GS550L to Cafe Build

[Toasty]

For s**ts and giggles, last night I balanced it on the existing mount with some wood.







Not bad. I'm not selling my 900SS fairing though, it'll go on later once I get a screen for it.

[Toasty]

My original plan for this weekend was to just sand down the rough parts of the paint and do a rattle can job to make it look more presentable. My friend came over to help out, we got paint and he let me ride his GSXR750 (damn modern bikes are QUICK). We got back to the house and stripped the bike down to the frame, it only took a few minutes to get the forks and swingarm off.


Dirty and ready for prep



Cleaning off the thick layers of grime





So we started sanding and he mentioned that since it's already down the frame, we might as well do some extra and de-tab it. I thought about it for a minute and said "Screw it, why not?".


Bike in the trunk, heading to where the beer is at



Better



The Dremel worked well but it takes a while



Ran out of beer, but had backup.



MMmmmm



Getting there. Btw, the Suzuki workers were not messing around when they welded on these tabs... These things could be load bearing , heavy gauge steel and 100% penetration on stuff like the side cover mounts.

[Toasty]

Me doing some cutting



The aftermath, we killed a handle and a ton of old mounts.



Here she is now, ready for filing and finishing. I kept a few things on there, the mounts for the airbox, some electrical, inner fender and helmet mount (I like it).

[boontonmike]

Pass the Tequila

[Toasty]

I got a great deal on new automotive grade wiring on Do the Ton, so I'm going to do a total rewire. I also ended up buying the components needed on eBay to add in a keyless ignition system (that I saw posted there as well).



Going off of his lead and what he posted I started trying to wrap my head around how he set it up. It took some research but I ended up with this basic diagram.




I changed a few things and then made a computer mock up of the possible undertail layout.




I don't have the parts yet but going off the manuals online that's what I've figured out so far. And it's amazing how cheap technology is... The RFID part with the key fobs cost less then $10.

[Sci85]

That's gonna be really cool! Nice work.

[Toasty]

Thanks!

I got a few things in the mail today

Wires


RFID and relay



I pulled out all the boxes of parts I pulled off the bike when I was stripping it down and tried organizing a bit. There really wasn't much that was going back on the bike..

It was getting late too so I did a few small things while I was at it.


Adding new tank mounts, I chopped off the L mounts a while ago and used some all thead to make new ones.



Add some washers/nuts, and the are now some E mounts good as new.


A little electrical tape to hold the pucks on better. I would have used heat shrink tubing if I could find it...




My solo seat always seemed a bit long, and since I cut off the battery tray brackets I'm forced to relocate it... With the seat long there was no way to fit it under there, but if I took 4" off...

It took a while to get up the courage to Dremel it



Curved some to fit the tank






Not bad... It needs some sanding and smoothing but it fits well. And the tank/seat combo is solid as a rock.



I swapped to my extra 650 tank btw, the red one is straight and I don't want to risk banging it up if I don't have to.

[Toasty]

I've done this so many times, it only took me about 30 mins to mock the bike up. Hopefully my new fuse panel will get here from Eastern Beaver this week so I can get started on the wiring.




I figured now is a good time to start replacing the valve stem seals so I made up a tool from pvc (from Bikecliffs site).




It was a little too long so I cut some off, but the window wasnt large enough.



Better


These probably don't need to be replaced but I might as well. I need to get lapping compound sometime this week to clean up the seats some.



All the valves are in good shape, no pitting or burns.



All springs are within spec too.

[Toasty]

I couldn't sleep last night so I installed my LED tail light.





As she sits now



I wanted to test out the remote flashes I got for Christmas

[Sci85]

Looking good Toasty! I gotta say though, cutting the seat pan doesn't leave a lot of room to move around on. How does it look with the read tank on there? Are you planning on keeping the chrome front fender? I'd like to see the mock up without it. I think it would fit the cafe style better with maybe some gaiters on the forks. Regardless, it's coming along real nice. Love what you did with the tank supports. Ingenious.

[Toasty]

The seat is a bit short but no more then any modern sportbike. There is room to move side to side and back a little, it's definitely much more comfortable then it was though... There wasn't much support when the bump stop was so far back. I can move the seat back some if necessary.

I definitely still plan on running it with a fender. I'm not sure if it will stay chrome or be painted black, and if I want to leave it the stock length or cut it down. The bike is gonna be a rider so having some sort of fender is important.

The bike had gaiters on before I tore it down, they might go back on... I need something chrome to balance out the rear shock springs though. The only chrome on the bike will be the springs, fork tubes, headlight ring and maybe the fender.


I'll take some pics without the fender this weekend, along with whatever else I'm working on .

[wally]

I really like not only the look of light, but also the photograph - very cool!

Also kinda liking the colour.

[Toasty]

Haha thanks! The weird terracotta primer has grown on me too


Oh and I bit the bullet and bought this off Ebay


I think I got it for a pretty fair price.

[Sci85]

Oh, nice. I really love the look of the USD forks, especially with spokes. I've wanted to do that conversation on my baby kat but I'm not adept enough at figuring it out haha.

[Toasty]

Yea I've seen a few bikes with spokes and modern front ends, it looks pretty cool. Luckily there is a member here (T8erbug) who made some adapters to make the swap work, I've been pming with him about getting another set made.