1st time build "1977 GS550"

[Guest]

I'll cut the story short. Traded a rebuild kx250 dirtbike that I built for a non running gs550. So I lost out a little but after the GS was finished I feel a little ahead. Found two bad coils on the bike. tested compression which found good after getting it running I started the tear down and hacking the frame. Cut off all the useless tabs and passenger pegs. Welded In a rear loop painted the frame. Then fab'ed up a seat pan. Striped the wiring down to only the essentials. Installed a accell compactor and ditched the battery. It's a kick start only bike now. Pounded in knee dents did some body work with bondo and painted. "Which I found out I don't like too much" finished it up with some rearsets from fast from the past "the most expensive part of the build" cleaned up my carbs and got it back on the streets again.

Still trying to figure out how to post multiple pics so you could see some of the build as it went down

[kimjay]

I like it, very nice job.

[mike_472]

Like it a lot, looks awesome, I'm going to try a cafe build with my son, I have a couple of questions, how hard was putting the knee indents, I've seen some videos on doing it, they make it look easy but I don't believe it, and also do the rear sets get in the way of the kickstarter? Thanks, Mike

[Morrison]

Looking good. Share the photos to photobucket. Copy andnpaste the "img" code. Goodluck.

[steve murdoch]

Repost that pic in August because a snow bank is always a nice backdrop.
Welcome to the site.

[cjpisch]

@mike. The knee dents are not too bad. I did get a 2 1/2" teardrop mallet from Eastwood. I started at the rear most part of the tank and worked up. They almost form themselves. The one thing to watch out for the mounts where they mount the Suzuki emblems is not even on both sides of the tank. I believe the left side is pulled back closed to the rear. So before you figure out how far up your dents are going to make sure you stay behind the mount because there is a piece of steel there that won't form the way you want. All in all it pretty simple. Just time consuming. My rear sets are foldable, so I just fold up the peg and I'm able to kick the kick over. You can find them at fast from the past .com