cierrecart
Been Around the Block
A few years back I made the transition from a modded scooter, to a restored 67 Suzuki K15 "Hillbilly", to a slightly cafe'd RD350.
Well, then I got into triathlon, got obsessed and just had to have an expensive bike, so I sold the bikes that had motors. Still obsessed with triathlon, but after stumbling across the Holiday Customs GN400 brat bike, I knew I had to get another project.
http://www.pipeburn.com/home/2012/10/22/1980-suzuki-gn400-holiday-customs.html
With that bike as my inspiration, I started watching CL, and found one fairly local...and $200 later I had this:
Coming home crammed in my minivan:
FUGLY!
The good news was that the bike has been in a storage space for a long time, and its in decent shape. Motor turns over just fine, everything works....but it doesn't run. The guy I bought it from (the original owner) said he had just had carb work done on it 3 months ago and it was running great (dont they all say that?) but that he'd left the petcock on when he put it away those months ago and that the jets were probably clogged. I took a leap of faith and decided to tear it down first, then work on getting it running once I was all done.
The other positive is that it has a clear title. (Definitely a bonus after the hoops I had to jump through with the Hillbilly!)
So, the plan is to go for a cafe/brat hybrid. Keeping the stock tank, ditching the airbox/sidecovers, lowering the tree on the forks to fit clipons above it, cutting the rear frame and adding the DCC rear loop and brat seat. Plan was to get some big ol' Firestones, but the rubber on this bike is in great shape so I'll run them for now. Ditching the tach and center console section and just running the speedo.
Already have a sizeable order in to Dime City. Hoping to have the motor out and frame ready for paint over the weekend.
Budget is the primary concern....I'd like to stay under $1000 when all is said and done. I have very little time to ride, so this will just be an around town errand runner on the weekends kind of bike. I want it to look good and be fun.
Here she is stripped down24 hours later. Forks are up in the trees to see what kind of stance I'd like.
Well, then I got into triathlon, got obsessed and just had to have an expensive bike, so I sold the bikes that had motors. Still obsessed with triathlon, but after stumbling across the Holiday Customs GN400 brat bike, I knew I had to get another project.
http://www.pipeburn.com/home/2012/10/22/1980-suzuki-gn400-holiday-customs.html
With that bike as my inspiration, I started watching CL, and found one fairly local...and $200 later I had this:
Coming home crammed in my minivan:
FUGLY!
The good news was that the bike has been in a storage space for a long time, and its in decent shape. Motor turns over just fine, everything works....but it doesn't run. The guy I bought it from (the original owner) said he had just had carb work done on it 3 months ago and it was running great (dont they all say that?) but that he'd left the petcock on when he put it away those months ago and that the jets were probably clogged. I took a leap of faith and decided to tear it down first, then work on getting it running once I was all done.
The other positive is that it has a clear title. (Definitely a bonus after the hoops I had to jump through with the Hillbilly!)
So, the plan is to go for a cafe/brat hybrid. Keeping the stock tank, ditching the airbox/sidecovers, lowering the tree on the forks to fit clipons above it, cutting the rear frame and adding the DCC rear loop and brat seat. Plan was to get some big ol' Firestones, but the rubber on this bike is in great shape so I'll run them for now. Ditching the tach and center console section and just running the speedo.
Already have a sizeable order in to Dime City. Hoping to have the motor out and frame ready for paint over the weekend.
Budget is the primary concern....I'd like to stay under $1000 when all is said and done. I have very little time to ride, so this will just be an around town errand runner on the weekends kind of bike. I want it to look good and be fun.
Here she is stripped down24 hours later. Forks are up in the trees to see what kind of stance I'd like.