Hey guys,
my name is Patrik and this is my first ever motorcycle and first ever build (first topic too!). I became interested in motorbikes through cafe racers sometime late last year. I walked into a Deus shop, saw the style of bikes which is now associated with cafe racers and I started researching. I was immediately blown away. BRAT and Cafe customs quickly became my favourite style but this whole notion of customising old classic bikes to modernise them but keeping the old spirit of the bike was just amazing to me, I knew I had to give it a go. I called up my dad (who's been riding bikes for years and years and loves modern sports bikes) and said "Dad! I'm going to get me an old 70's bucket and turn it into this!" showing him lots of pictures of beautiful builds done by real professionals.. Hmm, maybe a bit ambitious. I've never actually worked on an engine before.. Well, I've never actually fabricated or built anything before... or ridden a bike before.. So I did some further research, all my questioning and searching and asking people for advice lead me to this:
a 21 year old Suzuki GN250 with 16,000kms on the clock. Excellent condition and engine was sound with plenty of cosmetic potential (I had to convince myself of this before considering it, but luckily a number of talented builders on this site helped convince me!)
Well, what follows below isn't a super detailed walk-through of how the build went, but hopefully the end result makes up for it.
I learnt a lot in terms of fabricating and problem solving. For example the rear loop, which I made out of the drop-guard:
And then made my own seat pan to add to the altered tail:
Of course being a uni student, I had to do as much as I could myself. Making a seat wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be! Got it upholstered locally.
And then, 7 months later, after money delays, uni exams and other distractions:
Hope you guys like it! I'm happy to answer any questions or offer my (very limited) knowledge of the GN for any fellow GN builders.
Small jobs still to go:
- waiting for screws for the badges to show up to reattach tank badges.
- improvise some protector between the rear wheel/engine + pod area.
- clean up electrics a bit and tuck everything up a bit neater.
Special mention goes out to Montag who answered a barrage of questions from me whenever I got stuck and really inspired me with his BRAT GN build! Thanks a lot dude!
Also the guys in the Brisbane Cafe Racer group on facebook were a tremendous support and always happy to answer obvious questions from a rookie.
my name is Patrik and this is my first ever motorcycle and first ever build (first topic too!). I became interested in motorbikes through cafe racers sometime late last year. I walked into a Deus shop, saw the style of bikes which is now associated with cafe racers and I started researching. I was immediately blown away. BRAT and Cafe customs quickly became my favourite style but this whole notion of customising old classic bikes to modernise them but keeping the old spirit of the bike was just amazing to me, I knew I had to give it a go. I called up my dad (who's been riding bikes for years and years and loves modern sports bikes) and said "Dad! I'm going to get me an old 70's bucket and turn it into this!" showing him lots of pictures of beautiful builds done by real professionals.. Hmm, maybe a bit ambitious. I've never actually worked on an engine before.. Well, I've never actually fabricated or built anything before... or ridden a bike before.. So I did some further research, all my questioning and searching and asking people for advice lead me to this:
a 21 year old Suzuki GN250 with 16,000kms on the clock. Excellent condition and engine was sound with plenty of cosmetic potential (I had to convince myself of this before considering it, but luckily a number of talented builders on this site helped convince me!)
Well, what follows below isn't a super detailed walk-through of how the build went, but hopefully the end result makes up for it.
I learnt a lot in terms of fabricating and problem solving. For example the rear loop, which I made out of the drop-guard:
And then made my own seat pan to add to the altered tail:
Of course being a uni student, I had to do as much as I could myself. Making a seat wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be! Got it upholstered locally.
And then, 7 months later, after money delays, uni exams and other distractions:
Hope you guys like it! I'm happy to answer any questions or offer my (very limited) knowledge of the GN for any fellow GN builders.
Small jobs still to go:
- waiting for screws for the badges to show up to reattach tank badges.
- improvise some protector between the rear wheel/engine + pod area.
- clean up electrics a bit and tuck everything up a bit neater.
Special mention goes out to Montag who answered a barrage of questions from me whenever I got stuck and really inspired me with his BRAT GN build! Thanks a lot dude!
Also the guys in the Brisbane Cafe Racer group on facebook were a tremendous support and always happy to answer obvious questions from a rookie.
