I can do that, there is something I need to get out of the way first.
...boxes...boxes full of parts, two motorbikes and parts for a third stacked up in boxes, bins, tubs, you name it. I've grown to understand that looking at unfinished projects, projects without plans or actual actions to do something about it is a massive energy drain, a leak if you will. So I decided to finish the GS500e's that are housed inside those boxes first.
Now at the end of this emotional dribble lets talk actual actions and plans.
For clarity sake, I own 3 GS500e's, one of which is fully custom, and I keep track of that one in the GS450 topic (updates soon!). One of the other two remaining GS's I have owned before, put a GSXR-750 front fork on it, rode it for a couple years and then sold it. I have bought that bike back some years ago and it has been collecting dust ever since, let's call this bike "Woodcutter" due to the large amount of sawdust it had collected over the years. The third and last GS500e I own is a random GS500 I bought from someone, the bike was pushed into some bushes and was heavily corroded all over. I've been calling this bike in Dutch "Struikrover" which loosely translates to bush-bandit or highwayman, let's keep it short and call this one "Bandit".
The plans are to rebuild both Bandit and Woodcutter to an OEM+ standard. Over the years I have learned to appreciate the stock look of the GS500's, as fun as they are I always believed them to be not very good looking, now I always enjoy seeing them. There will be only slight difference between the two bikes, these difference are, but not limited to; Clip-ons vs superbike bars, front forks. There will be no cutting, no welding, and no crazy custom paint colors or anything. I will paint these bikes in the one and only really good looking paint scheme, 1989 black with red and silver, white wheels. The only real big modification will be the GSXR USD front forks.
Summary of end-goals for both bikes:
- 1989 Black with red and silver decals, white wheels.
- Engine cases, cylinder and head all appropriately painted.
- ALL hardware freshly yellow zinc coated (deviation from OEM).
- GSXR750 front forks (1996 SRAD & 2001 K1)
- OEM Belly pan
- OEM Headlight fairing
- GSF600F/Katana 1994 front wheels with double 320mm discs.
I already have two rare OEM belly pans, and 2 much rarer OEM Suzuki headlight fairings. I may or may not be permanently disabled after selling some crucial organs to be able to afford the OEM fairings, seriously, I could have bought a whole good-condition running GS500E for that money. Also I have already acquired two GSX600F/Katana wheels. I have chosen this type of wheel because it has dual disc brakes and the same styling as stock GS500e wheels. The wheel hubs will require spacers to lineup the discs with the calipers, but more about that later.
The color scheme is shown below, it is not my photo, I found it on a sellers listing, but it is the color scheme I am going for. But mine will have the more aggressive looking thicker USD front-forks, and the headlight fairing. I may or may not go for non-OEM blinkers and mirrors though, I think they are just too big to look good.
The decals are being made in Poland as I am typing this, I send them some OEM decals for the belly-pan as they had no archive on this, and the NOS OEM decals are all but useless for anything else as they let go of the backing paper.
To be continued...
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