Suzuki GS400 - Another Bike Project.

I've been busy... with wood. And I'm not a very accomplished woodworker. Prefer metal, but I wanted to create something out of junk. Pallets in this case. They'd been sat outside where I work for awhile, and were going to be broken up, so why not?

Fast From The Past — Awesome Place!

While perusing the internet the other day for a Paulo Tarozzi fork brace I, quite luckily, happened across this place — Fast From The Past. 

And I found they are an absolute goldmine for old race bikes, cafe racers etc. because they carry those quality parts that are hard to find. Often you find a shop that only carries certain items for a few bikes, and my GSX often comes up lacking.
But here, a fork brace for the GSX750ES is just one of hundreds of different types available, all at realistic prices. And, once ordered, it was delivered to me in Australia in around a week. Nicely done.

How retro is that box? Love it!

Omnia Racing Headlamps... Cool Quality.

A BIG thumbs up!
I saw a CBR600 street fighter doing the rounds on one of the forums lately and, to be fair, it was a nice build. What really stood out for me was the headlamp — not in the "cheap, Chinese, badly-finished rubbish" type of way, but more "Buy Me Now! I am the quality you look for" — so I asked the owner of the bike where I could get one. 

As he looked at me, I could see his face contorted with pained expression. He gave a quick glance over his shoulders to check for eavesdroppers nearby, and he slowly whispered the words Omnia Racing... I looked behind me, was about to ask more, but he was gone.

So I started looking online. Based in Italy, with an impressive website full of expensive bike exotica, they also had an eBay store and I found just the unit to set off my GSX in a way that would somehow complement the odd-shaped ESD tank, along with my crudely knocked together tailpiece. Sort of.

Frayed Clutch Cables, And Making New Ones.

When you alter anything from standard...
Inevitably something must change with it. The clutch cable was way too long since I've dropped the handlebars down, and although I'd managed to 'lose' some of its length, it wasn't quite right. 

But it worked; until it frayed. So I bought a kit to make a custom one myself. 

Having seen the job done by Gordon at Lucas Motorcycles, Ross-on-Wye loads of times over the years, I figured I knew all the tricks of the trade. Whenever I had a cable issue on my bikes as a kid, I'd be straight up the dual-carriageway to Ross and he'd make one for about ten quid. Bargain, and that was at any time up until 9.00pm everyday of the week... the guy was a legend!

So if you have an issue with cable length, an odd bike or the original part is too expensive, take a look on eBay and check out the kits available. This one came from the UK and is a quality bit of kit, nylon lined for smoother action, oo'er missus.

DANGER! Scared Of Using Engine Flush?

Skeptical, or concerned?

You will find different opinions on using engine flush from every mechanic out there. Some say never use it no matter what. Others put it in at every oil change.

So why the difference in opinion? What are the pros and cons?

Valvoline detergent-based engine flush.

Bloody Exhausted! (I'm so funny...Suzuki GSX Humour).

Link Pipes Done.
With the merge collector done, I needed to make the links to the reverse cone mega's. I decided to cut up loads of little sections of stainless pipe to get the correct angles for the link pipes. I could have done it with fewer, longer sections but decided the "loads of welds look" was the way forward. Maybe, when you know how to get the pretty colouring of welds to work for you, but it looks like a jumbled mess now. 

Still, it's on and the bike sounds bloody great! And it was a good experience too, giving me plenty of ideas for the next go, and that's how we learn. I've been wondering how the bike would sound for ages, and I'm not disappointed. You can hear it in a video at the end...

GSX750 Cafe Racer Progress - Battery Box.

Back in the garage.
Finally got some time to crack on with the wiring and battery box. It's been bugging me for a while because I wanted the loom to look perfect, but sometimes you just need to make a start and fix any issues later. 

I'm still unsure on what sort of speedo/tacho combination I'm going to use too. I'd like two separate units to mimic the typical sixties/seventies bikes, but I have a certain budget too. The modern digital versions get very expensive when you go for quality versions. And although there's plenty of Chinese versions on eBay, do they actually work for more than ten minutes? Decisions...

Untidy Wiring? Recovering Could Be The Answer.

You can put the insulation tape away too!
It maybe considered pedantic, considering the rest of the bike at the moment, but I didn't like the white, heat resistant (?) sheathing on the wiring from the signal generator. It was torn in places, fraying and looked scruffy - not really the look I was going for (for the wiring at least).
So, with a little bit of looking around on the dock of the eBay, I found some Techflex. A plastic braided sleeve which expands when you push it together so that you can get it over various looms, hoses or cables etc. When it goes back to its original length, it tightens back up and looks great. Worth a shot of anyone's money I thought.

Here's the old covering looking a bit dilapidated. I'd cleaned it up as best I could, but some things have their limits.

New Bits, Missing Bits And Dodgy Bits!

New parts are rolling in fast.
But some of the old bits seem to have done a bunk! I cleaned, painted (then scratched) a LH handlebar switch last week. Convinced it wasn't the one off this bike, and that it came in a box of Katana bits, I did it anyway. Why didn't I think it was off this GSX? The choke lever is snapped off on the Katana one.
I just went through all the pics I took of the bike and, sure enough, the choke lever is intact on the original switch - but where the f#*k is it?

I had a massive clear-out and general tidy in the garage this weekend and went through all the boxes. The switch and clutch lever have definitely gone AWOL. Oh well, hopefully they'll turn up soon.

In the meantime, new acquisitions have been turning up while I had some spare cash. Needing new master cylinder reservoirs, I went looking on good old eBay. A nice, anodised black, aluminium cylindrical reservoir was found for the princely sum of $7.55 delivered. How could you possibly go wrong? 

GSX750ES - It Continues To Evolve.

The Fabrication.
It's just as well I took this on as a long-termer because due to money, time, and willpower, it's taking ages. 
Cutting, folding, bending and welding metal is something I've dabbled with over the years, but not something I'd consider myself an expert on. Every time I make something I'm not really happy with, I question my ability. But if you stop at that point...

“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.” 
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

And so we battle on.

Determined to do the metalwork myself, Im learning as much as I can along the way. I want an English wheel, but that'll have to wait. I want to make the petrol tank, but maybe on another bike. The seat/tail unit is the part I need to get sorted first - for my own sanity.

Compound curves for me at this point are nigh on impossible. It's going to be a while before I can even hope to get where I need to be, so basic curves are the go for now. The welding isn't brilliant either, but I'm learning more all the time. I bought a cheap LED tail light off eBay, and this weekend I made a few more bits to hold it in place.

This is the tail unit I began to make months ago. I make everything in cardboard, get it how I want and then mark it out on a sheet of ally. If it doesn't bend easily I warm it up with a blow lamp using the "soap-turns-black" method. Once annealed I bend it over my leg or something with a smooth curve, taking care not to kink it. This pic also shows one of the first mock-ups of the chain guard. 

Looking for a Project. Buy Buy Buy!

Just missed out on an old XL250 on ebay. Yes I should have put a higher bid in but sometimes, when you're in two minds, you chance it to fate. It's not exactly a classic BSA or Triumph so I'm not too bothered.

So that leaves me scouring the web pages for restoration projects that are close enough to drive to. Never used to be a problem in the UK, but in Australia, it could be a days travel to get to the next state, let alone the other side of the country!


The post above was the start of BikeTech7.
Not very interesting was it? No pictures, hardly any text. Back then I thought you just wrote something in your blog and everyone was desperate to read the rubbish you churn out. Not actually the way it works, but then you knew that... didn't you?
I started the blog to keep an online account of my projects, and help others who were going through issues of their own and maybe had no prior knowledge. It's all a bit of fun, and hopefully helps you keep your bike on the road, or gets you closer to finishing it. 
Got questions? Just ask, I love to hear from you.

Meanwhile, here's some pics of one of my previous bike projects. It's a 1964 Norton Jubilee. The smallest capacity bike Norton ever built, it's a 250cc parallel twin and, although not completely original, looked pretty good when finished.

Thanks for checking out Biketech7 and I hope you can stick around.