86 GS550 cafe fighter

[Seanslides]

Aint nothing ugly bout that 750 (cept that ugly 16v motor) GSs handle like butter. Great platforms for cafes IMO. If your buddy needs, i may have some 750 parts left over in the shed and basement from an 80 750 parts bike i had. Also have a motor with a cooked top end, but the bottom end is ok, if ya need anythingthere.

yeah, parts are always something were looking for

he needs a front wheel, a tank, a swingarm with a wheel and a disc brake, gauges, either clubmans, or clip-on's, and I think he could use a chain and a set of sprockets

haha

basically, he needs everything but a motor and a frame

I'm already doing the seat, which is coming along slowly..

 

[Seanslides]

Well no offense but in those sizes nothing is "Meaty".

And those sizes are going to seriously limit your choices. Avon has a couple of tires that look pretty tough and aren't to expensive. I like the Roadrider AM26. Chaparral has your sizes for about $80 a piece. If that is out of your range your probably going to have to check out Kenda or Chen Shin. They'd probably have something in your sizes for under $60 a piece.

Oh and I wouldn't worry to much about getting the "Grippiest" either. If it's your first bike you can probably put mountain bike tires on it and it will be able to out perform your abilities.

Good luck.

meatty is more of a relative term there

and I am pretty worried about grip because I know I'm going to be going to the canyons a lot,
at least until I can get my car running again

gotta get my fix somehow...

 

[TonUpSoldier]

yeah, parts are always something were looking for

he needs a front wheel, a tank, a swingarm with a wheel and a disc brake, gauges, either clubmans, or clip-on's, and I think he could use a chain and a set of sprockets

haha

basically, he needs everything but a motor and a frame

I'm already doing the seat, which is coming along slowly..

I have a swingarm. But no wheels. I have a rear brake caliper and rear MC if needed. Let me know.

 

[Seanslides]

cool

I might need both of those

we got a parts bike,
but the frame is bent, and I'm not sure if the swingarm got bent too

I haven't pulled it apart yet..

I'll let you know what I need parts wise after we get that parts bike apart

 

[coolatula]

Well no offense but in those sizes nothing is "Meaty".

And those sizes are going to seriously limit your choices. Avon has a couple of tires that look pretty tough and aren't to expensive. I like the Roadrider AM26. Chaparral has your sizes for about $80 a piece. If that is out of your range your probably going to have to check out Kenda or Chen Shin. They'd probably have something in your sizes for under $60 a piece.

Oh and I wouldn't worry to much about getting the "Grippiest" either. If it's your first bike you can probably put mountain bike tires on it and it will be able to out perform your abilities.

Good luck.

A BIG plus one on that! The only WORSE street bike wheel sizes you could have would be 21s front and rear!
Thankfully Avon and Pirelli make excellent,grippy,modern tires for odd size and vintage bikes/wheels.

I run Pirelli Sport Demon bias plies on my wifes Ninja 250 and for the money they are very good for the street/twisties. They WILL slide if you get stupid on them,but no more than any other tire. If you ride smooth then the grip they have is amazing considering the price and bias ply construction. They are much more sticky and ride compliant than the Bridgestone BT-014 radials I had on my old FZR1000 which in and of themselves were good overall street tires,but not great.

A DOT racing tire will need HEAT to get them to perform as they are intended and many times at the speeds ridden on the street it's just not possible to get enough heat/long enough to get them up to normal operating temperature which means they will grip LESS than a non-DOT non-race tire that warms up quicker/easier and stays warmed up longer.

Also racing tires have heat/cool down cycles and with each cycle they become less and less effective. DOT race legal tires ARE race tires with rain grooves that permit them to be stamped as DOT approved,but they ARE RACE tires just the same.

 

[Seanslides]

yeah,
after looking around for tires,
I've pretty much decided I need to get some modern sized wheels

haha

this could get pricey....

 

[Seanslides]

so I think I got the bike running pretty good,
been riding it everywhere,
cruised sunset boulevard tonight with my buddy jesse and his vespa

nothing new on the bike,
I've been working on jesse's GS750, which is coming along pretty quickly,
I have the mold made for the seat, and I've got the bike stripped down to a rolling chassis,
tomorrow I'm chopping off the frame from the rear shocks back,
then I'm shaving off all the tabs, welding on new seat mounts, welding on a new tank mount,
and after thats all said and done, I'm gonna start looking around for someone to soda/bead/something blast the frame to get rid of rust and all the old nasty paint

then I get to polish the motor, and put it all back together

phew...