This passed summer, a buddy and I took a trip to niagara falls on an 86 goldwing, and a 76 xs500. the goldwing was in much better shape for the trip, engine overhaul over the previous winter, the bike only had 35k on the clock so it was still fresh. The yamaha was in much rougher shape, but surprised us both by holding up the entire time we were on the trip! the week before the trip we got new plugs, oil and lube, battery, the basics for it pretty much, and paid off well. no issues the whole trip! throughout the process and journey of setting the bike up for the trip and while we were on the road, i always made it clear i wanted to buy the bike from him before he left for basic training or whatever, but he didnt really want to sell it. which was fine, but i still wanted it. so about a week ago, i asked if he would sell it, i know what he paid for it, and i know what he put into it, so i didnt want to rape him at the knee caps for buying it from him. i offered 250, and he said sure! so today we got it running, and he rode it over to my girlfriends garage before we did the final tear down. he is going to help with the process which is nice. he always wanted to do something like this, but never really had the time or money. here is what we started out with:
i can instantly see a successful cafe build. making everything work right, thats a different story, but im damn sure i can get the job done just fine. first thing we did when we got digging into it was take off the ugly chrome rack. thing served its purpose, but its ugly and doesnt fit the build.
i Gracefully employed my girlfriend to help my buddy and I out stripping the bike down, and since i decided to painters tape the entire bike on the last day of our niagara trip, i gave her the best job in the world!......taking it off! something shes great at (GIGGITY!).
thats the guy i bought it from, and my girlfriend, hiding behind the other side of the bike taking tape off patiently. it started taking shape once the rear fender was off, and thats when i started to really see how the bike was going to look!
i took the front fender off and helped get a little extra tape off the tank, and that was where i stopped for the evening, have to work 4 to midnight tonight, so i cut the work short due to giving my buddy a ride home since he rode the bike over.
now starts the list of really what i want to do with the bike. we were discussing painting the tank white with the jap rising sun on the sides, and coming down to the side covers, as well as well as including the tail section in the logo as well. for the rims, my buddy, joe, was thinking about painting the mag spokes red, and the rim white, and my thought is to paint them like, a magnesium/dark gold color. i am pretty sure the magnesium or dark gold color would work better, only because it wouldn't be an over-baring amount of color, as i want it kind of dark. for the handlebars, i believe my woodcraft clip on bars will fit with new inserts. they are for 36mm forks (from a ninja 250 i had), and woodcraft can supply inserts for smaller forks if people need them. should be able to work something out with it!
for sidecovers of the motor, i really would like to have them chromed, along with the valve cover of the head. and the rest painted black. pulling the motor seems teribly simple on this bike, its just awkward and fk'ing heavy ha.
for the forks, im debating painting them white to match the tank and tail sections, or getting them chromed or polishing the hell out of them. looking at the front end kind of confuses me, it seems to sit a little higher than the rear, so ill end up lowering the front end an inch or two and finding some stiffer shock springs/heavier shock oil to swap out. also, i really want to use a chrome front fender, and half one of those flat vertical "pedestrian slicer" things that go on top of the fender. dont know the actual name, but you guys will know what im talking about!
the rear end, i would like to get ohlins or something similiar that has the oil resevoir, mikes xs has some, they are like 200 bucks or something (not ohlins, but look alikes that have yellow/gold frame work and spring) so ill add that to the list. im also going to integrate turn signals and brake lights into the tail section, LED's of course, so its a little more modern, and looks decent. with this, i am going to chop off the rest of the frame after the shock mounts, so the cafe seat is going to be short, and flow well with the bike. the cafe seat im going to use is kind of blocky, to match the tanks square-ness flow.
something i plan on buying, is a mig welder, to weld up brackets and shit if i need them, i dont need something fancy, just something to get the job done, and nothing with crazy duty cycles or whatever. my buddy and i will be going to sears this coming tuesday to take a peek at what they have.
thats all i have for now! should be a pretty fun project!
i can instantly see a successful cafe build. making everything work right, thats a different story, but im damn sure i can get the job done just fine. first thing we did when we got digging into it was take off the ugly chrome rack. thing served its purpose, but its ugly and doesnt fit the build.
i Gracefully employed my girlfriend to help my buddy and I out stripping the bike down, and since i decided to painters tape the entire bike on the last day of our niagara trip, i gave her the best job in the world!......taking it off! something shes great at (GIGGITY!).
thats the guy i bought it from, and my girlfriend, hiding behind the other side of the bike taking tape off patiently. it started taking shape once the rear fender was off, and thats when i started to really see how the bike was going to look!
i took the front fender off and helped get a little extra tape off the tank, and that was where i stopped for the evening, have to work 4 to midnight tonight, so i cut the work short due to giving my buddy a ride home since he rode the bike over.
now starts the list of really what i want to do with the bike. we were discussing painting the tank white with the jap rising sun on the sides, and coming down to the side covers, as well as well as including the tail section in the logo as well. for the rims, my buddy, joe, was thinking about painting the mag spokes red, and the rim white, and my thought is to paint them like, a magnesium/dark gold color. i am pretty sure the magnesium or dark gold color would work better, only because it wouldn't be an over-baring amount of color, as i want it kind of dark. for the handlebars, i believe my woodcraft clip on bars will fit with new inserts. they are for 36mm forks (from a ninja 250 i had), and woodcraft can supply inserts for smaller forks if people need them. should be able to work something out with it!
for sidecovers of the motor, i really would like to have them chromed, along with the valve cover of the head. and the rest painted black. pulling the motor seems teribly simple on this bike, its just awkward and fk'ing heavy ha.
for the forks, im debating painting them white to match the tank and tail sections, or getting them chromed or polishing the hell out of them. looking at the front end kind of confuses me, it seems to sit a little higher than the rear, so ill end up lowering the front end an inch or two and finding some stiffer shock springs/heavier shock oil to swap out. also, i really want to use a chrome front fender, and half one of those flat vertical "pedestrian slicer" things that go on top of the fender. dont know the actual name, but you guys will know what im talking about!
the rear end, i would like to get ohlins or something similiar that has the oil resevoir, mikes xs has some, they are like 200 bucks or something (not ohlins, but look alikes that have yellow/gold frame work and spring) so ill add that to the list. im also going to integrate turn signals and brake lights into the tail section, LED's of course, so its a little more modern, and looks decent. with this, i am going to chop off the rest of the frame after the shock mounts, so the cafe seat is going to be short, and flow well with the bike. the cafe seat im going to use is kind of blocky, to match the tanks square-ness flow.
something i plan on buying, is a mig welder, to weld up brackets and shit if i need them, i dont need something fancy, just something to get the job done, and nothing with crazy duty cycles or whatever. my buddy and i will be going to sears this coming tuesday to take a peek at what they have.
thats all i have for now! should be a pretty fun project!
the japanese rising sun logo has always hit me well with this kind of build. its a japanese bike, so why not incorporate some japanese cuture shiz with the paint. 
