1981 Suzuki GS550 build

amatoer10

New Member
This is my first bike build but I'm no stranger to customizing vehicles. I've been building rock crawlers for several years now (and a tall bike here and there) and I'm finally tearing into my GS550L that I've been riding for the past 2 years. Its always had idling issues (due to not being rejetted for straight pipes) and it leaks a lot of oil, but it still runs strong as long as I'm not sitting in traffic. I've been wanting to turn it into a bobber for some time now and I finally have some free time to put into it since my wheeling rigs have been eating up all my spare time lately.

I won't be going to crazy on this thing but I plan to chop the back of the frame off, lower it, get a new seat, 12" ape bars, and mostly just clean and paint everything. I'd also like to find some spokes wheels and whitewall tires but thats not such a priority right now. The weather is getting really nice and I just want to get this thing riding again.

This is the bike I'm starting with. This picture is two years old and it honestly looked a lot nicer back then
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I just started stripping it this week
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hey man, good start.
great frame for a bratt style bike. nice and straight on the tail section.
any way, keep us up dated.
later.
 
Looks pretty nice to start with (and nice rig in the background - you should post that in the "Cages" section).

I don't know much about the GS's, but the monoshock swing arm from a GR could possibly bolt right in it's place. Just thinking a monoshock would help when cutting the rear off....

And I'm pretty sure the spoked wheels from a GR are a direct swap as well. They are a single disc up front and a drum in the rear though.
 
you might be able to use a rear swingarm off a 83-86 GS550E that is the monoshock setup. Only issue would be that it's a square tubed swingarm and might not look the greatest with your round tube frame.

Being as your a crawler guy though, I would just weld on ears to your swingarm and make your own monoshock setup! You crawler guys know how to weld in gussets to anything so strength will be a plus on your bike build, I'm sure.........
 
I wasn't planning on doing anything with the rear swing arm (like I said, I dont want to get crazy involved on this thing). What I am planning to do is to simply cut off the back of the frame behind where the current upper coilover mounts are, remove the coilover mounts from their current location, and weld them in higher up on the frame to lower the bike 2-3 inches.

I've had a situation pop up this weekend though. The torque converter in my F350 decided to puke its guts out while i was towing my crawler back from a trail cut on Sunday. It gave out 200 yards from my house so now I have to deal with this mess and I have a lot of towing to do this month :-\

I figured this site would have a lot of people that like non shiny, well used things. This is my crawler, a 1985 Toyota pickup, 1 ton axles, 38.5x14x16.5 TSLs on military H1 beadlock rims, propane conversion, dual transfer cases, cage, etc, and I just finished installing full hydraulic steering 2 weeks ago that I ripped out of a forklift.
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I got a little done recently but work is going slow since I have a lot on my plate at the moment. So far I got the new seat, signals/lights, and mini apes and started chopping the back of the frame. My original plan was to throw this thing all back together by the end of May but thats obviously not going to happen so now I'm shooting for the end of June.

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the suzuki is down to the motor and frame at the moment and has been there for a while. My offroad rig has been eating up a lot of my time but I was sick of not having anything to ride so I picked up another bike last weekend. I grabbed a 1981 Yamaha XJ550 Seca. Its in beautiful shape and runs mint. This thing needs nothing and I'm not going to touch this bike... just enjoy it.

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Moar pics of that Suzi! ;D

I've got the same damn bike in my garage. Picked it up in 08 right before i got married. Thing never ran. Was the first bike i owned. I don't like to talk about it. But anyway, long story short, it now runs and we're trying to get it back to 'cool' so i can sell to fund my other more important projects.


If you need any parts, let me know. I think i have progressive front fork springs, a gasket for the top end... and a few other small parts for it that i won't end up using (fork seals, and i think a set of copper exhaust gaskets?)

Anyway, let me know and keep us updated.
 
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