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Hello all,
Let me start off and say I am new to building bikes and new to riding. I say this now in case my "insights" occasional betray my ignorance so take it easy on me when it shows up in the conversations.
This is the build thread for my new project, a 1981 Suzuki GS 450E. It was old enough for me to get it cheap and had not been particularly well taken care off. It was also, in my estimation, not such a valuable vintage ride that I should feel bad about hacking it up to make something new. The POs had also already done plenty of questionable things to deliver a real half-assed motocycle experience: cheap pod filters and cheap shorty headers with no re-jetting. It was popping any time you let go of the throttle. It was missing the rear turn signals and under the tank there was a bunch of Home Depot wiring solutions. They had also pulled off the rear passenger pegs and mounts and it looked like the bike had gone done on its right had side. It had a rattle can paint job wherein they sprayed over the original decals and manage to spray red on almost every other thing that was not supposed to be red ie, the tires, fenders, motor, frame, carbs...well you get the picture.
They removed the center stand and
The plan so far:
Strip the tank and put some clear on it while I figure out a paint color.
Swap in some drag bars, new switches and levers to replace the broken or mismatched stuff.
I got some 1997 GS500 carbs that I will re-jet to swap in and a lunchbox air filter that hopefully fits in the frame.
It had a leaking petcock so found a used Pingel with a 44mm plate but I haven't tried it on the tank to make sure there is no interference with the frame (this is a recurrent theme)
New SS brake hose is coming and eventually pads and wheelbearings.
I am on the hunt for some better quality rear shocks because I have read that they are one of the weak spots on these bikes but that can wait till the bike is registered and on the road. I want to get a better understanding of how they don't hold up their end...
IMG_9666.jpg
Let me start off and say I am new to building bikes and new to riding. I say this now in case my "insights" occasional betray my ignorance so take it easy on me when it shows up in the conversations.
This is the build thread for my new project, a 1981 Suzuki GS 450E. It was old enough for me to get it cheap and had not been particularly well taken care off. It was also, in my estimation, not such a valuable vintage ride that I should feel bad about hacking it up to make something new. The POs had also already done plenty of questionable things to deliver a real half-assed motocycle experience: cheap pod filters and cheap shorty headers with no re-jetting. It was popping any time you let go of the throttle. It was missing the rear turn signals and under the tank there was a bunch of Home Depot wiring solutions. They had also pulled off the rear passenger pegs and mounts and it looked like the bike had gone done on its right had side. It had a rattle can paint job wherein they sprayed over the original decals and manage to spray red on almost every other thing that was not supposed to be red ie, the tires, fenders, motor, frame, carbs...well you get the picture.
They removed the center stand and
The plan so far:
Strip the tank and put some clear on it while I figure out a paint color.
Swap in some drag bars, new switches and levers to replace the broken or mismatched stuff.
I got some 1997 GS500 carbs that I will re-jet to swap in and a lunchbox air filter that hopefully fits in the frame.
It had a leaking petcock so found a used Pingel with a 44mm plate but I haven't tried it on the tank to make sure there is no interference with the frame (this is a recurrent theme)
New SS brake hose is coming and eventually pads and wheelbearings.
I am on the hunt for some better quality rear shocks because I have read that they are one of the weak spots on these bikes but that can wait till the bike is registered and on the road. I want to get a better understanding of how they don't hold up their end...
IMG_9666.jpg
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