I'm new here, but have been working on and riding bikes for 30 years. My first street bike was a 73 CB500F that was mildly cafed, 24 years ago. Back then I didn't have the means or the facilities to really do it right. Since then I did a bit of road racing, built all of my race bikes and have been mostly in the sport bike scene. I've own a couple dozen bikes, but most of them were just "fix them, ride them and sell them" projects.
This week I picked up a winter project, and I intend to do a proper cafe project with it. I might be looking for some tips and suggestions, here.
Enough of the background....a few months ago, a friend of mine bought this 1979 GS550 with the intent of turning it into a budget cafe:
He started stripping it down and buying parts and doing several things to it, but ran out of time and space for it. Long story short (too late) I picked it up from him for $600, with all the parts:
The bike actually ran, but the carbs are pretty messed up. I have a set of 2mm larger KZ carbs that I plan to re-rack on the GS rack. (Yes I am capable of extensive carburetor work). Other parts that came in the pile:
-Clubman bars
-new Dyna ignition system (with coils)
-New N.O.S. Jardine exhaust, but the collector is for a KZ, so I may be doing some custom exhaust work
-KFY Chinese knock-off shocks (cheap I know, but I will see how they work)
-A dual cat-eye tail light assembly
-New Progressive fork springs (already installed)
-All Balls tapered steering stem bearings (I need to do some machining to finish the installation per the instructions)
-GSX-R master cylinder and clutch lever (with new clutch cable)
There is probably more, but tomorrow I have to catalog all the parts.
Things that my friend already did include drilling the front rotor, painting the forks, headlight, triple trees, and engine.
This is gonna be fun!
This week I picked up a winter project, and I intend to do a proper cafe project with it. I might be looking for some tips and suggestions, here.
Enough of the background....a few months ago, a friend of mine bought this 1979 GS550 with the intent of turning it into a budget cafe:
He started stripping it down and buying parts and doing several things to it, but ran out of time and space for it. Long story short (too late) I picked it up from him for $600, with all the parts:
The bike actually ran, but the carbs are pretty messed up. I have a set of 2mm larger KZ carbs that I plan to re-rack on the GS rack. (Yes I am capable of extensive carburetor work). Other parts that came in the pile:
-Clubman bars
-new Dyna ignition system (with coils)
-New N.O.S. Jardine exhaust, but the collector is for a KZ, so I may be doing some custom exhaust work
-KFY Chinese knock-off shocks (cheap I know, but I will see how they work)
-A dual cat-eye tail light assembly
-New Progressive fork springs (already installed)
-All Balls tapered steering stem bearings (I need to do some machining to finish the installation per the instructions)
-GSX-R master cylinder and clutch lever (with new clutch cable)
There is probably more, but tomorrow I have to catalog all the parts.
Things that my friend already did include drilling the front rotor, painting the forks, headlight, triple trees, and engine.
This is gonna be fun!