GR650 "Special"

[Big Rich]

Figure I should let you folks know what I do in my free time. This is my first bike that I got a couple years ago. I've always been a "tinkerer" and this bike needed some work. The PO took good care of it mechanically, but that's about it.

First day in the garage (sorry for the pic):

All the way down......

Ran it like this for a couple years:

 

[Big Rich]

Then built a cafe bike from a 68 Honda CL175 and really enjoyed it. Started changing the GR over the winter but I've had some personal issues that interfered with the work being done. So now it's kind of a "hurry up to get it presentable and safe" for the season.

Tinkering some more:

Pretty much where it stands right now:

I am waiting for the carbs to be delivered, and the seat and tank are getting painted over the next week or so. Need to get tires up front and in the rear along with some stainless brake lines and master cylinder for the front end. Always something......

If there's any details or pics of something that somebody is curious about, just let me know.

 

[Guest]

Love those lines Rich, should look awesome when you're done!

What's the headlight nacelle from? I originally wanted something like that for my project, but decided against it as I don't want to lose my tacho... I plan on covering the ugly instruments up with a colour matched fly screen instead.

 

[Guest]

That looks SWEET so far! Hurry up and finish it!

 

[Big Rich]

Thanks guys. It's always the little things that hold you up in the end.......

Pete, the headlight bucket is a fiberglass one from www.roccitycafe.com. I used the plastic surround and glass from a GS450, replaced the speedo with the one from my GR, and mated it all into the bucket. Ill post pics of the process shortly.......

 

[Big Rich]

Here's the 450 speedo I used:

And the GR internals:

All of the parts together:

 

[Big Rich]

Here's the normal backlighting:

High beam indicator :

And neutral indicator:

 

[Guest]

Cheers Rich, that looks great!

Maybe I need to rethink the whole idea? Hmmm... still want my tacho though...

Definitely a job well done with it though

 

[Big Rich]

Thanks Pete. Have you thought about combining the speedo and tach with a digital unit? Maybe an Acewell or Koso- or there are some cheaper units on ebay.

 

[Guest]

I've thought about it, but price for the quality ones can be a killer and I'd rather spend that dough on my exhaust and suspension. Not sold on a digital speedo either as I believe some of those can get hard to read in daylight.

I think the ones off eBay may give me grief with passing a roadworthy inspection when I go to get it registered finally.

Having said all that, I certainly haven't ruled it out yet