Ok folks, thought I would finally put my bike up here as it is almost ready to be turned into a cafe bike. Imported it from Portland, Oregon a few months ago to Perth, Western Australia where I live. it is in good condition and is the same vintage as me so is a bit special I reckon. Here are the starting photos. Since these photos were taken, I have installed a newtronics ignition system and got it running as the points were a mess. Next step- new brakes! went for a test ride around the block and shot past the street I was going to turn into! after 20 years of riding Gsxrs, drum brakes will take a while to get used to. I am going to put in some EBC shoes I got off amazon.
1974 Suzuki T500 Titan cafe build
- Thread starter MikGsxr
- Start date
interceptor
Coast to Coast
Wow, that looks like a very nice, clean bike 
JustinLonghorn
No Purple Hearts, No Blue Ribbons
Nice T500, I can't wait to see what you do with it.
Cafe-XV750
Been Around the Block
Subscribed!
Titan performance
Titan cafe racer builders.
You've got my attention.......and obviously you have a solid plan.
For the benefit of a couple of previous posters.....clubmans bars just don't work on a 500. The position of the foot pegs is so far forward, you end up with your knees in your arm pits. I'm 6ft, and managed to tolerate it for one day only before ripping them off. Flat, drag style bars work though, and look good !
For the benefit of a couple of previous posters.....clubmans bars just don't work on a 500. The position of the foot pegs is so far forward, you end up with your knees in your arm pits. I'm 6ft, and managed to tolerate it for one day only before ripping them off. Flat, drag style bars work though, and look good !
JustinLonghorn
No Purple Hearts, No Blue Ribbons
M-Bars, Drags, or a set of superbike bars are the way to go if you are keeping the stock footpeg location.
BicycleBobe
Been Around the Block
Agreed the stock foot position will not work with clubmans I even thought it felt a bit goofy with drag bars. Bike looks very clean
two-smoker
I reject your reality, and substitute my own!
That's poetry! Pretty ballsy, as well.
GreatDane
New Member
From what I can see, there's nothing wrong about the tank. It looks pretty slick and you get quite a muscular look with the short seat and clip-ons. You're onto something cool here buddy, shorten that frontfender and get it out of that corner for a nice sideshot, then it's easier to see the proportions, and maybe get an idea about why the tank should be wrong. Keep up the good work!
two-smoker
I reject your reality, and substitute my own!
The tank is not from a T500, it's from a GT380 or 550. The GT500 (later version of your bike) used a tank the same shape from the GT750, identified by a plastic panel in front of the fuel fill, originally used to cover the coolant fill. That said, it looks awesome, and I wouldn't change a thing.
