1982 GS650G First time builder

great deal and bike

Since the last time that I have posted on here, I have actually done quite a bit. The major transformation of the bike should be happening over the next couple of weeks as I work with some friends to modify the frame and make a custom seat pan. Another friend offered to paint my bike for me, and there was no way I could object to that!

Now for the winter updates:

At the end of last season, my tank sprung a leak where a previous owner had put a hole in the tank while removing the original logos. So the nice paint job that was on the bike when I bought it was ruined. I worked with a friend to remove the paint and patch the hole with some JB Weld. A quick coat of primer and some rattle can had me back on the road.

I used the time that use a vinegar mixture to remove any potential rust from the inside of my tank. It is now nice and shiney on the inside, patched, and has a tolerable paint job.

On Sunday night, with a cold beverages in hand, my buddy and I removed the tachometer and speedometer and pulled some of the excess electricle line into the headlamp basket. Then we replaced my broken throttle cable, which ended my riding season in mid-December. Thankfully, the bike fired up pretty quickly once the tank was back on, especially since it was in the low 20s on Sunday night (hooray for garage heaters!!).

Then came the part of the build that has made me the most nervous...the knee indents. After watching several YouTube videos, I figured that I would try to do this on my own. My deepest fear was that a $9 hammer would turn into me buying a $90 tank. With the outline taped out on both sides, I began to hammer away at the only most visible piece of the only motorcycle that I have ever owned. The piece that I had spent some time and money fixing over the winter. A few whacks in, I was feeling pretty good about it. By the time my arm felt like it was going to fall off, I was about half way done. I'm going to have to smooth out the hammer marks with some Bondo and hit the tank with another quick coat of paint to avoid rust, but all in all I was very pleased with the results. Given that it was the first time that I have done it, I think the tank looks pretty awesome. I will post some before and after pictures soon.

Tomorrow, I will be cutting the frame, making a tail loop, and working on a custom Brastyle seat pan. It should be a good couple of days in the garage. If only I didn't have to ride the bike in 28 degree weather to get it to the garage to customize it! One of these days, I'm going to have to spring for a trailer!

Good to see you're still at it! Hope to see you and the zook on the road this spring... assuming it ever arrives.

Matt

Here are the knee indents on the tank. I gave them a quick hit with the rattle can to cover any bare metal. It won't be long before all the old paint comes off, so I'm not worried about how it looks for the next couple of weeks. If the weather is like it was this AM, then I won't be riding much.

Matt, we will have to actually ride this year! It was a shame we couldn't connect at Mid Ohio last year, though it was good you weren't riding there with me since I got rained on all the way from Brunswick.


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It is late March. A couple of months ago I scheduled three days off to work on my build. I figured the last few days of March would be fine for riding to the garage where a friend was going to help me with the metal work and fabrication. I planned on riding there. March weather isn't always roses here in Northeast Ohio, so I thought I might get rained on. That was a reasonable assumption. However, this was the view outside this morning... Needless to say, I didn't venture out in 28 degree snowy weather on a mid-build cafe/brat bike.

Next I attempted to fire up ye ole minivan to load the bike in the back (minivan = suburban truck w/built in topper). Why else would anyone own a minivan if not to haul things? Anyway, I digress. When I went out to heat up the van, the battery was dead. I tried to jump it. Nothing. I used a trickle charger. Nothing. At this point, I went in and ate breakfast and got a cup of coffee. It wasn't worth getting upset. At least not as upset as I was thinking about getting. So, once my "hangry" phase was temporarily concluded, I decided that I would fork out the cash to rent a UHaul to get my bike to my friend's garage. It worked out really well.

I had hoped to start work right at 9am. We arrived at the garage shortly after 1pm. Thankfully, we were able to cut the frame, bend a one of a kind tall loop by hand (hence it being unique), and get some things set up to pick back up related tomorrow morning. All in all it was a good day despite the rough start. It is great to see the bike finally coming together.

Something that has only existed in my mind for three years is now starting to take shape. It was great using a grinder for the first time today and being able to use a torch to bend my tail loop was a blast. I'm looking forward to trying my hand at welding tomorrow or Friday. The build is really picking up steam. I'm really stoked about the final logo design and color scheme.

Only thing that will have to wait until next year is upgrading the engine, suspension, and various other minor changes. I would hate to "fix" something, like my engine, which has been running error free since I first got it going 4 years ago.

Tomorrow, I'm going to work to mount my new iPhone case so that I can use my phone as my speedometer. Then I will cut the seat pan and begin fashioning the cushion for upholstery.

Just a couple more days and the skeleton of a cafe racer will be there.




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I spent some quality time with my 10 month old daughter this morning, so it was afternoon before I really got to the garage. From there my friend, Vince, welded the loop we made yesterday to the frame. It took a while to get the welds done and everything cleaned up. The more I am around welding, the more impressed I am by those who can do it well. I have yet to try my hand at it, but there will be at least one part on this bike that I weld in place.



While Vince was working on finishing that up, I decided to play with the cutting wheel and "fix" my front fender. I must say that I really enjoyed shaping the fender. I don't have any pictures of it with the black paint just yet, but, overall, I am pleased with the way it looks right now.

Once the loop was welded to the frame, it was time to pull out the torch and a crowbar to give the loop a slight upsweep. It wasn't as drastic as a curve as I was hoping for, but we got the loop swept where it needed to go.

Because of a few issues with the seat pan, I had to go back to the drawing board. Thanks to YouTube and Kott Motorcycles, I think I may have found a solution. I'll post more tomorrow...if it works. Hopefully, I will be riding this bike home tomorrow. I am doubting that at this point though.


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I may not have ridden my bike home today, but it was an excellent day nonetheless. The morning started off in a flurry of activity as my wife and I are currently sharing a single car while trying to juggle caring for a baby and both of us working full time. Despite having awoken around 7am, bleary eyed with coffee in hand I arrived at the garage around 10am (I was up until after 2am researching potential next steps on the build). After helping my friend and his boss unload a trailer full of metal roofing, we were finally able to get started on the bike.

We quickly tied up a few loose ends and got going with finishing up the iPhone speedometer mount and started on the frame on the seat pan. The best part of working on the seat pan was that I got to learn the basics of welding. Following what I had seen on the Kott Motorcycle YouTube channel, I began by tacking the 1/4in round bar to the frame and constructing a basic outline to match the curve on the front of the seat to the slope on the tank. The combination of welding, heating, bending, and cutting was a blast. I may have to spend more vacation days working on projects like this. It was very cathartic. I love working with metal.

Eventually, we cut the seat pan frame from the motorcycle frame to finish it up.

A portion of the day was spent tracking down some sheet metal for the seat pan (which they carry at Home Depot...despite the fact that knowledgable individuals told me they didn't). I added a second coat of paint to the front fender and a couple hours later, I put the fender back on the bike. I still can't believe that I modified the stock fender to look so cool.

My phone died while working, so I can't post many of today's photos right now. It was highly productive, but I am probably about five hours of work away from being able to take the finished seat pan to an upholsterer.

One of the highlights of the day was installing the retro style "stop" taillight and seeing it light up! The bracket mounted to the back of the frame looks perfect. The license plate bracket extends down at just the right angle to miss the tire no matter how crazily I jump on the bike. Like so many things, it turned out so much better than I thought it would for a first time build. One of the day's low lights happened a few seconds after the taillights flared to life...multiple fuses burst at the same moment. I'm pretty sure we have the faulty ground issue resolved and that the light will work fine in the AM. I will post pictures soon.


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There is great satisfaction from having made something with your own two hands. My bike may not be the most beautiful on the road, but at the end of the day, there will only be one bike like it. And I will have put my literal blood and sweat into the making of this one off project. Everytime I see an imperfection in a pipe bend done by hand with a torch rather than rolled on a high dollar pipe bender and then purchased online, I am thankful that my own hands have made the imperfections.

Apparently posting late at night I'm more pensive. I should probably post earlier in the day and just stick to posting pictures and quick updates.

Apparently, I kept working and forgot that I had stopped posting. Here are some photos:


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The seat looks much prettier now that I have finally shaved the foam down. I don't think I got any photos of the final shape of the foam prior to handing it off to a friend to upholster in some marine grade vinyl that I picked up. I can't wait to see what it looks like when she is done.


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my friend texted me this picture of the parts getting ready to paint right after he had bead blasted them and shortly before he smoothed out my terrible bodywork on the knee indents and the fiberglass seat cowl I made.

My adventures late at night with fiberglass were quite interesting. I'm thankful I didn't end up flooding my basement with resin or catching the house on fire with the noxious fumes. All in all, it was a good learning experience. It certainly would have been. Easier to buy a seat cowl. Though it was pretty fun shaping styrofoam with a carving knife.


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A brief update on the body work.



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The vinyl is cut for my seat. Friends who are passionate about motorcycles are awesome. I have been shocked at how people have volunteered to use their skill to help me on this bike. I should have the finished seat by Wednesday.

The paint will be done in the next week or so. The bike is getting close...for this year.

So far, most of the upgrades have been cosmetic, repair, or safety focused. Of course much of the goal this winter was to reduce weight. I have shaved off a few pounds, but not as many as I thought I would be able to.

I am going to purchase some iridium spark plugs soon (estimated 2 to 5 hp increase). Next winter, I am going to focus on going through my engine and potentially making some minor upgrades. Being (relatively) new to motorcycles, and never having worked on engines or cars, I have taken the process of doing mechanical work on the bike very slowly. I have done what I could handle along the way and called on friends for support.

The engine runs fine right now. No reason to ruin a good thing with my ridiculous tinkering...at least until I have a better idea of what I am doing. The goal between now and next winter is to find some relatively inexpensive performance upgrades that I can do myself. I am looking primarily at doing basic engine maintenance (seal and gasket replacements) and upgrading the suspension or my ignition system. In the meantime, I am going to enjoy the look of the bike and being back on two wheels.


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Nice progress- can't wait to see it completed.

The body work is completed and the parts are primed. I can't wait to see it painted!


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The paint is ready to go. I purchased a clear coat additive today that I am excited to see. It may not work out the way I hope, so I will wait to post anything more about it. There are some people on here that I am sure will hate it, but it is one of the things that has had me excited about the build all winter.

The bike will be a dark gray with a cream colored racing stripe on the tank and fairing. The paint additive will add a little safety feature to the bike. At least that was the element of it that had my wife most excited. It is getting close now.

I also got the seat back from my friend who sewed the pattern by hand out of the vinyl. I have tack strips on the way thanks to eBay, so I will stretch the vinyl here in the next few days and be sure to get some pictures posted of my custom seat.


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Another NE Ohioan checking in. Nice build so far!

Yessir, the tins look good good so far.

Thanks for the encouragement! I should have parts back from the painter and the seat finished in the next few days. I will DEFINITELY post some photos when I have everything back together!


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Well, while waiting for the parts to get back from the painter, I took the evening to slap a couple layers of Obenauf's on my gear and get some tin snips so that I can finish the seat. It looks like Sunday will be the earliest I can get my tank, fender, side covers, and seat cowl back from the painter. It is my hope to have a few other things sorted out by then. We shall see. Family will be in town on Saturday, so I am not planning on getting much done on the bike. Every day above 40 that I am not riding is salt in the wound. I can't get back on the road soon enough!


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