So I got this 81 Suzuki GN400 about 6 months ago and I'm planning to make it into a cafe/brat style bike. Progress is going very slowly. Mostly because I have almost zero experience working on motorcycles. I've been riding since I was young I just always had someone else do the work when they needed worked on. So any help or advice is greatly appreciated. I will post pictures and show the progress I've made so far which is little. I will try to post in chronological order. I just enjoy riding.
New here. 81 GN400 cafe/brat project
- Thread starter CBray4
- Start date
First thing I removed was the backrest, highway pegs, and muffler. That alone made it look a whole ton better. I talked to a couple people about the performance after removing the muffler and running a straight pipe. They said I would need to dial the carbs in a little so it would run right but honestly it hasn't run any different after taking them off. So I'm not sure what to do about that. Any input is aprreciated. I don't want to damage the bike either. I'm think about putting an emgo shorty on it, so that could solve the issue.
Attachments
I ordered some clubmans and threw them on. It was the first thing I replaced on the bike so I was somewhat nervous to start actually working on it. But it was pretty decently simple. Had to drill holes for the controls in the new bars which wasn't too terrible. Got everything on and how I liked it. I had a slightly difficult time trying to stuff all the cables down and around just trying to clear space so the would fit since the bars are so much lower than the stock ones. The throttle would stick a little bit but I got it figured out and all is well now. Would like to possibly get all new cables that are the correct length down the road.
Also took off the rear fender and relocated the tail light and license place to the left side. I wanted to keep it away from the exhaust. I tried getting new signals as well and I had an issue with those and the new tailight. I found out that my bike is a 6 volt system and only works with 6 volt lights. So I went and grabbed a light for the tail light and wired it up and it worked. Thank God! Moved on to the signals and couldn't find bulbs that would fit in the housing. So I was out of luck. Just left them off. I probably won't put any on.
Next on the list it the seat I think. That's a big step so I've been put a lot of thought and research into it. I will update when I get it figured out.
Also took off the rear fender and relocated the tail light and license place to the left side. I wanted to keep it away from the exhaust. I tried getting new signals as well and I had an issue with those and the new tailight. I found out that my bike is a 6 volt system and only works with 6 volt lights. So I went and grabbed a light for the tail light and wired it up and it worked. Thank God! Moved on to the signals and couldn't find bulbs that would fit in the housing. So I was out of luck. Just left them off. I probably won't put any on.
Next on the list it the seat I think. That's a big step so I've been put a lot of thought and research into it. I will update when I get it figured out.
