'80 GS550L to Cafe Racer

[Tim Tom]

Any progress on the bike? Curious minds want to know

[Flyboy]

Looking good, are you going to cut off the frames on the sides, that carried the rear foot pegs?
Maybe make up a bracket to mount the number plate on the side, low down, off the swing arm, a nice small little plate.
Just a thought.

[Colorado CJ]

No updates yet. I had a couple of jobs come in so haven't had any time to work on the bike for a few days.

Flyboy, yeah, I'll be cutting off the tubing that held the mufflers on. I've also seen a couple of examples of some swingarm mounted plates and that will probably be what I'll do.

[Colorado CJ]

Well, its been going slow for a little while now. All I have done is cut off the back tubing that supported the pillion pegs and mufflers.

I DID get the seat back from the upholsterers though. It looks great! I also blasted the seatpan in order to start bondo/paint.

Here are a couple of pictures:

[Tim Tom]

That seat looks awesome! The whole bike looks great, I love the stance of it, it looks like it's topping the ton standing still. Great work

[Colorado CJ]

That seat looks awesome! The whole bike looks great, I love the stance of it, it looks like it's topping the ton standing still. Great work

Thanks! Yeah, it's starting to come together nicely.

I'm wondering about the color scheme now. I was going to paint everything black, even the engine (polish the fins though).

Now I'm wondering how burnt orange metallic on all the tin, and black for the frame, engine and fork legs would look.

All black is ok, but it might be TOO plain on the bike.

[Tim Tom]

Orange would look good on the tank and tail yeah. I kinda like the silver engine though. I think a black engine in a black frame kinda takes away from the 'look at my engine!' phenomena that accompanies the 4 pot GS's. Just my opinion.
Another option could be silver bodywork with some sort of orange graphics, stripes or numbers or whatever. Something about a silver cafe just looks rights somehow

[Hoosier Daddy]

Hellayshish good looking cafe'! Really like the unique seat and personally I have always liked clubmans better than clip-ons.

[Colorado CJ]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the comments. Although I've built other things in the past, this is my first bike build. I'll both be glad when it is over (so I can ride it) and sad at the same time. I'll probably have to have a bike to build from now on, its just too much fun. Luckily you can find them on Craigslist pretty cheap!

Well, my shorty mufflers came in today so I welded them up to the headers. I really like the look of the shorty cans, but I may still go with a 4 into 1 in the future since they sound so much better.

Tomorrow I'll sandblast and paint the headers/mufflers with some high temp ceramic header paint. I'll post a couple of pics tomorrow when I'm done with them.

[Colorado CJ]

Today I sandblasted and painted the headers/mufflers with some high temp ceramic header paint. They are hanging up in my storage shed drying.





Note: sorry for the mess, this is just a storage shed next to my shop

[Tim Tom]

Very cool. The shorty's look awesome, cant wait to see them on the bike. Did you rejet the carbs to deal with pod filters and the shorter exhaust?

[Colorado CJ]

I'll have to rejet the carbs, I haven't found a good place to buy jets yet though. Do you know anywhere I could buy them?

I'll be running either pods or velocity stacks as well. I'm not sure the pods will fit without hitting the frame though, so I may have to go with velocity stacks.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Stage 3 Dynojet kit from Z-1?

[Colorado CJ]

I think I'll just drill the stock jets for now. I'll just drill one size up at a time, then test it out until I get it running like it should.

Once I find the right size, I might buy a correct size set to replace the drilled ones.

[Tim Tom]

I know nothing about jets, but there are plenty of people where who do. Some the drag builders might be able to help you. I think there is a formula for re-sizing jets based on breathing and pipe. Try posting a question in the Carb section. At the very least I'm sure someone can point you in the right direction.