Hammer built GS750 "Cafe Fighter"

[vwhammer]

I will forgo the usual introduction in the New Members Intro thread and just start out here with my GS750 build.

Right now the design theme is kind of a toss up between a cafe racer and a street fighter

Having said that, if you spend any time on customfighters.com you may have noticed my build on there as well.
I am just trying to get as many well informed opinions as possible during my build.

Now on with the build

I started out with a 78 GS750 with 23,xx miles on it.

I got it on trade for some VW parts I had lying around.
It did run but it smoked more than Cheech and Chong, had a monster oil leak and some unusually low cylinder pressures.

So, I knew it would need some engine work.
I used this as my excuse to tear the bike down and do some things to give it a little more attitude and make it more reliable to ride at the same time.

And so it began.

In my opinion nothing can make or break the look of a bike more than the handle bar and tail and seat selection.

As such the first thing I purchased was a set of clip-on bars from a late model ZX9

But of course these will not just bolt on to the puny old GS fork tubes without a set of these magical little bushings that I machined.

After getting the bars mounted I began removing and moving parts to try to come up with some Idea for what I wanted the bike to look like.

After that I started looking at brakes.

I wanted a full set of brakes front and rear from a late model bike.
All I have so far are these rotors.

I think they are from an early GSXR but I can’t be sure.

They are bigger than the stockers and weigh 1.3 lbs less per rotor

Why do I care how much they weigh you may ask?

I suppose now would be the time to mention that I would like to drop about 100lbs from the bike to try and take advantage of the relatively low HP numbers this bike produces compared to modern bikes.
That may sound like a lot but I am already about 20lbs into that just by removing some stuff I will not be puting back on.

Anyway I will bolt the rotors on by making some of the bushings in this drawing then redrilling the rotors.

I have been scouring ebay for new front calipers and a rear rotor and caliper set up to match the front.
That stuff can wait.

 

[vwhammer]

Sorry I will have more in a bit I seem to be having an internet problem.

 

[dcmspikes]

welcome
nice start. i was actually looking at used clip ons yesterday. i was also thinking of making a shim or bushing since most modern clip ons are too big for these older bikes. anyone see any safety issues with this approach? would make clip-ons much more affordable
when you are finished you should make a list of where you saved weight

 

[sxecafe]

Sorry if I missed something but those are for a dual front set up? Did you get the bike with that mod already done or are you looking to do one?

 

[vwhammer]

Sorry if I missed something but those are for a dual front set up? Did you get the bike with that mod already done or are you looking to do one?

What is it that you are talking about being for a dual front set up?
If you mean the brakes it came with dual fronts.

 

[vwhammer]

I wanted to get started on the tail and seat section so I did a drawing to get some rough idea what I wanted in a tail.

I then sacrificed some old Halloween decorations to make what will eventually become the plug for my mold that will make my rear seat.

 

[vwhammer]

How come I can only post a couple of sentences.

If I try to post anything from my build it gives me an error message.

I am not sure why the stuff I have posted worked and nothing else will.

 

[Canuck Plumber]

That does seem weird..

 

[Druro]

Just a suggestion based on my experience. Most GSXR parts will mount up to your bike, with little to no modification. I've modified my GS1100E using GSXR1100 parts to replace old equipment and improve handling. You can see it in my project link below.

http://dotheton.com/index.php?topic=1964.0

My recommendation is to go find some GSXR suspension, as it will be lighter overall. There is a MASSIVE difference in weight between the wheels even.

Let me know if you need any help or such (i do have some bits around that might help, such as Nissin 4 piston calipers from a early 90's GSXR750). I would also suggest you get a GS1100 rear swingarm, as it's aluminum and lighter again.

Cheers

 

[TonUpSoldier]

CAREFULL there...there are only CERTAIN years of Gixxer parts that are acceptable to use here. MOST of the newer stuff simply will NOT hold that bike up. They are sprung for much lighter bikes. Some of the older Kats and Gixxers will work just as Druro said, and will be a substantial upgrade vs stock. But, unless you do some serious serious knee dragging, the stock GS suspension, with a lil modification, such as the alu boxed swinger off the 1100 as Druro suggests, and a fork brace and progressive springs and shocks, will be PLEANTY of advantage for most. I might add that ive dropped over 50lbs off my 77 750B (same bike mostly as yours) and did little structural or modern equip useage. And, I like what you are doing with the rotors. With some minor bracketry work, you can prolly get some Gixxer calipers to work on that bike. Bandit for sure. However, using the STOCK rotors, you could have used Kawi twinpot slider type with some brackets that a fellow GSR makes and had pleanty of stopping power. Im talking stoppies on a 500lb bike One thing i WOULD suggest, if you cant/dont find any modern forks that will fit, is to swap to GS850/1000/1100 forks. They are 37mm instead of 35. Lil bit of an improvement there. There are also a few that run an antidive system that works suprisingly well. BTW, for a bit of a powerboost, if you can find a 79 GS850 jugs and pistons, they will drop right on that motor with NO modification. Thats basicly a BORE kit, without spending 500 bucks for the kit and more money on machining. (really, its 1cc difference across 4 cylinders..ohh) Later model 850 jugs will work, but will require a touch of griding of the cases to get them to fit perfectly. Looking forward to watching this build.

 

[Druro]

CAREFULL there...there are only CERTAIN years of Gixxer parts that are acceptable to use here. MOST of the newer stuff simply will NOT hold that bike up.

Thanks TonUpSoldier.

He's right that certain forks/suspension either won't work or is designed for a much lighter bike. IF you look at anything prior to 1995, you will have no problem in the mounting of these on your bike. I would highly recommend that you change the springs in the forks. I swaped mine from the stock gsxr1100 springs to Racetech springs, and it handles very well.

If you are looking to use a USD fork, then look for 91-95 GSXR1100 forks, as these are the tallest. I'd also look at two sites for indepth info:

http://www.thegsresources.com/
http://oldskoolsuzuki.info/

These sites will help you a ton.

There are a couple threads there that cover updating of a GS with modern suspension.

 

[vwhammer]

Thanks for all the tips.
I have been wondering about using parts for a much lighter bike.
I plan to remove a lot of weight but it may not be from the right places to make it possible to use later parts.
I will find the right stuff eventually.

I would love to post more stuff but for some reason or another it won't let me.

I keep getting messages like lost connection to server or some crap like that

 

[Kev Nemo]

smaller file size? How are you hosting the pix?

 

[vwhammer]

I am using photobucket to host the pics
I will try something diffierent

 

[vwhammer]

Ok lets try this again.
I suppose if I have to I will just post 1 or 2 pics at a time.

K I cut up the foam piece to come up with the first rendition of my tail.

As you can see the seat design has already change some in this quick photo hack I did in MS paint.

You may also notice the frame mods I have in mind.

 

[vwhammer]

It came time to strip the bike down completely

Then I cut some parts off that I didn't want and tried the second rendition of my seat.

you can see again what I want the frame to look like thanks to the bar that I have zip tied in place.

 

[vwhammer]

After that I took a perfectly good header and cut it up so I can put it back together to relocate a new muffler under the bike.
Before

After

This is how I would like the muffler to be arranged under the bike.

That brings me to where I am now.
There are a ton of things I want to do but I will cover those when I get there.

more later

 

[Druro]

Looking like an interesting approach.

Something you might consider seeing as you are wanting to take the mono-shock approach would be the use of a bandit swing arm. This is a fairly common modification for these bikes. You would need some bushings but this is a fairly straight forward modification.

Good luck

 

[vwhammer]

I do have some bits around that might help, such as Nissin 4 piston calipers from a early 90's GSXR750.

Cheers

Mind if I ask what you want for the calipers.

I could use a smaller lighter rear rotor and caliper set up as well if anyone has anything they want to get rid of real cheap.

I have a couple of stock GS750 parts if anyone is interested in a trade.

I have the wheels with practically new tires on them.

I have all the stock brake parts and a Vance&Hines megaphone with no baffles that I think can be seen in the very first pic I posted.
I am keeping the header but I have no use for the pipe.

 

[vwhammer]

Well Long time no updates.

This project has been on the back burner for a while now but I really need to get it rolling for the summer months so it is now my primary focus.

With that said let me see if I can get everyone up to date on the progress.

I left off with stripping the bike and since then blasted and did some simple mods to a couple of parts
First is the trees.
Just a clean up and removal of some tabs so I could move my clip on bars up a little more.

Then I blasted and drilled one of the side covers for the fun of it.

The rear pointing arrow left from the drilling gave me an idea for a name for this project.

From here on out it will be know as project rewind.