I was holding off on posting anything because I hate to wait for people to make updates, so I figured most of you may be similar.

But I couldn't hold off any longer. I expect ill be driving it by next weekend and then all it will need is a paint job. So here is the work up till where I am now.

I tried a few different things than normal and am building it how I want so if you have any questions post them here.  I missed taking pictures of quite a few steps but this should be generally close to the process I went through. (The following pics may be too big, I may have to edit this a few times)

1. This is how the bike started.  It was really beat down and not really my style. The guy who had it before me knew nothing about bikes and did some goofy stuff including fitting 6 or so quarts of oil in it.


2. Tore it down and started seeing where I was on the maint on this bike. It wasnt too bad. I polished the forks and triple clamps, lowered them and installed clipons. The clipons were 7/8's so I had to so some shimming for the 1" stock controls.



3. While I was waiting for parts to come in I polished some items. The side covers and this rim. I ordered a aluminum rim and it came unpolished. What a pain.


4. Next some parts came in and I wanted to keep working while waiting for the other parts so I made a custom rim for sizing the shocks and swingarm clearance. Nice eh?  I also replaced the clutch and cleaned up the motor a bit.


5. I had to modify the swingarm to fit the new tire.


6. I repaired my plunger. I think I was at 21mm and starting to look wobbled.


7. Finally got my spokes in so I laced the wheel and mounted the tire. This is a much better fitting lacing pattern than some have used.


8. Once the swingarm and tire was complete I couldnt wait for the shocks to come in so I made a temporary hardtail setup to continue on.


9. The shocks showed up and this is how the back wheel looks with the spoke pattern.


10. This one was kind of ongoing. I installed one gauge and then the other then I mounted those LED's on the side to act as my turn signal indicators. They work pretty smooth.


11. This is what was needed to mount the tank I was using. I welded the stock mounts to a peice of 32nd plate and screwed it to the frame. I dont show it in the picture but I fabricated a piece at the base of the tank that supports the stock tank rubber pad and it attaches at the bottom with the stock rubber clip from the tanks.


12. I made up this chain guard pretty quickly out of sheetmetal. I didnt like the way the stock one looked, even if I cut it up.


13. This is the pipe I went with and you can see the custom brake linkage setup I created. It is a hard line to the pivot point, then a hard line back from there. It is leveraged so a small amount of movement at the pedal amounts to almost twice as much at the brakes. It also has a stop built in so you dont have the pedal come all the way back like most hard line setups.


14. This is my battery box. Everything including the battery is housed in that little area. I was making a template out of some copper i had laying around and ended up liking it so I just used the copper.


15. At one point I threw the seat and tank on there to get a feel for how it looks. The second pic has the seat pan held in place with a C-clamp. Its just fabbed up and I need to finish it.



I also cleaned up a lot, trimmed tabs Im not going to use and made up new cables for the clutch and throttle. Ive fired it up and its running good with that tank installed. I still need to mount a kickstand that I took from a Vstar, finish the seat pan, make an upholstery pan and then upholster it.

I was going to paint a Tan with red and blue scheme a al Steve McQueen, but this black and gold stock job is starting to grow on me. I may just go with it.

that looks fantastic...
Out of curiosity, what is the seat height likely to be once it's all buttoned up, and is the seat itself metal, or metal reinforced?

awesome - love the shocks and the tank. what tank is that? how tough was it to fit it?

The tank is off of a Suzuki GT550. I believe any year between 72 and 77 will work. I also think the GT750 has the same tank for some of its years.

No modifications of the tank are needed. Just relocate the front mounts like in my picture and install a brace to support the back at the height and angle that you want. One of the easiest mods on the bike.

My tank was specifically a 75'.  Ive seen them go for as little as 15 bucks on the auctions.  That was a killer deal though.

I just cant believe all the ways these things can get modified. The tank sits so "right" with the bike/seat. The swing arm mod is great, Im knocked out,, What are your plans on mounting the foot pegs?

I like the modification you did for the rear brake.

I saw my first RYCA in person this weekend, and the rear brake pedal action was bad.  The rod rubbed on the muffler, and the pedal could be pulled up and had no stop to limit the travel.  I also didn't like the fact that the shifter pedal was out just as far as the peg - which would make you have to pull your foot way out to the side when moving your foot above or below the pedal to shift.  All of the bikes I have ridden have the pedal sitting in a bit - and moving your toe above or below the pedal does not require a lot of movement.

Gorgeous my friend, a GB500 replica.
Now the thing will handle like a sport bike if you put a front end with 1/2 the offset. If you get it to around 1.5" or under, it will be simply a blast to ride.
That offset IMHO and the Idiotic fork leg cap clamping on the upper triple instead of the other way round is what I consider the worst feature of this bike when you want to mod stuff.

Cool.
Srinath.

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 07/23/12 at 22:50:20:


I bought the pegs from Ryca, for the quality you cant get ones anywhere else for that price. I made my own bracket mounts, its similar to Ryca's but with a little different dimensions.  They mount onto the two points where the battery supports mount on the frame.