1981 Suzuki GS 450 Cafe Racer Build Thread

[Iron_HawK]

Originally Posted by Goggles Paisano

I like it. One thing though; Is it legal to run just a tach in the place of the speedo? If it is, thats what I'd do. seems to me that the tach is what you want hanging out up there on a cafe.

I just used the speed since I figured it would be more practical to ride on the road. If it were just a show bike or whatever I would just use the tach. It is actually really easy for me to swap the 2 out so if anything I can just do that. I also might just try to fit a GPS on the handlebars to travel and use it as my speed sensor. I'm prob not to focus if it is legal or not since I have another bike to ride most of the time, but I do need practicality to some extent.

[DCrider]

so howz the progress?

[sparkymoto]

[QUOTE=Iron_HawK_Customs;16665642]




Looks great! Sending you a PM.

[Nessman]

The GS450 was the first street bike I lusted after as a kid, I'm enjoying your interpretation.



More pleeze.

[maxinflixion]

This build is looking great so far! Keep it up.

[Iron_HawK]

Thanks guys! I appreciate all the comments. School is back in session and this semester is a killer. I haven't had much time to work on the bike but I am in the process of deciding how I want to do the rear sets. I honestly don't have any good ideas at the moment. I keep trying to mount stuff there to see how it might look but I haven't been happy with any results so far. Any suggestions on this? Keep the comments comin

[barnabasantioch]

Hey, loving the build!
I am also doing an 81' GS450L cafe build, and seeing what you've already completed has helped in a couple of areas. Question, though... You said that this is the L model GS, but those wheels and tank look to have come off of the T(touring) model. Did those come with the bike or did you find them elsewhere? I'm really trying to get my hands on a set, and I've only found the front wheel, but came across the A(automatic) rear spoke wheel which is only a 16". I definitely plan on going with those tires, also. Those are pretty sick.

[DCrider]

[aceinab]

what's the status on this build? i've had an 86' gs450 for a couple years now, traded a 91' toyota pickup for it! i only got to ride it for the first 2 hrs i owned it, and have been carrying her around since. just bought a house so have a limited budget as well, and figured a rebuild would be a good space taker in the garage.

really inspired by your work, awesome amount of creativity and ingenuity on your cafe build. ya gonna put turn signals on it? take off the horn?

just wondering cause i wanna make mine a daily rider and dunno the legality of bike mods in alberta.

keep up the great work!

[vintagecycle]

Darn, this was getting good. Any updates/news?

[jfman]

Any updates onh this build?

[HiSPL]

www.thegsresources.com

All you would ever want to know about keeping the GS alive...

[Iron_HawK]

Hey everyone sorry for the delay. I have been very busy with college and work. I have made some progress since I was last on here. But first to address the questions.

barnabasantioch: I stand corrected my GS is a "T" model. I love the spoked wheels and looking at alot of the older bikes I got lucky and got the spokes instead of the other nasty wheels. Raising the tank on the "T" or "L" should make the bike look much better. I raised the rear of my tank roughly an 1".

aceinab: I have already taken off the horn with no motivation to put it back on. Over the last 6 years of riding street bikes (since I was 15) I have never used a horn. I would rather address the problem on the street first then blasting off making myself noticeably visibly to whoever just pulled out in front of me. I do not have much use of a horn on a motorcycle. I bought some nice turn signals for the bike but I am actually thinking of leaving them off. This is not my DD, it's my weekend warrior. I'm not all that worried about street legal just that it's a fun bike to ride and enjoy.

HiSPL: Thanks man, I have done some reading on that site to learn more about the bike. I would love to build a GS inline four down the road.

Okay now to what I've done since the last posting... along time ago.

I have welded the rear fender in and welded all the number plate brackets in shown below: (please don't judge the welding, I'm still learning)



I pulled the exhaust off and cleaned it up a tad. I'm not terribly worried about the looks of it since I will be using exhaust wrap around it and eventually building a black tip at the end of each side.



I pulled the engine out and cleaned it up a bit. I still have more cleaning to do on it but for right now I am happy with it.





A sneak peak to how the whole engine should turn out:



I have been playing with the foot pegs and rear-sets for a long time trying to come up with a design I liked. Rear-sets are a huge critical part in a custom designed bike which can be used to estimate the amount of work someone put in building the bike. Believe me I played around with the idea of using the stock pegs but I eventually came up with this simple and "industrial" design. It's tuff, rugged, and pretty much exactly what I was looking for. Also notice the rear brake pedal. I'm mighty happy with how it turned out. It's just enough different that it should stand out.







Here's how the bike sits now. Tomorrow I believe I will strip the rest of the bike down to just the frame and begin the dreaded wire brushing of the frame. I've been wanting to buy a cabinet sand blaster but it keeps slowly getting moved down the list of things to buy. I've gotta find a good way to clean this dude up. I should be on here more frequently now that school slowed down a bit and I am home again. Thanks for the interest guys, hope I didn't upset to many people by not updating for a while. Got more pics and progress to come! Thanks again

[Iron_HawK]

Thought I might also post some pictures of a project I did that I'm not really sure why I built. I've been trying to get better at using the MIG welder so I decided to build something I didn't really care about. This is what I built.... a Big Wheels that a 200lbf 6'4" guy like me can fit in. It's actually fun









Not real sure why I did it but I'm happy with the result. Looks pretty good and has suspension

More bike pics tomorrow.

Thanks again guys

[Pablo83]

Originally Posted by Iron_HawK_Customs

Not real sure why I did it but I'm happy with the result.

Nice trike. Not all projects need a purpose. Here's one I did recently.