1980 gs850g Cafe Project

[Guest]

Hello, my name's John. I'm 19 and I just bought my first big-boy bike (the gs850g) for 1300 bucks. At the time of purchase, it rode really well and had all working electrical systems, and lights. Though now I have my hands on it, that's not the case.

I really love the cafe-racer style motorcycle, and the reason I bought it was to make it into one. Achtung!: this thread contains removal of thirty year old parts and desecration via custom or self-fabbed elements. I understand there are others out there that might not enjoy seeing this bike torn apart or changed, but I hope you'll forgive my young, naive nature because I'm really going to need your help.

The bike came outfitted with a windshield, grandpa bars, saddle bags and a seat thicker than the Earth's crust, which I promptly have removed. Problem is, all the lights and signals were connected to said windshield and saddle bags. Now I have no lights other than the fat ugly tail light.

I went to my local motorcycle store which specialized in old, not-harley bikes. The experience was sad, and I felt cock-blocked by the staff. I left with decent, flat bars but I didn't get to see one single headlight or turn signal. So I thought 'F*ck it, I'll just buy it online."

-Here I'll put the directions I need to move with the bike and if I get past them, I'll constantly change this thread.

I need lights. This is probably not so big or hard to fix (and it's probably something that has it's own dedicated sub-forum), but if you know somewhere I might find these online without getting f*cked over, that would be appreciated.

I want to redo the electrical system. This is where I really need the most advice. As you can guess, I have no experience with rewiring something as big as a motorcycle, but I did take engineering technology in highschool around three years ago. I know enough to tell that the giant f*ck-nest of bound wires and tape hanging over my forks is not at all what a nice bike should look like. I really want to learn how to wire my own bike, but I also want it to actually run. (lol) I have a family friend who knows everything about harleys, but he'll really shy away from my bike when I ask him anything. Is he correct that just because he can wire a Harley, he can't wire a GS? And if so, who the hell is going to know, and how much do I have to pay them?

My budget is will be somewhere around 700 bucks currently. Thank you for reading and any advice is welcome, as long as it doesn't include me offing myself.

Here's what it looks like currently:

[AlTheKiller]

who cares what others think. Build YOUR bike how YOU want to.

sounds like an awesome plan to me. You should post up some pictures

also if you know how to wire a harley, you know how to wire any other bike. Its really not all that hard to figure out. you should be able to find a wiring diagram for your bike on this site.

where about in colorado are you? I lived in Pueblo for 3 years.

[Gaul]

who cares what others think. Build YOUR bike how YOU want to.

sounds like an awesome plan to me. You should post up some pictures

also if you know how to wire a harley, you know how to wire any other bike. Its really not all that hard to figure out. you should be able to find a wiring diagram for your bike on this site.

where about in colorado are you? I lived in Pueblo for 3 years.

That's exactly what I hope to do. The big is so huge that I'm going to need to fit it more to myself. Thanks for the advice, I still have the manual for the wiring as well. I'll post the picture I have in the first thread!

I live in Colorado Springs, specifically Old Colorado City. The weather is fantastic and I wouldn't have to go far to get a great scenic ride. Also there are tons of hot tourist girls in Manitou, just waiting to be swooned by my custom cafe.

[AlTheKiller]

I know exactly where you are. My friends and I use to take our jeeps out that way to go wheelin. Would have been nice to have a bike back then but being an out of state student theres no way I could with having to deal with winter roads.

Im sure the girlies will love the cafe racer haha. The weather here in Texas has been awesome lately as well but I may end up missing it with how much work I still need to do to my GS. Plus I still have to get it registered and inspected. . . . im sure itll be in the upper 90s and low 100s by the time its able to be street driven.

they are predicting 120 days of triple digit weather this year

[Gaul]

That's funny, I moved from Houston 9 years ago. It's a small world.