Re: 1975 Suzuki T500 new chassis mock up pics 3/11/11
Glad you decided to come over here and have a look! ADVrider is a great site, but this is the place for cafe builds. There are several T500's going together here at the moment. Have a look around and start a build thread for your project. Can't wait to see it.
Modding the GT drum for the stock fork is really easy. Measure the width of your drum and fork then subtract to find the difference. Machine half the difference off each backing plate. I took 0.160" off each of my backing plates. Grind the stock drum locating tab off the left fork leg and fab up a set of brake stays for the GT drum. It looks like I'll be able to use the stock GT stays with just a bend or two.
There are limitations to what the stock fork can do, but it's all relative. The GT forks are better, but still not great. I've been pretty upfront from the beginning that my bike is just about have a cool looking toy to cruise around with on the weekends. A lot of the things you "have to do" to be a cafe in the eyes of many simply won't make that much difference to my overall enjoyment of the bike. The lack of "required" performance mods will make the bike a poser machine in the eyes of some, but I really don't care.
It's funny, a lot of people are all-or-nothing. If you say you're restoring a T500 people say "GREAT, don't touch a thing it's a great bike...leave it stock". But if you say you want to add a bit of cafe styling to your bike suddenly you just HAVE to change forks, brakes, brace the frame, port and polish the engine, etc, etc, etc. You just HAVE to or your bike will be a hideous machine to ride and you'll be DOOMED!!!!!
I tend to take a more moderate view. Also, projects like this are never really "done"...you just decide to stop working and ride it for a while before starting the next round of mods. Anything can be changed later if I find I need to.