GSX750ES - Cafe Racer?

A Penchant for the Hardest Projects

Before the DRZ was even picked up - yes, sold on eBay - a new bike was on its way to me. An '83 GSX750ES from a breakers that I decided to put an offer on one night while perusing the motor bicycles of, yes you've guessed it, eBay.

Next morning I get an email asking me to pay. Pay for what? What the hell have I bought now? Oh yes, it's all coming back, happy days!

Vintage Ads Are The Best!

Raw, No Gumph, just Pure Sales!
I love the old posters and magazine ads the bike manufacturers used to use. Advertising as it should be - basic, attention grabbing and to the point.

Check out some of these beauties.

More soon, these deserved to be shared.

GS400 Brake Master Cylinder - Strip Down. Part 2

Slowly, but surely.

The piston was seized, but with a little heat, WD40 and leverage with a screwdriver, we had movement. Unfortunately, the rubber dust cover got mullered in the process, but such is life. Hooking out the little wire clip exposed a plastic washer and what was left of the dust cover.

GS400 Brake Master Cylinder - Strip Down. Part 1

Is it salvageable?
More to the point, would you want to? 
The elements have infiltrated every visible component and it looks ready for the bin, but these are my favourite type of projects. Too simple to just throw it away, so can life be breathed through this part once more? I'll give it a whirl.

Time for WD40, heat, hot water - might even break the hammer out!

Do You Own a Bike Business?

And need a website?
With most of the public now looking for services online, before any other medium, a business website is pretty much mandatory. Where else could you advertise your services and products so cheaply? After all, once the website is up and running, internet hosting fees are negligible.

As a bike nut, copywriter and now delving into web design, I'm offering to put your business on the map for under $500, including domain name and hosting!

Suzuki GS400 - Possible Cafe Racer?

One Rolling Chassis, One Blank Canvas.
With an issue (read hatred) of cutting up a perfectly good frame, I've always steered clear of "chops". Built your own frame? Brilliant, love it, but a classic bike that's been ruined, or butchered, isn't my cup of char. Standard sells, and motorbikes should be cherished - but hey, that's just me.

But, when all that's left of the bike is the frame, forks and wheels I figure there's a certain amount of leeway available. So the latest addition to the garage is a bare bones, back-to-basics '79 GS400 (with no engine). Hence the blank canvas.

Are you seeing the potential?
Yeah she's rough, but doesn't that make it all the more worthwhile? Next stage is to edit the photo into a drawing, and start sketching the shape of the tank and seat hump. An engine wouldn't go amiss either. 

Perfect! Time to pick up a pencil and start designing the parts that need to be bashed out of steel.

Some Restorers "Fix Up"... Others Do This.

It ain't about the money.
A successful restoration can be best described as wasting hundreds of hours, spending thousands of pounds, and finally ending up with something that's worth a fraction of what it should be.
But we all need a hobby, and the enjoyment you get from repairing and restoring machinery can only be understood once you've actually tackled it. The day it all comes together more than makes up for the cold, angry nights in the garage where you wished you'd never started.

Excuse the repeat of a couple of these photos, I thought this restoration was worthy of a little more publicity. It's the last of the Model 30's, a 1958 600cc twin (actually registered in '59), and is now pretty much perfect. (It's a real shame I don't have access to the before pics, because it was a nail!) Anyway, to the bike.

Restored by Allen Vaughan, with a little help from me, the complete job took about a year or two. The results speak for themselves, enjoy the pics.

AJS Model 30