1971 Suzuki T500 cafe racer build....

[Benjo@EKCMC]

Performed faultlessly on a weekend away to the New Forest. Although the pipes were a little noises for the wild horses!!
she is at 1300 miles now and going well. Off to Chimmay Classic bike racing in Belgium this weekend. That will be a test for it! Wish me luck

 

[Benjo@EKCMC]

By the way, the seat unit is being painted red also over the winter.

 

[Maritime]

Nice job! Dumb question but is the Avon mounted right on the front? It looks like a universal front/rear size and the arrow states one way for front, one way for rear and usually the tread pattern is reverse to yours on front. It won't hurt if backwards unless you are riding in the rain as it is for channeling water properly.


Edit, never mind in the most recent pics it looks correct LOL

Cheers,

 

[Benjo@EKCMC]

Good spot! Yes at Ashford show it was on backwards. It is correct rotation now

 

[Maritime]

Cool, only matters if riding wet but in England that can happen lots. ;D

 

[CarbsAndCylinders]

Ha ha, years ago when I built my H2, I decided to put the brake caliper behind the fork tube, so I swapped the tube and reversed one and fipped the wheel so that the disk was on the caliper side. Of course, I forgot to flip the tire on the rim. The mechanic I took it to to rebuild the master cylinder was not impressed. He was a dick anyway though.

 

[CarbsAndCylinders]

Are you happy with that oil tank, I have yet to put mine on.

 

[Benjo@EKCMC]

Love it. Works a treat.

 

[CarbsAndCylinders]

How much weight do you think you knocked off her?

 

[Benjo@EKCMC]

No idea. I would be interested to weigh it and a standard T500 just to see

 

[swan]

Very, very nice. Great work ! If only I had a vapor blaster at work...

 

[Benjo@EKCMC]

400 mile round trip to Belgium. Rode it round the track too. Brilliant!!

 

[Benjo@EKCMC]

Great fun

 

[goldy]

Can't help thinking the tail section might look better with a red side panel...sort of like the gas tank. Anyhow that's just cosmetics...the bike came out great, glad you are having fun with it!

 

[Titan performance]

Ben....you have done a superb job of your build mate. It looks great, and it goes great. What a thoroughly enjoyable weekend we had at Chimay !

 

[johnu]

Very nice looking bike! But then I'm partial to the T500 anyway ;D

 

[CarbsAndCylinders]

I think Goldy had an idea, adding a red shape on each side of the hump to match the shape of the hump itself would look pretty good.

 

[johnu]

I think Goldy had an idea, adding a red shape on each side of the hump to match the shape of the hump itself would look pretty good.
[/quote
I agree

 

[goldy]

Fiddling around with MS Paint this morning...maybe something like this? Regardless, like I said before, it's a great bike...if you have half as much fun on it as I did on mine (and it sounds like you are) you will be doing very well indeed! Got me missing my old '67...I actually saw it about five years ago and it has not been treated well...sellers remorse I guess.

 

[Benjo@EKCMC]

Yes, you have just made my mind up thank you!