First Cafe Build '83 GS650 - Madison, WI

[Jonny_C]

First off I want to say what a great resource this place has been already. I picked up a '83 GS650 last week for $400. I've been wanting to do a cafe build for a while now and stumbled up on this bike. I already stripped it down somewhat and am making my plans. I'm going to ask a lot of questions throughout the process, but it seems like most of the info is already covered somewhere on here.

Degrease and paint motor, possibly replacing the head gasket (some oil leakage up front)
Rebuild and jet carbs w/ pod filters
4-into-1 exhaust
Strip, grind, chop, and paint the frame
New headlight and digital tach/speedo
Fiberglass seat pan w/ electronics tray
Rewire everything (I love how simple these bikes are)
Tank - possibly take a hammer to it, but certainly paint it

That's just some of the stuff I want to do. Looks like I will be purchasing a lot of stuff through Dime City Cycles - seems like they almost everything I need.

The other bike I own, a '03 Honda Shadow 750 is pretty much where I want it (all of the work done myself, including the paint using spray cans), so I need to move onto something else.

 

[rays650cafe]

Cool, welcome to the site. Nice shadow, awesome job on the paint!

 

[mbrand721]

C'mon dude! We need updates!! I can't carry ALL the weight for us suzuki guys

 

[Jonny_C]

C'mon dude! We need updates!! I can't carry ALL the weight for us suzuki guys

Haha, so true. I've mostly been waiting on parts. Ordered about $900 worth of stuff -- so much for a budget build. I did disassemble the stock rear shocks and painted them black. The engine covers are polished up, but I need to get to work on cleaning up the frame and painting it before I'll mount it back up. No clue what I'm going to do with the seat yet, but I decided to try to level out the tank with the rear frame. This may require raising the rear tank mounts, and possibly pounding on the tank or grinding the frame. I want to get it so the tank and seat are just one straight line.

I also want to build my own LED tach and just go with the 2.5" speedo from Dime City. That requires learning about electronics though, so that will be a winter project. There's very little chance that I will have this thing running by the time the cold rolls in and I won't want to step into the garage.