Suzuki GS550E '78

[Anmic]

Loving the GS mate, i just bought the little brother a GSX 250. I have gotten a heap of inspiration from this build!

 

[SeanGSUK]

Thanks Anmic, done a few more changes, pix will follow soon...
Good luck with your build

 

[andrewmac805]

Looking awesome Sean! I love the spoked rims! Really really makes the cafe racer look! I really wanted spokes, but alas I have a shaft drive. There is some talk about using a spoked shaft wheel off a suzuki boulevard thing, but I think it's too wide or something. Too much fabricating for this project!

I see your bike in your little avatar, but you need to get some big photos up so we can enjoy it!

What master cylinder did you get? I want to upgrade my front master cylinder. Did you find it gave you anymore stopping power? Mine is weak at best.

 

[SeanGSUK]

Thanks Andrew. Spokes were a bit of a pain really, but I do prefer the look. The back was the main problem, had to put a bracket under the swing arm, ditch the hydraulic brake and fab up some bracing for the torque arm. Took a bit of fettling to get the wheel spacers right too.
The master cylinder is a cheapie chinese copy from ebay. Looks good though and did the trick in improving the feel. It was only £15 incl postage from Hong Kong!
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350634320359?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649
I have braided hoses and new pads on there too.

I do have some more pix I need to add as I have cut off the original exhaust hangers and welded in a new one raising the height of the exhaust and also I have just moved the ignition key to under the tank, removed the gauge mounting points and cleaned up the top yoke for a cleaner look but haven't got around to taking pix of those changes yet.

Some more recent pix attached.

 

[andrewmac805]

Looking great Sean! Looks like a beautiful classic bike! Amazing that it started as a "classic" 80's looking bike, and now it's a real classic looking bike!

 

[SeanGSUK]

OK, I wasn't happy with the way the top yoke looked, so whilst the fork seals where being replaced I did some work on it.

I moved the ignition key by extending the wiring and fabbing a bracket to fix the ignition and attach the horn to the same bracket. There is a mounting point underneath the tank where the horn was mounted. I attached the new bracket to this mounting point.

I removed the original gauge mounting points off the top yoke and was able to move the current gauge closer to the yoke tidying it up a bit.

 

[SeanGSUK]

Bracket and new position, sorry for the cr@p photos I will put some better ones up when I have a front brake and can roll the bike out the garage.

 

[Zookrocker]

Nice Sean. Are you using the stock gauge? I'm wanting to do something like that but kinda want to use a smaller speedo.

 

[SeanGSUK]

Hi Zoorocker, the gauge is from a Suzuki GZ125 marauder. Maybe it is a little large for some tastes. The smaller ones do look neater, I agree, but I quite like the big clocks they had on the Vincent Black Shadow bikes.
More pix of my yoke/key attached...

 

[taggat]

i like the speedo got any pictures further back to get a feel for the size of that thing?

 

[SeanGSUK]

Revised exhaust!

 

[SeanGSUK]

pic from last year - need to get some up to date ones done!

 

[Big R]

Always liked this bike Sean.

 

[branumjb]

Nice GS! I have a 1980 GS550,hopefully I'll have mine done before it gets too cold to ride. Also looks like I have a lot of catching up to do.