my gs 550 all finished

Sweet, a real 'trad' cafe racer! Is that a track-day bike or are you going to make it road legal?

just for track days , hopefully the weather will turn nice sooner rather than later

Hi mate, Iam new to Cafe Racers but I this is what Iam after doing. What bike did you get the forks and swingarm off? And were they a nightmare to fit or not so bad? Iam currently looking at lots of different swingarm set-up's but yours looks really suited. Have you done anything to the performance or it or is it mainly stock? Hope you dont mind all the Q's but its a really spot on bike!

Kev

What kind of swimarm did you end up using? did you modified the frame to make it fit?

I would hazard a guess at an Aprilia swingarm,

Col.

its a swing arm from a cbr100rr, the forks are rsv mille , the frame didnt need any modifying as its not a gs frame ,i made the frame myself and copied a norton featherbed dimensions but made it wider to take the swing arm and a 23 degree headstock angle, engine wise it only stock apart from the home made exhaust and upping the jet size etc, it has no generator or flywheel only a battery under the seat hump

heres a link to a you tube video of it running at brands

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A31y8yhEbMA&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

dansofield550 wrote:

its a swing arm from a cbr100rr, the forks are rsv mille , the frame didnt need any modifying as its not a gs frame ,i made the frame myself and copied a norton featherbed dimensions but made it wider to take the swing arm and a 23 degree headstock angle, engine wise it only stock apart from the home made exhaust and upping the jet size etc, it has no generator or flywheel only a battery under the seat hump

You made the frame yourself?

Chalk me up impressed, it's an awesome looking beast and the video really comes across well. mucho respect

at brands plus some build pictures , these are only small for some reason

Making your own frame?? Impressive stuff.
Done a good job with that Dan.

Col.

found some more picture of the build

been busy building another 550 engine this time with a 650 top end , this'll give a good bhp increase , had to nibble some metal
away to get the barrels to fit, than a strip down to clean and fit new cam chain and gaskets, which im still waiting for , also giving
the head a mild posting an d polish and valves re cut and new oils seals ,

OK, NOW you're showing off! That's engineering kit and skills waaayyy outside my abilities. Great looking bike, where's the next one then?

had to swap the cam chain wheels over from the 550 to the 650 cams as the 650 has larger chain wheels , they had a different size bolt holding them , needed to drill 7.2 mm before they'd fit , just waiting for cam chain and gasket set.

that is one impressive build and also one impressive workshop I am so jealous of both lol

its lunch break ..........so thought i'd have a go at modifying my cam chain tensioner to a manual type, seemed easy enough to cut off the large part housing the spring parts then drill out the hole and tap to m12x1 make a nut and o ring groove to keep the oil in , then make a lock nut, and new shaft to act on the tensioning slide .

Having just rebuilt my tensioner, what is the benefit of this? How do you ensure the tension is correct?

at high rmp when you shut the throttle the sprung tensioner can go slack a little this is not good ,

this is what a company called ape say about it (they make a tensioner ) but im too tight to buy one!!


APE manual cam chain tensioners are designed to replace the automatic and hydraulic tensioners on high performance engines. The automatic adjusters can back out when the throttle is closed suddenly at high rpm. This allows the cams to go momentarely out of time, and can result in bent valves and/or serious engine damage. Hydraulic tensioners have a tendency to put too much tension on the chain guide under high rpm/high oil pressure conditions, resulting in premature wear.

Both problems can be eliminated with the installation of the APE manual tensioner. No mater what the engine does, the cam chain tension will remain constant. An APE manual cam chain tensioner is a must for any kind of performance riding.

wanted to fit 29mm flatslides to my 650 head but couldn't find any inlets to match up so had make my own , used the
o rings from the 650 inlets, the pitch of the carbs are different but theres enough meat in the inlet that i could make the holes
offset , also had a crack at making some velocity stacks too, used a cutter holder for a big milling machine to form the taper
then turned a nylon block to press the flared end .