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'80 GS550L to Cafe Racer

  • Thread starter Thread starter Colorado CJ
  • Start date Start date
C

Colorado CJ

Guest
This is just a place holder until I get more pictures of my build. I am turning my first bike, a GS550L into a cafe racer. I wanted to do this years ago, but I didn't have any other bikes to ride while that one was down.

I now have a couple of other bikes in my fleet, so the GS550L is now at my shop and being taken apart.

Here is how the bike looked when I traded for it a few years ago.

80gs550L3.jpg


I'm going to be building a bike somewhat like the one in this youtube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBuvK3Z-eMU
 
Last edited:
Good luck man. There are a lot of great cafes on this sight. Enjoy your little cafe.
 
Another one bites the dust. Why mess up and devalue a good-looking bike? There are too many junkie looking bike out there to cut up a good one.
 
Graham said:
Another one bites the dust. Why mess up and devalue a good-looking bike? There are too many junkie looking bike out there to cut up a good one.
Click to expand...

Because it's an L, worthy of a hacksaw, and vastly improved by almost any imaginative changes. Pretty much unrideable in stock form, and ugly as sin.
And the chrome, almost enough chrome to plate a harely.
Go for it CJ, and post pictures. Lots of pictures.
 
It has begun!

Looks better already ;)

chop1-1.jpg

Sorry for the bad picture, I forgot to bring my camera to the shop. This is a picture from my cell phone.

Tomorrow I'll stop by my local custom motorcycle shop (awesome place, old biker owns/operates it and you can find just about anything you'd like TONS of old parts).

I'll be picking up a clubman handlebar from him and look through his tanks to see if I can find one I like.

I'll be fabbing up my own seat pan/bump stop, probably fabricate it out of sheet steel. I don't think I want to make it out of fiberglass (too much time involved with making a plug)

I'll also be rewiring all the electrics and only include the bare essentials for it to run, no turn signals, etc.. . I'll use a small battery and try to hide all the wiring/electronics as much as possible.

After I have everything the way I want it, I'll break it all down and sandblast/paint everything.

This should be fun!
 
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Nice start!

Looks like you've got a pretty well-equipped shop there... :)
 
herostar said:
Nice start!

Looks like you've got a pretty well-equipped shop there... :)
Click to expand...

Thanks! Yeah, I design/build pretty much everything I need, both out of necessity and because of my business. So a well equipped shop is pretty much mandatory for me.

It is also pretty nice when I have my own projects like this to work on ;)
 
Not much to post yet, been too busy to work much on the bike.

Today I raised the back of the tank to make it parallel with the frame. I did this for two reasons. One, for making it look better since the tank will now be parallel with the seat when that is finished.

I'm also putting all the electronics and the battery under the tank. That way all the electronics will be hidden.

(note: I'm not using those bars, I haven't got my clubmans yet)


racer1


racer2
 
Seat Pan / Bump Stop

Seat Pan / Bump Stop

I'm building the seat pan now. I'm building it out of steel rather than fiberglass like many others do. I'd rather work with steel as I find it much easier to do.

Here are a couple of "in process" pictures. I'll post pictures of the finished seat/bump stop when I'm done.


racer4


racer3
 
Well the tin work is done. I just need to finish weld, then shape it. I'll be cutting the bottom ends of the seat pan at a nice angle, so they won't be sticking down as they are now.







 
Nice work! looking forward to seeing it all cleanup and looking finished. It's nice to see you did something about how the seat meets the tank. All too often cafe builds ignore this and make no attempt to make it a nice meeting point. :clap:
 
Thanks! Yeah, I really didn't want to leave the back of the tank open, the job just doesn't look finished like that to me. It also will allow for me to hide all my electronics under the tank.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the tail light yet. I'm leaning on attaching it and the plate (vertically) to the swingarm. I know I don't want to put the plate on the tail as that will really mess up the lines.

I finished welding and shaping the seat pan/ bump stop today. I think the next thing to tackle is the exhaust. I'm not sure if I want to weld up my own or scrounge around in the local motorcycle junkyard for a 4 into 1.

Here's a few pictures of the finished seat.





 
That is some nice tin bashing, I was wondering what you were going to do with the gap between the seat and raised tank, good thinking on putting the electrics under there, good use of space.
I think a nice little tail light intergrated into the rear of the pump stop would work well, and keep everything clean.
 
Yeah, I've been looking at some of the old cafe racers and most all had the tail light on the back of the fairing, so I'll probably do the same thing. Still not sure about the license plate though, I just don't like the look of them hanging off of the tail like they do.
 
Not much to post today. I fully installed the seat pan now to the frame. I also welded plates on the end of the frame ears where I cut the back of the frame off.

I cut the stock mufflers off the exhaust and for now will weld some Shorty mufflers on the headers. I'll probably save up and buy a 4 into 1 for it in the future.

I'll probably finish out the seat and upholster it Sunday.

I installed the clubman bars, but I'm going to buy all new controls and the correct length cables/brake lines.

Here are a few pictures







 
Not much to show today. I built the seat today. I was going to cover it myself, but I decided to take it to my local upholsterer since I've never made a seat cover before.

Here are a couple of pictures from today.







 
Good project so far. I like it. But I think carpet padding may be a little.......harsh. What about neoprene or even a exercise mat? Both offer a little more cushioning.
 
Big Rich said:
Good project so far. I like it. But I think carpet padding may be a little.......harsh. What about neoprene or even a exercise mat? Both offer a little more cushioning.
Click to expand...

I agree no carpet padding but I say no because if it gets wet it will mold and mildew real fast. Where the neoprene stuff is a little more mold resistant and never heard of it mildewing.

Paul
 
This is a great looking cafe project! Any thoughts on how you are gonna attach the seat to the pan?
 
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