JohnnyL's 1980 GS550L Cafe Build

[Spyder]

I'm not a big fan of red, but you did a REALLY nice job on those.

[JohnnyL]

I hope everyone had a good Christmas! I was able to sneak out to the shop for a bit and get the brake calipers stripped down and painted. I first painted the calipers with high temp primer and then painted them silver. After painting them silver, I cut a Suzuki logo out of mask and then painted the calipers red. Came out pretty good!

[JohnnyL]

I dropped off the frame, wheels and some other bits with Indy Powder Coating today. They said it will be 3-4 weeks before it’s done. In the meantime, Bwringer is going to be helping me with getting the wiring ready so I can hit the ground running once the frame is back. Fedex brought me my Firestone vintage tires today and I got notification that the front rotor will ship Monday. I really wish EBC made a rear rotor to match.

[JohnnyL]

I think I'm going to consider the frame ready for sandblasting and powder coating. I'm wanting to drop it off to the powder coater before Christmas so maybe they can get to it while I'm gone on Christmas break.

I decided to fabricate a little mudguard for the rear tire since I won't be running a rear fender. This will also give a place to tuck some wires and the fuse box. I also got the battery box made and there is also room under the seat hump for the starter solenoid. The new Compu-Fire reg/rec will be mounted on the underside of the seat pan where it will get plenty of air flow.

I have purchased everything I need to get this bike done except for the stainless steel braided brake lines and I can't purchase those until I figure out what lengths and fittings I will need. The only thing I am waiting to receive is the new EBC front brake rotor.

I still haven't figured out what I am doing with the gas tank. Ideally, I'd like to find someone that can dish the sides of the tank for me. This requires someone with a hell of a lot more talent than I have and someone who can tig weld. I haven't decided if I am going to attempt to paint the tank myself or have a guy down the street from me that paints IndyCar helmets for a lot of the drivers. He said he would paint it for about $500 but he doesn't do any bodywork. I would have to give him the tank ready to paint. The front fender will be cut down to about 12" in length and painted with the tank.

I hope you all have a Happy Holiday and I will be back to post more when I get the frame, wheels and misc. back from powder coating. In the meantime, I may post some pics of the brake calipers. I plan on stripping them down, painting them and then rebuilding them.

[JohnnyL]

So I figured out where a good chunk of the money went. LOL....I pieced together the handlebars today. I am pretty happy with how they look. For those interested in where to purchase any of these parts, here's a list.

CRG Arrow Bar End Mirrors: $216 (for two) Here
Rizoma Sguardo Bar End Turn Signals: $154 (for two) Here
Biltwell Chocolate Thruster Grips: $18 (for two) Here
Biltwell Aluminum "Whiskey" Throttle: $100 Here
K&S Start/Stop Switch: $32 Here
K&S Universal Street Handlebar Control Switch: $80 Here
Aluminum Shorty Levers: $41.30 Here
Woodcraft Clip-Ons: $170 Here

[Spyder]

Thanks Spyder. Where in NW Indiana are you from? I grew up in Valpo.

I am in the Knox area. Not too far from Valpo, maybe 25 miles?

[93Bandit]

I know next to nothing about tuning suspension, but according to Sonic Springs website, you'll need .90kg/mm based off a few assumptions I put into their calculator. Here's a link http://sonicsprings.com/catalog/calc....php#calculate

[JohnnyL]

If you want to keep the piggyback look you might consider sending those ones off to CL Moto.
He has several levels of refurbishing them into quality shocks. Different springs, valves and oil.

http://chrislivengood.net/wp/clmototech/

Another option would be to check out Hagon USA.
MANY options.
http://hagonshocksusa.com/

I think I might send them off to CL Moto and have them rebuilt. Seems like a good option. Those Hagons are pricey!

As far as the Sonic Springs go, how do I know what spring rate I would need? I'm 5'9" and 165 lbs. There are four options.

[steve murdoch]

If you want to keep the piggyback look you might consider sending those ones off to CL Moto.
He has several levels of refurbishing them into quality shocks. Different springs, valves and oil.

http://chrislivengood.net/wp/clmototech/

Another option would be to check out Hagon USA.
MANY options.

http://hagonshocksusa.com/

[JohnnyL]

On the forks, most of us toss the impossibly soft stock Suzuki springs right away and move to straight rate springs.

http://sonicsprings.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=31_198

As far as the correct spring rate, that depends on your weight, preferred riding velocity, and the bike's weight.

In your case, you should be able to retain stock fork travel and just pull them up in the triples a little depending on available clearance between the headers and fender; not sure how low you want to go. I'd probably just start with that.

However, if you do decide to reduce fork travel (very likely not needed, and definitely not recommended for handling) then you may need to make some spacers for the damper rods and increase the spring rate.

What are you planning for the rear suspension?

That’s some good info Brian. I will definitely check out Sonic.

i purchased some cheap rear springs early on in the build because they looked cool and well...they were cheap. Lol. I wasn’t sure what the caliber of the build was going to be at the time. I’m not sure these springs are going to worth a hoot now. They do look cool though. Any suggestions? I mean...I’ve got an insane amount of money in the bike at this point so I might as well spend the dough on some decent rear shocks.

00CF9387-4B39-4D8E-8803-1A3E7D14A0A1.jpg

[bwringer]

On the forks, most of us toss the impossibly soft stock Suzuki springs right away and move to straight rate springs.

http://sonicsprings.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=31_198

As far as the correct spring rate, that depends on your weight, preferred riding velocity, and the bike's weight.

In your case, you should be able to retain stock fork travel and just pull them up in the triples a little depending on available clearance between the headers and fender; not sure how low you want to go. I'd probably just start with that.

However, if you do decide to reduce fork travel (very likely not needed, and definitely not recommended for handling) then you may need to make some spacers for the damper rods and increase the spring rate.

What are you planning for the rear suspension?

[JohnnyL]

You mentioned that you will be using clip-ons. That leaves no issues for you to just run them up higher in the triples. In my opinion, it will add to the "cafe" look of it. Plus, if you ever feel the need to change the ergonomics, or handling geometry, you just need to adjust it. Cutting the springs down is tedious, and absolute.

Thanks Spyder. Where in NW Indiana are you from? I grew up in Valpo.

[Spyder]

You mentioned that you will be using clip-ons. That leaves no issues for you to just run them up higher in the triples. In my opinion, it will add to the "cafe" look of it. Plus, if you ever feel the need to change the ergonomics, or handling geometry, you just need to adjust it. Cutting the springs down is tedious, and absolute.

[JohnnyL]

No kidding. I wish I could build mine at just half the pace he's going at.

I am pretty motivated and as I stated earlier, the bike is literally 10 feet away from where I work my day job. So I am fortunate enough to be able to work on it while I do my day job. I get jobs cutting on my CNC machines and then work on the bike a little at a time. Things are about to slow down though with the holidays coming up and I am about to send the frame and wheels off to powder coating.

Also, I am about to run out of things that I am proficient on. Electrical is my weakness, amongst a few other things. I am going to need ya'alls help on a few things soon.

For instance, I want to lower the front end slightly. I know absolutely nothing about suspension. I was thinking I could just push the forks up into the triple clamp a little higher and that would get me what I need. But after watching For the Bold's YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/3A0RF87ly6E, I am confused on why he needed to cut the springs. As you can see, I am trying to build the bike right. I read this,

Doing a cafe build of a 1973 T500 that has a GT500 forks. (T500 & GT500 are pretty much the same bike except the T500 has a front drum brake & the GT500 has a disk.)
Am using the GT500 triple tree. Am using the 1981 GS550T fork assemblies + the single-sided salty_monk brake upgrade.
Using a 320mm EBC brake disk, MD1124LS. (Has the same offset & bolt setup as the GS disk, and is actually for a Honda that wasn’t sold in the US.)
The EBC disk with a gold center that matches well to the tank badge gold:
cafe-T500-0808 by jabcb, on Flickr


Picked the GS550T fork assemblies because it has 35mm inner fork tubes, bushings on the inner fork tubes, and uses the large OD disk brake.
The GT two strokes & early GS four strokes use the same front hub. The GT500 & GS550T also use the same axle & speedo drive.


Am looking to maintain the original ride height. The GT500 forks have 4.25” travel & the assembly length is ~29”. The GS550 forks have 5.9” of travel & the assembly length is ~30.5”.
So I have to deal with the extra 1-1/2”.
Both bikes have a 3.25-19 tire. I’m using a 2.15-18 rim + metric tire. That addresses about 1/2” of the extra length.


Question 1: The GS550T top out springs are a bit under 1” long. I’m considering using a second top to shorten the forks.
Do the top out springs compress much when the forks are statically fully extended?
Will use TNK fork inner tubes, Racetech emulators, aftermarket fork springs & spacers to get the correct preload. Any issues with this setup?


Question 2: front fender options?
Per the Tarozzi fork brace listings, the GT500, GS550 & lots of smaller GSs has fork tube spacing of 175mm.
Am considering using a chrome front fender shortened to look similar to what I have on the GT550 build. Any used fender suggestions?
The GT550 fender:
cafe-GT550-1082 by jabcb, on Flickr

taken from jabcb's thread here: https://www.thegsresources.com/_foru...-%97-questions. Might as well be speaking yiddish to me. None of this makes sense to me.

Someone please explain to me what I need to properly do to my front forks to lower the front end slightly. Thanks.

[JohnnyL]

That gauge may be mounted a little too flat, no? May be difficult to see it. Especially on a bright and sunny day? Superb work so far. Can't wait to see this thing done. Which by the looks of your progress, won't be very long from now...

That thought has occurred to me. That’s why I made the gauge mounting plate removable. I can always change the mounting plate out for something with a little angle on it. I won’t know until the bike is assembled and I’m actually sitting on the bike.