Couple of questions for you Gary:

1)  how is the gauge bracket attached to the bottom?  2 LONG allens through the top tree, spacers, then nuts?

2)  any more detail picts of the idiot light cluster?  it looks GREAT!

possible cure for the headlight / clutch cable interference.  
A) move the light forward on a new bracket 1 or 2 ".
B) move the clip-on above the tree!  

I probably going to rethink the sidecover attachment all together.  Maybe 2 dzus fittings per side?  Just like BSA did it!

The roads in NW NJ are still coated with sand at intersections, and it was cold and windy yesterday, and none of that could keep me off my Cafe Racer.

I put an additional 30 miles on the bike. I had to return home after about 15 miles as the shift linkage (at the shift shaft) removed itself from the bike. I made a "Final Torque Check List" for almost every bolt and fastener on the bike and that item was not on the list, so I'm quite sure it was only finger tight. I'm surprised it stayed on the bike as long as it did. Luckily nothing was damaged or bent and I was able to ride home without any other problems. I was sure to use Loctite on the new M6x20 bolt.

I'm starting to get a good feel for the bike. Some observations:

- It really doesn't like to be ridden below 3,000 rpm. When shopping for a donor bike I made sure to pick up a model that had a 5 speed trans, but I now see that really wasn't necessary. I need to read the chain conversion thread to see what people thought of going to a larger rear sprocket.

- I'm not sure if I'd call the steering heavy. It's actually hard to tell. The clip-ons are so wide - and there is so much leverage - that the result is a nice balance between rider input and resulting action.

- I don't have a lot of confidence in the tires....yet. It's cold out and there can be sand around any corner, so I find myself riding a bit cautiously - which is uncomfortable to me. But those times when I'm able to go with the flow of the bike, the bike has rewarded me well.

- The bike rides OK. I purposely took it down some roads that always give a busy ride. The forks and shocks managed to absorb anything I came across. While the ride is busy/choppy on roads with less-than-smooth surfaces, it just blends-in with the all of the vibration. I think the shocks are a bit on the stiff side. I need to take another preload measurement to determine if the spring rate works for me.

- The lube that WPS ships the chain with makes a considerable mess. That lube has been thrown all over the rear wheel hoop, the spokes, the hub, the seat cowl, the kick stand - and my left leg. I think it has finally stopped and I hope that the chain wax I normally use will cling a bit better. If not, I will get one of those license plate holders that double as a sprocket cover. Dime City sells them for $70, but that is money well spent if it reduces post-ride clean up. Alternatively I could go to an o-ring chain that just needs mild lubrication with WD-40.

- I need to do some calibration runs with the speedo. It seems to read low. Either that or this bike is able to create an unusual sensation of speed. There were time where I thought I was going 60mph and looked down at my speedo and it read 50-ish. Some simple math (using tire circumference, transmission ratio & final drive ratio) can give me some target rpms for calibration.

- Even unpainted the bike is a real head turner. Lot's of thumbs-ups and long glances.

The bike is a real pleasure to ride. Very pure and honest. There is an abundant amount of character and personality in this small bike. I'm very happy that I built it. There's something about a thumper that just puts a smile on my face. After my 30 mile ride yesterday I took my FZ6 out for a ride. I felt like I was riding a Goldwing compared to the cafe racer. I always considered the FZ6 to be a "sport-standard" - which it is - but man, it felt so smooth and relaxed yesterday.

So based on a rear tire size of 130/70-18, the gear ratios in the OM and my 18:52 sprocket set, here are what the rpms should be at various speeds:

Gear.....20..........30..........40..........50..........60..........70
1st.....3,261......4,891                        
2nd....2,207......3,310......4,413......5,517            
3rd....................2,396......3,194......3,993......4,792.....5,590      
4th...................................2,674......3,342......4,010.....4,679
5th..................................................3,091......3,709.....4,327

I'm very happy with the forks. I updated my suspension thread to show the results of some minor adjustments. I may still make a further adjustment to the oil height (I may try a little less oil at a height of 150mm, currently at 140mm down from 130mm). I don't know what I think about the shock yet. Still not hating it.

BBK came in Saturday afternoon. No time to test this weekend due to the holiday. Hopefully next weekend I can get my testing done.

As soon as the brake testing is complete I'll be tearing it down for paint and powder coating.

Hi Gary,

In order to conduct a fair test (and I know this being a brake engineer for 13+ years) you really need to make sure each brake system is fully bedded in. What this means is that there is a pad transfer layer of friction material on the rotor surface. The way brakes work is that they create and break bonds of the pad friction to the rotor surface.

Can't wait for the results! Unfortunately without data acquisition, this test is very heavily dependent on the test rider. This means you will need to do way more tests to get a better average result and of course you have to throw out the stops that don't group together well or else it will affect your conclusion.

Good luck! Let me know if you have any questions.

I'm planning on fiberglassing the bracket into place.
Jeff

It's been a while since I posted an update to this thread. I now have two riding seasons on my S40/CS-1-based cafe racer. I'm happy to say that I enjoy this bike more now then when I first completed it. The bike has a lot of personality. It was my go-to bike this summer. My FZ-6 didn't see the light of day once, and I like that bike. The cafe racer just seems more accessible and is just a joy to ride.

A few things rattled themselves loose over the summer, but luckily I found them before they departed the bike. I now know the importance of blue loctite.

I just started a post on some alternative shocks that I installed this week. That thread can be found here --> http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1477621252 The shocks on the bike were driving me nuts, so these new shocks really complete the bike. It now has a nice plush ride. And they look great.

So now that I have the bike sorted out to the point where I like it, it's time to rip it apart for paint. I've gone back and forth about painting the bike; do it myself, send it out, have a local shop do it, find a guy...

In the end I've decided to have a local shop do the work. I brought my bike to almost every autobody shop in the area to get quotes. The one shop I never thought of going to was the one where I've had all of my work done for the last 25 years. It's a great shop, but they ain't cheap. I had decided on a shop but thought to myself "I might as well ask, nothing to loose". Turns out they were excited about the bike and wanted the job, and the price quoted was exactly where I thought it should be. So after this weekend the bike will once again be on my work stand in pieces.

Regarding color, I've had two years to think about that and I sure at one point every color was in play. A few weeks ago my wife was painting her nails and I thought to myself "that's the perfect color" It doesn't show too well in the photo below, but there's just a hint of green in the blue making it look a bit turquoise in sunlight.



To that I'll be adding a RWB stripe front to rear and some Suzuki vinyl graphics. The side panels take up a lot of area I'm I'm still working on a few ideas so they don't look like blue billboards. Maybe a white oval with a "650" or crossed checkered flags with a 650 below. I have a few weeks to figure it out.

Kim,

I purchased a cable kit from Venhill which was cut to the correct length during the final assembly process.

I don't remember the exact length, but it would appear that the replacement cable was 6 inches shorter then the OEM length - with the OEM handle bars (if you have higher bars you may need to remove more). Knowing what I know now, I would make it 5 inches shorter as the cable is too tight when the bars are all the way to the left.

In fact, I suggest moving the bars to the left, then take a piece of string and run it from the clutch handle to the clutch actuator lever, this way you'll know that you have the perfect length for your bike.  
Make note of the exposed cable length from your original cable , cut the new cable to length obtained from the string measurement (allowing for a little slack) and cut to sheathing to maintain the same exposed cable length from the original.  The cable comes with one ball not installed. After the cable and sheathing are cut to length the ball is soldered into place.