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My 78 GS550 Cafe Project!

  • Thread starter Thread starter bhppy101
  • Start date Start date
Awesome work on that bike. Do you have any idea what the final weight on that thing was when you finished? I'd love to know.
 
Awesome bike! I'm looking at getting a bike, and I just hope I can do some quality work to mine as well!
 
isaac said:
Awesome work on that bike. Do you have any idea what the final weight on that thing was when you finished? I'd love to know.
Click to expand...

Thanks!.....I'm not sure how much lighter it got.....After getting rid of the rear fender, stock seat/tailight assembly, gauge cluster, and a few other things....maybe its about 20 lbs lighter than stock....just my guess.
 
froldt said:
Awesome bike! I'm looking at getting a bike, and I just hope I can do some quality work to mine as well!
Click to expand...

Thank you!....I'm sure you can....just takes a little time and immagination to get it going.

If I work on another GS....which is a likely thing....I will do a start to finish thread...If its a Honda I work on next....it will be on the Honda forum.....Good luck on your project!
 
isaac said:
Awesome work on that bike. Do you have any idea what the final weight on that thing was when you finished? I'd love to know.
Click to expand...
Older post but I've been using this for some ideas. With similair removals rear fender/cowl, all signals, chain guard, rear pegs, front fender, and seat my scale is showing 35-38lbs lighter! The seat alone weighed 10lbs???? Mine had engine nerf/crash bars and highway pegs also......dead weight and now it looks so much slimmer!
BH your work and this post really got me going! I bought the bike 3 years ago and it sat for a year...3 other bikes we're being attended to. My pops wanted a go at it. The electrical was crapped out so he went to town but after 2 years it's back home. I saw this post after telling dad for 2years that GSRESOURCES is a mecca of info., called him that night and stole it back!!! CAFE HOOLIGAN in the works! I've even got 2 other friends in search.....
 
jonesti said:
Older post but I've been using this for some ideas. With similair removals rear fender/cowl, all signals, chain guard, rear pegs, front fender, and seat my scale is showing 35-38lbs lighter! The seat alone weighed 10lbs???? Mine had engine nerf/crash bars and highway pegs also......dead weight and now it looks so much slimmer!
BH your work and this post really got me going! I bought the bike 3 years ago and it sat for a year...3 other bikes we're being attended to. My pops wanted a go at it. The electrical was crapped out so he went to town but after 2 years it's back home. I saw this post after telling dad for 2years that GSRESOURCES is a mecca of info., called him that night and stole it back!!! CAFE HOOLIGAN in the works! I've even got 2 other friends in search.....
Click to expand...

Thats awsome! Show us some pics! did you get to see my other GS I built?

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1387&d=1163470303
 
i really like this bike it has alot of the syle i'm trying to get out of my 79 gs850, one thing i really envy are those wheel, as far as i know i'm out of luck getting spoked wheels due to the shaftyness of my bike
 
Last edited:
bhppy is the man.

Now im trying to keep up!

I was once the owner of a 79 GS550 s"L"ug . But ever since I saw the first couple of posts from his 550 it was on! I only wish i had the E model tank!

I also wish he had started the step by step fiberglass sessions on his gs1000 a few weeks earlier - the blue tape has its purpose! (i found out that the green foam will become somewhat deformed by the fiber glass resin) I had been watching too many episodes of unique whips when they were fiberglassing speaker panels and using fleece to get the shape they wanted. It worked out ok but I had to fill in some areas with dyna glass to regain my shape.

This was my first attempt with fiberglass, dynaglass, or even bondo for that matter so there was some on the fly learing going on. To anyone that has never tried this, do it - its alot of fun and very rewarding when you stand back and say "yeah Im the man - I just made my own cafe seat"

I still need to take a few shots of where Im at now - im currently in the paint stages. I'll get a few on tonight if i can. The next part will be seat foam and covering it with leather. I plan on covering the seat area and then coming over the top of the cowl and down about three inches. Im sure you guys know what im talking about the style is on a bunch of the cafe sites. The end result looks like the leather is buttoned to the rear hump - does anyone know what they use to attatch the leather to the cowl some sort of decorative rivet?

Anyway here is the before, and the after will follow
 
The side view... I am going to raise the rear of the tank to get a straighter line across the bottom - get rid of the valley that is currently there. Im also going to bob the front fender and spray it black and stripe it like the tank and tail section in gold - stay tuned and wish me lots of luck!

you da man bhppy!
 
byrdman76 said:
The side view... I am going to raise the rear of the tank to get a straighter line across the bottom - get rid of the valley that is currently there. Im also going to bob the front fender and spray it black and stripe it like the tank and tail section in gold - stay tuned and wish me lots of luck!

you da man bhppy!
Click to expand...

VERY NICE byrdman76!

I would make a suggestion.....If you plan on using foam padding for the seat.....lower the pan down (sand down some of that shaping foam) so that you don't ride so high.

Keep it comming!
 
Can't wait to see the finished bike. Are you going to put some spoke wheels on it too?
 
VERY NICE byrdman76!

I would make a suggestion.....If you plan on using foam padding for the seat.....lower the pan down (sand down some of that shaping foam) so that you don't ride so high.

Keep it comming!
Click to expand...

I wish i could. I realized the same thing once it was too late and i had already glassed the entire thing. Lets just say that there will not be much foam at all.

Next time... I can assure you this will not be the last cafe i build - I cant get enough of Carpy's 750's. I gotta find a local doner bike.
 
Can't wait to see the finished bike. Are you going to put some spoke wheels on it too?
Click to expand...

I thought about it and then figured I would leave it alone - however if i found a really cheap set or found someone that wanted to trade i would probably do it.

Do the mags and the spokes switch out on both the 550's and the 750's. Not between the two models but for each one specifically.
 
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