Hi everyone!
Firstly, huge thanks to everyone for all the invaluable information around here and on the wiki. I've been a long time lurker on this forum, bought my GS500 as my learner bike over ten years ago. I stopped riding altogether after a year or so, put her in the garage and sort of forgot about her for the next eight years.
I always had it in the back of my mind to turn her into something more aesthetically suited to my tastes, but since I'd never worked on bikes before, I didn't have the guts to actually do anything about it. Until about a month ago, when I finally started this project. I did a lot of research, bought a Haynes manual, whipped out ye olde photoshop and started putting together what I want to do:
(https://i.imgur.com/LHuWHny.jpg)
And here she is all normal and shiny, the starting point for the project:
(https://i.imgur.com/EkdVfGf.jpg)
Now of course the poor thing had been sitting in a garage for eight years, never been started and very much neglected. So the first thing to do was to learn how to rebuild the carbs. Pulled them out (stripped all the bolts trying to open them, of course - vice grips for the win!) and had a look. They looked really bad:
(https://i.imgur.com/4SWhYwR.jpg)
Since I don't have any decent workshop space, I ended up rebuilding them on my balcony, which is now covered in petrol and carb cleaner:
(https://i.imgur.com/hWBhVDa.jpg)
After inspecting the fuel tank, I decided that it was too badly rusted to be rescued and luckily ended up finding a cheap one on eBay. It's already matte black, so that's a bonus. The fuel lines were cracked, so I replaced those, and installed a fresh battery. I managed to break the filter mesh on the tank petcock when pulling it out, so replaced that too.
After putting everything back together, and with great trepidation, tried to start her up for the first time in almost a decade... and it worked! She started up on the second attempt and ran fine. After a little victory dance, I took her for a spin.
I got her registered again the next day with no problems. I've ridden her for a few hours since, and while she idles a bit rough, overall she runs great. I'll be rejetting the carbs after installing a lunchbox filter and a new exhaust soon, so won't spend too much time tuning right now.
Back on the road:
(https://i.imgur.com/fMHC46u.jpg?1)
Sweet! Your carbs look a whole lot better than mine did.
FYI, I got a set of Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS) screwdriver bits from https://www.vesseltools.com/industrial-bits/bit-sets Not inexpensive, but well worth the investment. JIS screws are different than Philips screws. A Philips screwdriver will strip them out in a hurry. The JIS bits fit correctly.
Next, I decided to tackle the front end and tyres. Over the next couple of weeks packages started arriving, and my office resembled a receiving dock for motorcycle parts. My colleagues are nowgiving me funny looks...
Time to get to work. For the front end, I am removing the steering yoke, cutting down the fender and lifting it up, putting on cheap Chinese clip-on bars, new grips, new gauges, bar end mirrors, headlight, indicators and fork boots for that extra retro look.
The fork stanchions are very badly pitted, so I'll need new ones at some point soon, but for now I'll just clean them up as best as I can.
Here she is all stripped down. Yes, that's all the space I've got available to work on this - but I'm stubborn, so I'm going to make this work:
(https://i.imgur.com/Ey4RRg2.jpg)
New front end bits are on, wheels are off and are getting new tyres put on them:
(https://i.imgur.com/WnHPtqV.jpg)
Here's a view of the new cockpit. I'm reusing the bolts and rubber grommets that were holding the steering yoke on to mount the new gauges. I had to fabricate some small brackets to move the gauges to where I need them to go.
I really don't like these mirrors - they work ok on the road, but are not particularly adjustable and add too much width to the bars. I've ordered a different pair that might work better.
(https://i.imgur.com/5pjvVLx.jpg)
Ok, this is where things get silly. I am firmly going with form over function on this build, so I'm putting on some really stupid 50-50 enduro tyres. They'll make her handle like a cow, slip in the wet and be very noisy, but since I'm only going to be riding her around the beaches every now and then, I don't really care too much because they look great.
Here she is with her new shoes, they're Mitas E07s. I had to take the front fender off since I bought the wrong size bolts, will fix that in the next day or two.
(https://i.imgur.com/7qfEYV4.jpg)
Final picture of the front, this is definitely going in the right direction. I'll do the airfilter, exhaust and carb rejet next - once I've got the tank off I'll do some work to hide the rat's nest of cables under there somewhere. It bothers me.
(https://i.imgur.com/U0pWsJZ.jpg)
I also got some aftermarket rearsets for a CBR900RR and a cheap used R6 shock off ebay; I'll probably throw those on when I do the exhaust.
That's it for now, I'll be back...
Welcome to the forum! Looks like you're already doing an awesome job. That's a great looking build idea.
That's one heck of a nice view from the balcony. Where are you located?
I posted some stuff about the CBR900 rearsets and R6 shock on my build, if that helps.
You painted your forks black? While you're at it, consider rebuilding them with new seals and get stiffer springs as the stock ones are pretty soft. And change out that 10yo fork oil.
If you continue to fiddle with your carbs (as we all inevitably will), consider replacing all the bowl screws with some Allen heads to avoid future headache.
What are your plans for the seat? That brown one looks great.
Hi Endopotential, Thanks for the pointers! I absolutely love what you've done with your bike. I spent a lot of time reading your build thread, thank you for writing it all up! Yours gave me the idea to remove the steering yoke (don't think I've seen that anywhere else) and I've been studying closely how you mounted your rearsets.
Quick question on the rearsets - it looks like you turned the shifter pedal upside down, did you have to make some sort of spacer to move the pedal outwards for clearance?
I did change the carb bolts, the original ones just disintegrated. Whatever material those are made from doesn't appear suitable.
I'm not sure if I can salvage the fork stanchions, I'm keeping an eye out for a cheap set somewhere at the moment. I'm in Sydney, Australia, so parts are not quite as easy to find here.
As for the seat, there's an upholsterer near me that did an awesome job on my buddy's GS, he did a thorough job of documenting his build here: https://johonline.net/suzuki-gs500-scrambler/ (https://johonline.net/suzuki-gs500-scrambler/)
That looks great!
What kind of gauges did you get?
One thing to keep in mind: With the forks up in the triple like that it's going to turn a lot quicker and may be twitchy at speed.
It was sooo pretty when you started :cry:
Well still interesting to see your progress! Great pics! Applause! Be sweet to see a video of you kicking up beach sand when y'er done!
"Hacking things together in my garage"
(https://media.tenor.co/images/8a9d51fb08e28db0bc565825bb66cdc7/raw)
Alpo - the gauges are from here https://www.thirdgear.com.au/parts/speedometers-and-tachometers/ (https://www.thirdgear.com.au/parts/speedometers-and-tachometers/), but you can also find the same ones on Amazon and AliExpress. I did make a mistake at first and ordered a mechanical tachometer, didn't realise I needed an electronic one.
Since I removed the steering yoke on top of the fork tree, I had about 2.5cm of fork leg exposed already, and I only had to slide the stanchions up by about 3mm, I don't think that'll do much to the geometry of the bike. And I ride like a grandma anyway, so not too worried about speed...
Looking good. Keep up the work. And welcome :cheers:
Quote from: Argyle on March 23, 2018, 02:04:32 PM
Hi Endopotential, Thanks for the pointers!
Quick question on the rearsets - it looks like you turned the shifter pedal upside down, did you have to make some sort of spacer to move the pedal outwards for clearance?
Glad it helped. Just paying it forward. Most everything I learned about motorcycle mechanics and tuning, I learned from this forum and the wonderful people here.
You may have noticed that I mounted my clip-ons below the triple tree. It's a very aggressive lean-forward position, but it does keep me tucked out of the wind at high speed. To compensate, this allows you to drop the fork legs even with the triple tree. I think that extra 3mm increases the rake a bit and makes the steering a little more stable to even things out.
About the rearsets, if you're talking about the front portion - if you order the CBR900 from eBay China, then it just comes with that cylindrical rod with a Heim joint up front. You have to cobble something to attach it to the splined shaft of the shifter.
Just look up "GS500 shift linkage" and cut off the bottom end, drill a hole through it, bolt on the Heim joint.
Even easier is "GSXR shift knuckle" on eBay and just screw that on directly.
(http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e124/Endopotential/shifter%20rearset_LI_zps2jsbsghl.jpg) (http://s38.photobucket.com/user/Endopotential/media/shifter%20rearset_LI_zps2jsbsghl.jpg.html)
Thanks for this Endopotential, I ended up cutting up my old shifter pedal, drilling and tapping it so I could screw the bolt straight in. In a huge brain fart, I drilled and tapped the wrong size hole first, but fortunately had left enough meat on the lever so there was space for the correctly-sized hole.
I widened the bottom mounting holes on both sides with a round file, and they mounted straight on. On the brake side, I faced a problem with the hose going to the brake fluid reservoir being a bit too short. I'll eventually get a new reservoir and mount it straight to the rearset.
On both sides, I had to tilt the pedal mounts up and back, fortunately there are plenty of holes in those things to mount stuff to.
I still need to figure out what to do with the brake light switch, might end up being a zip-tie solution... :oops:
These are the rearsets I bought: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Motorcycle-Footpegs-Rear-Set-Rearsets-Foot-Pegs-For-CBR900RR-CBR919RR-CBR400RR/302470848566?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=601299268606&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649 (https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Motorcycle-Footpegs-Rear-Set-Rearsets-Foot-Pegs-For-CBR900RR-CBR919RR-CBR400RR/302470848566?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=601299268606&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649)
Right side rearset (brake):
(https://i.imgur.com/F8JaJsi.jpg)
Left side rear set (shifter):
(https://i.imgur.com/BU69ckZ.jpg)
Looking good!
swweeet (https://www.motohouston.com/forums/images/smilies/icon_salut.gif)
For the brake light switch, maybe a banjo bolt switch might solve your problem? Easy to fit, I've used them on streetfighters and will be using one on my GS when I get around to finishing off the rear brake. There are different pitch threads available, so getting the right one is no drama.
S3 Performance in Melbourne sell them among other places.
Thank you for the link to the gauges! :cheers: They are some pretty slick units and reasonably priced.
+1 on the banjo bolt brake switch. They work well and are easy to install.
Alpo - I ended up buying an electronic tachometer from here: https://www.dimecitycycles.com/vintage-cafe-racer-caferacer-bobber-brat-chopper-custom-motorcycle-electronic-parts-mini-black-electronic-tach-tachometer-25-7000e.html (https://www.dimecitycycles.com/vintage-cafe-racer-caferacer-bobber-brat-chopper-custom-motorcycle-electronic-parts-mini-black-electronic-tach-tachometer-25-7000e.html)
They don't ship to Australia, so I had it freight-forwarded by Shipito https://www.shipito.com (https://www.shipito.com)
Haven't put that on the bike yet, but the previous one had a different colored backlight to the speedo. Not a big deal really, but it bothers me. I might have to crack one open and change the LEDs to match the colors.
And thanks everyone for the suggestion of the banjo bolt brake switch (now that I know what that's called, I can finally google it!), the rearset came with one that looks like this (minus the bolt), I'll see if I can make that work:
(http://www.drcproducts.com/elect/d45-71/all_image/pv01.jpg)
If you are in Australia try this for the brake switches.
https://www.s3performance.com.au/motorcycle-accessories/motorcycle-lighting/motorcycle-brake-switches
I love that tacho you found. Where are you in Aus?
Gregjet - thanks for the link, will look into those.
I'm in Manly at the moment.
New bits are on!
Took the rear fairing off and mounted the newly painted front fender, no more blue and white bits on the bike! I made some 50mm spacers to lift the fender out of aluminium tubing.
Installed the R6 shock (it didn't come with the bloody spacer collar, had to order a factory part from Yamaha for $20. Grrrr). But it makes a huge difference in the bike handling, very happy I did this.
Cut off the old exhaust and put the new one on, plus exhaust wrap. Sounds fantastic, fortunately she's not too obnoxiously loud...
Put on the K&N lunchbox filter and new carb jets. Runs really well, little bit of tuning left to do but felt great right out of the box with stock shimming and the air screws two turns out.
And of course, a bird crapped on the seat just before I was taking this picture:
(https://i.imgur.com/Xtn4hkQ.jpg)
Finally, hid the cable mess under the tank while I had that off.
(https://i.imgur.com/cy9c3uV.jpg)
Next stop, cutting and welding the frame.
That looks great! Any chance you have pictures or description of exactly what you did on the tail? I really dig that look and might copy it myself.
(http://cdn.ebaumsworld.com/mediaFiles/picture/421385/82386846.gif)
great progress! stoopid bird
mr72, there's really nothing I did to the tail other than take the fairing off. Only thing was to take the seat lock cable out off the lock in the fairing and leave it in the mechanism under the seat. It's kinda dangling out the side now, but I can still use it to pop the seat off.
It looks kinda ugly at the back where the taillight is mounted, and there's all sorts of struts and tabs visible that aren't pretty. I think it'd be possible to clean that all up with a little bit of work and make it look pretty decent without the fairing though.
For me, this is only a temporary state, I'll be building a new seat next.
Also, I briefly parked her under a tree to collect some bird shaZam!, but I don't think that's what you're referring to... :icon_lol:
Must be the '01+ seat sits differently on the frame than my '92's seat, because when I take the side plastics off and let it live naked it shows all kinds of wiring and crud, there's a big gap that shows between two frame elements. I can also do a lot of cleanup with an angle grinder and a can of paint if I need to, and I might. But I wanted to see if you had done something already.
I have some ideas but I don't want to shorten the seat since I may still occasionally ride 2-up. And I have a rear rack with top case attached. I need to keep the rear pegs. I guess I need to take it all apart and see if I can first clean up the wiring. That's the most critical problem.
BTW I removed the seat lock and cut the cable housing shorter, used an aluminum crimp end to form the cable into a loop and zip-tied the cable so the loop is accessible just beneath the side fairing. I can pull the cable loop and it pops the seat. Works great. But I need to find a way to get rid of the side plastics.
I decided to tackle the scary bits - cutting and welding the frame. I had a little bit of welding instruction in the past, enough to realise that I might just be the world's worst welder, so I've been a bit hesitant to get started on this.
I bought a seat hoop from these guys, they've got all sorts of sizes: http://mostynindustries.com.au/product/tail-loop-for-frames (http://mostynindustries.com.au/product/tail-loop-for-frames)
Cut and de-tabbed the frame. Also removed all the electrical components hiding behind the battery. With the lunchbox filter installed, there's now plenty of space in front of the battery, I'll move everything there:
(https://i.imgur.com/UaNn0vB.jpg)
Nothing to do after that than buy a welder, screw up a few practice pieces and then start welding the frame long before I'm ready. Came out ok and solid, but don't look too closely at the welds...
(https://i.imgur.com/FXdiL6R.jpg)
Now I need to fabricate a brace to weld across and then start laminating the seat base.
rocking! Love it (https://www.motohouston.com/forums/images/smilies/headbang.gif)
Seat tabs and electrical stuff...
Got working on relocating all the electrical bits from behind the battery box.
I mounted the rectifier at the front of the battery box. Not sure if I'm going to leave it there, it might get too hot. Alternatives are putting it under the battery box, or fabricating some kind of small air scoop to make sure it gets decent airflow. I'll keep an eye on the heat.
(https://i.imgur.com/XBb4g58.jpg)
When I first got the bike many years ago, I was living in an inner city area, and some petrol-sniffing lowlife got into the secure carpark of my apartment building. The idiot proceeded to cut every single cable and hose on the bike until he found the fuel line and could drain the fuel. The mechanic had to do a whole bunch of work on the wiring harness to get things running again, and boy did they do a terrible job. Everything was bunched up and tangled, so I had to re-tape most of the wiring at the back.
Got things into reasonable shape, and with the help of many zip-ties, got the cables out of the way. Because I want everything to be in front of the battery, I ended up turning the ignition unit on the left side of the bike around so the connector is now at the front:
(https://i.imgur.com/oky0vIl.jpg)
I also needed a way to mount the seat, so I went rummaging through my parts box for a brace or something to weld across the frame. Couldn't find anything that would fit, so I ended up repurposing the old headlight mounts. I'll cut down the stock rear fender to make a little stubby fenderlet for the back, I'll mount that to those tabs as well and put a small metal plate underneath to give it some extra lateral stability. But I think it looks quite neat:
(https://i.imgur.com/dcd8cjY.jpg)
Just need to put the tank back on now and start fabricating the seat base.
(https://i.imgur.com/kkypIAQ.jpg)
As we say in Cali.... SUHHH WEEEET!!!
Really like the progress, looks terrific. Can't wait to see how you put together the seat.
Looks good so far mate. Keep at it!
Rocking on. That rectifier is going to be toasty tucked in there though :dunno_black:
I like how you repurposed the headlight brackets. USe what you got! That's good stuff!
Can't wait to see more.
Heat is the killer for the iffy design of the regulator rectifier. Id put it somewhere else.
Bolt it to a nice big piece of aluminium as a heat sink. I am making a semi air box to go around my lunchbox and will bolt the rectifier in there to ensure airflow the whole time the engine is running.
Thanks all for the input on rectifier placement - I guess it's a bit of a giveaway that if a part has enormous cooling fins on it that it might overheat...
I'm planning to weld a couple more braces across the frame to give the seat pan a bit more support. One behind the battery, and one a bit further back. Will bolt the rectifier to the underside of one of those, that should give it plenty of airflow. Or underneath the battery box, that seems to be a fairly popular place for it.
Spent the last few hours tracing an electrical problem, that wasn't fun. Turned out to be two things - a ground cable had come loose, and the sidestand switch had failed, so I ended up bypassing that for now. Why is it always two different things, that makes diagnosing this stuff so much harder, almost drove me insane.
great job, looks exactly as I plan to make my GS. How are those tyres handling? What size are they and where from is the front fender? :cheers:
carpathianGS - the tyres are Mitas E07, the front is a 120/90-17, rear is 130/80-17. The one on the front is actually a rear tyre. Another alternative that looks pretty much the same are Heidenau Scout K60, a friend of mine has those on his bike: https://johonline.net/suzuki-gs500-scrambler/ (https://johonline.net/suzuki-gs500-scrambler/). One thing to note is that the front tyre needs to be mounted with a tube, the rear will go on tubeless.
Handling is fine, obviously she's a bit less agile now and feels like a much bigger bike. I haven't had any issues, but I ride like a grandma anyway.
The fender is just the stock fender cut down with a dremel and hand files. If you're planing to do something similar, make sure you leave a little bit of meat on the sides of the fender, especially around the mounting points, otherwise everything becomes a bit flappy. I also cut some aluminium tubing to make spacers to lift the fender up by 55mm and got longer bolts.
I cut up the old rear fender today to make a guard for the battery and a new little fender for the back.
First, I cut off the ugly square end bit of the old fender. With a bit of additional dremel work, this mounted nicely behind the battery. I used the existing mounting tabs to secure it to the bike:
(https://i.imgur.com/UMZnmi6.jpg)
And here it is snugly fitted where it needs to go. I'll make some side panels to hide the battery, cables and guard, so this won't be visible once everything is finished:
(https://i.imgur.com/MQAfuRT.jpg)
Cut the rear fender to size, drilled some holes for the indicators and the taillight cable and mocked everything up:
(https://i.imgur.com/70hppYB.jpg)
Side view. Still need to weld a tab to the inside of the seat hoop for a third mounting point for the fender, and find some way to mount the number plate:
(https://i.imgur.com/BgAPwCN.jpg)
Almost time to start glassing the seat pan.
that rear tire is gonna hit the underside of that fender you made. Wanna know how I know? because mine did, and still does even with the modified version of mine.. Got a kat600 shock too, and it still can slam into the flat plate I got under there now.
J_Walker - thanks for the heads-up. I did measure clearance beforehand, and I've got at least 130mm all around. The specs I found list the rear wheel travel at 115mm, hope that's not wrong...
If it does happen, I think I could get away with longer dog bones to raise the back a little bit, the new tyres raised the front more than the back.
You'll want shorter dogbones to raise the rear. I have a set on mine, they raised the tail about 1" and I like them!
Very good thread, I'm enjoying the progress and how you've re-used parts!
Thanks ShowBizWolf, that would have been interesting...
Did a bunch of work but didn't take any pictures because my phone died.
- built a fibreglass seat base
- painted the frame and rear fender
- installed rear indicators. Since the indicators are all LED now, I needed to solder load resistors across the indicator wires. I ended up with two 12 Ohm/10W resistors in parallel for each indicator, which works out to 6 Ohm/20W per indicator.
- installed LED taillight
Riding her to the upholsterer with only the fibreglass seat pan was an interesting and somewhat uncomfortable experience. Here she is, patiently waiting for her new clothes:
(https://i.imgur.com/7Fg3Md2.jpg)
Only a few cosmetic bits and pieces left to do, but as soon as I get her back with the new seat, she's ready to ride. Woohoo!
Almost done!
(https://i.imgur.com/3POl2Q8.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/j44FjJk.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/hFuQFnY.jpg)
I'll be moving across the country soonish, so it'll be a while until I get a chance to do the last bits and pieces.
Yeah, that looks clean!
Very cool, great job :thumb:
That is a sharp looking build... definitely a head turner. Gotta love the "Scrambler-ish!"
I can't find anywhere in the thread, what year is your GS? Your photoshop skills are wicked impressive. I have so many YouTube videos to watch and get better. Here's my 1st mock up of my scrambler. haha, notice my reference motorcycle?!?
(http://i792.photobucket.com/albums/yy202/Carltheproducer/GS500_FrontLeftSide_GREEN.png)
What kind of dremel and hand files did you use for front fender? What's the dimensions of your finished cut + the extra bit of ideal meat? It looks great though, how bad is that flapping? Can I get a close up photo of the aluminium tubing to make spacers to lift the fender up by 55mm? What were the longer bolts?
What dimensions did you select for the final clip-on bars? Do you have photos of the small brackets you made for the DCC Originals 2.5" Black Mini Electronic Tachometer? What speedometer did you use finally?