Finally...some pics of my GS750 cafe project...

xcaptainxbloodx said:

its too shiney for your bike. scuff it,cut it off in line with the beginning of your sidecover and throw a turn out tip on it, hit it with flat black,and wrap it.

also, and I may be a complete asshole for saying this, do something with the rear section. throw a bump stop on or chop the frame and turn it into a hardtail bobber type idea but dont do half of both.

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Oh thats going bye bye...in favor of an H2 style fibreglass seat...its just there for riding for right now...lol...I didnt do it, was a basterdized bobber when i bought it. Right now tho im working on carburation and that pretty tank i spent so much time on is going bye as well in favor of a new one that i just pounded out knee dents in. Seat will come this winter.And actually its been raised back up, with the use of some stock shocks i pulled off an 80...i have plans for some racing shocks that i want to buy from Locoleon but i am strapped at the moment. I may actually have to add some back to the frame for support, but i kinda like the short look of it, so i may cut the seat pan down on the new seat to keep that look. SO thats one vote for ditching the meg...

anyone else??

TonUpSoldier said:

Actually you cant see in those pics, but i have a brake/tail light and license plate side mounted to my rear axle bolts (on the left side of the bike...) works out pretty well, and high enough up i would drag my pegs before i dragged it, but i wont have to worry about that at all when i get her raised back up a bit..

Thanks for the compliments man! she's still a work in progress as i said. Ill be adding a cafe seat as soon as i decide which style i wanna go, cant decide if i want the boxy H2 style or a traditional bubble seat. Im leaning toward the H2 cos i think it will keep the aggressive lines, and a tip of the cap to the original Zook boat tail seat that she came with...but we'll see..

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If your going for a straight early/mid 1970's retro look the Team Hansen/Gary Nixon Kawasaki tail piece is pretty cool http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/6510/h2r.htm

The Yamaha RD56(250cc) style tail is also pretty cool looking on a small bike. Check this out http://rd56.com/
Here's one made for a stock size/style tank. http://www.usa2strokers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=23571&PN=1

The pipe only looks out of place if you aren't going to polish the cases. Look at pics/bikes with polished cases and chrome pipes just look correct. I prefer the cone shape look on old style Cafe bikes.

It's all it the look/theme your going for and once you pick one mismatching pieces/parts can throw off the look even if it was well intended.
Not saying you can't put new style parts on an old bike or visa versa and still stay within a certain look/theme but you have to do it in a way(tricks/techniques) so it doesn't look out of place.

The best examples of this is when you see/study a bike and have to wonder to yourself "Did that bike/year/model even come with that from the factory?" "Hmm,well if it didn't then it SHOULD have!" That's when the builder knows he did good.

My 1972 Hodaka was designed and built in such a way that I could make it look like just about any style/era I chose from the 50's all the way up through the 70's. Some bike designs just lend themselves to that kind of latitude. The look I'm going for on my bike was mostly determined
by the "Toaster" style tank that came on them. They looked "Old School" even when they were new in the 60's/70's. I'm just taking the look back a couple of decades earlier. http://dotheton.com/index.php?topic=2180.0

Re: Finally...some pics of my GS750 cafe project...UPDATE

Well..in agreement with some opinions on here about my pipe, i pulled the header off today (for multiple reasons...get to that in a minute) and finally got around to wrapping it with my header wrap...i AM keeping the meg however.ordered a new baffle for it today..While i dont plan on polishing my engine case covers..they'll be black but with polished hex head bolts, and there will be touches of chrome here and there to kina go with my theme...the bezel of the headlight bucket will also remain chrome. I have however decided to go a different route with my overall paint scheme, going away from that gold to an antique brass colour Rustoleum makes..its gonna look sweet i think. I'll keep my over all design with the classic race stripe, but my knee indents will also be the brass colour to help set it off a bit. I am also planning on painting the swingarm brass, as the fork lowers will be too, it helps to make the blacked out spokes and rims pop i think. I'll get some pics up in the next day or so, as ive broken down and gone and bought a new USB cable...finally.. i added some risers to my top tree clamp to get a better angle on my clubmans, as the fork crowns were preventing me from turning them down any further...still debating on clipons.. Finished up my tank inserts bondo tonight, gave her a touch of primer to see where i need to fix or sand..it helps me a bit cos sometimes you just cant see the imperfections without a touch of colour to bounce light off of...it looks good, so i'll finish primering and get some paint on it when/if the weather stabilizes soon. did a bit of rewireing, pulled some old OEM switches off this 80, so ill be able to use them for my signals, which ive yet to figure out (anyone have a lead on some lil signals?? ) and i'll actually have an OEM killswitch and ill have to rewire the starter button. But shes got a kick so that can wait, as ive got to change my starter clutch, its shot. Went thru my carbs AGAIN tonight...i bought a cheapo set of calipers, and noticed that my floats in 2 and 3 were way off...thats what i get for using inferior tools (read...a ruler heh) That would explain my richness problem in those two cylinders...Eventually as it gets deathly cold ill pull the motor and go over the frame again...maybe powder coat if i can afford it. So for my one day off i feel as tho i got a good amount of things done. Thanks for the input everyone! All thats really left is to sort out my seating arangement. Prolly end up buying an Airtech seat or get a Dunstall from Carpy...i like the boxy seat, and i think it will look good on MY 500lb-er...

Re: Finally...some pics of my GS750 cafe project...Updated 11/29

Ok so heres whats going on at the moment...

Got my header wrapped and back on the bike





As you can see it also has my tank project sitting on it just to see how it was going to look
Here are some pics of that project

Re: Finally...some pics of my GS750 cafe project...Updated 11/29

And also got my new baffle for my pipe as the jackass PO cut the hell out of it.

Got around to putting my barend mirrors on will get some snaps of that in the Daylight...heres a couple for now...notice the old tank is back on for the time being...




and i just purchased a set of these HID capable projecter headlights for 20 bucks...so ill have an extra if anyone would like it.

Also swapped some stuff of that 80 750 im parting out for a set of gixxer rearsets already set up for the GS750 frame. Get some pics up of those when they get here. and also swapped some other stuff for a Emgo Wes Cooley replica bullit fairing...more pics also when that gets here.

Looking good and I really like the header wrap. I think I will go with that on my Hodaka at least the part under the heat shield and close to my leg(it's a High Pipe).

I like the idea of the knee reliefs also and will probably try that on the spare Toaster tank I have as it's already dented anyway and looks like crap! The chrome isn't very good so it really won't bother me to have to use filler to smooth out the knee reliefs and paint the whole tank Silver.

Its looking sweet man. I love the personal style it has. Not a copy of anyone else's. Theres allot to say for doing your own thing. Also when someone says something wont look good, do it anyway!! Thats why my frame is gold. LOL

Ok UPDATE time...


Today was spent stripping the bike down. I have pretty much everything the way i want it, save for my seat, which i will procure soon enough. I picked up my new motor Tuesday, and today the old motor was taken out, the rear end stripped down and EVERYTHING went down to the basement for the winter. Over this, I am excited. I was not looking forward to having to take this thing apart to work on it, but i actually had to take less than i thought off to get it down there, and since i did, she'll be getting the Cadillac job done. Frame will be either painted or powder coated, i havent decided which just yet, and the new motor will be completely polished. Here's some pics of today's progress. Aside from the tear down, most of the day/evening was spent going over the new motor.




The motor will need a valve adjustment, right off. And on inspection, the plugs were sooted, and so were the exhaust ports, and couple this with the fact that the oil had a definate gas smell to it, tells me it was running a bit on the rich side. The intake boot rings will be replaced, i'll change some gaskets, clean her up and polish the case covers and valve/cam covers, and then she'll go back in the bike. I'll find out then how she runs, but from the indications based on what ive inspected, she'll be just fine. Compression is good, oil flow looks good, cams are in GREAT shape, as well as the cam chain.

Just for fun we put some newer tech up against some older tech...

The GS750 TCSS 16v motor on the right, The GS750 8v motor on the left...

My buddy Cole modeling for us...sheesh



More pics soon!

Allright! Its been a little while since ive posted any progress...but here goes!

Almost a roller. Obviously the paint is NOT done...and pardon my packrat strewn basement.

Planning for the future with that walker? Lol! The tail looks really good! Definitely much better than before.

Just tore into my buddy's GS last night. Down to the frame wheels and engine right now. He's broke a few exhaust bolts told him to be careful, so we'll have to get them out sometime. Likely going the fighter route with it, which could look really nice. Was really surprised how beefy these GS frames are!! Looks like they'll weigh in at about 100 lbs just for the frame! Will likely start a thread for it once we actually start doing something.

Hunt yourself (or tell him to) a GS1100 aluminum boxed swinger. I couldnt believe the weight difference, and it adds two inches to the wheelbase, which is nice. You'll have to replace the stocker shocks with 14 or 14.5 inchers (either will work, frankly i'd even like to have some 15 or 15.5 inchers for mine, but i dunno if they even make those with eye-clevis mounts) to make up the hight difference. Its a great mod, and there are a couple ways to go about it. As the stock 750 pivot bolt is smaller in diameter, you'll either need to find needle bearings with the ID of the pivot, and OD of the stock 1100 bearings, OR drill out the frame holes to accept the larger pivot (which is what i did, and if your not precise can be a lil hairy) OR even still, i recently read a thread where someone used brass bushings in place of the needle bearings, and installed a zerc fitting in the arm to keep it well greased, and that worked better than the bearings as the bushings dont pile up. Id also suggest replacing the head bearings with tappers, OR finding a set of GS850 or larger front forks, as they use 37mm fork tubes rather than the 35mm stockers. Of course if you're going streetfighter, Katana front ends and some Gixxer front ends (you'll have to watch which, as the later models werent sprung to hold the GS frame's weight) are a popular mod. They'll require a bit more work, to the stops and what not. Dardoonk used an 1100 front end on his bike, and except for the bearings i think he said it was a direct swap. Spring it with some Progressives and slap a fork brace on it, and it should handle MUCH better than stock. It will also give you dual front disc instead of single. Me i stuck with the stock 35mm and single disc, for weight reasons, as adding the second disc to the spoked rims presented another set of headaches. It can be done, but you have to use pre 80 discs and calipers, for both sides, as the 80 and up rotors and caliper set up were smaller rotor and different calipers. I also installed a Tarozzi fork brace, fantastic piece. Fastfromthepast.com has them, and depending on which forks you go with, i believe he carries them as direct bolt on applications for a few different GS models, even our old 77s. Dardoonk also has some sweet ass rearset mods he did, using Zook Bandit rearsets. I was going to do the same, untill he said you cant use the kicker anymore (boo on that )

Great work on the seat man, the bike looks wicked!