gs400 cafe... eventually.

being a saturday, i thought it only right to spend some time on the bike.

took a look at the swinging arm and, golly gosh, its rusty.



should be half a pound lighter once this lot is emptied.



excuse the welding but i wanted it to look like the dodgy factory welds, plus its the underside anyway.



progress at least.

I had the same problem with mine. I am going to make the next statement as an engineer.
I would STRONGLY recommend that you replace the swing arm. As the arm tubes on the inside of the gussets will be serverly comprimised structurally. DK spares at stafford will have a replacement from an American import. Think mine was about thirty quid and had no rust what so ever. I didn't want to risk doing 70+ mph and the arse end of the bike go tits up and me go in the opposit direction. The choice of course is yours.

Just my opinion.

got to admit, the inside tubes had seen better days.

did what i could to strengthen them up but i'm with you on changing it if i can.

will use this one for mock up while on the source for another.

my issue with it is being a 30year old bike that isn't a honda, i may have problems finding bits for it.

rust never sleeps
i think gs250/300/400 are all the same to help with your search plenty available on usa ebay if you cant find one this side
but as mig said try DK at stoke or R & G Spares 88 Stratford Road Sparkhill Birmingham West Midlands B11 1AN Tel: 0121 773 9085.
theres proberley plenty of other swingarms that would go on with minimal modifcation

no pics today but some movement (waahey).

frame off to russ at the blasters for some tender loving grot removal.

frame mods start next week

all new swing arm and headstock bearings ordered but had a hernia when told how much they are.

"bugger" is a word i've used more than once today.

Wait till your using FFS. It will happen.

frame now blasted and etched for protection ready foe metalwork.



slowly, slowly, catchy monkey.

it looks gash at the moment but bending metal tube is not one of my specialities.

will all be strengthened up later anyway.

trial fit using seat template.









have also cut the plates for the rearsets but not gonna weld them in before i have any rearsets to mount to them.

i know i have to find somewhere to mount the rear plate and lamps but will work that out as i go along.

looking good m8 nothing wrong with that, does the job when painted no one will know

its hard bending pipe without a mandril bender ive got a 12 ton hydrolic bender great for shallow bends but if im doing a more acute bend on thin wall pipe a handy tip is to pack the pipe with damp sand packing it in really well and sealing the ends with gaffa tape this helps stop kinking or flattening on the bend

oh bye the way its coming on great

i'm gonna reinforce the bends with weld anyway.

the only decision is whether to do it properly with bronze (my preferred choice), or mig it as the rest of the bike is done that way already.


just an edit on this post. have been gas welding on the austin 7 this week and forgotten how much i enjoyed it so thats the way i'll go on the bike.

close enough



went with brazing in the end.

have a concern

was going to mount plates in the frame just below where the rear footpegs used to be for the rearsets to fix to.

do you think this will be too far back for my little legs to reach?

tried it as a sitting position beforehand and seemed fine but my worry is it being too far back to change gear properly.

TBH it sounds a tad excessive, not to mention uncomfortable after any prologed distances. I'd look at somewhere just behind the swinging arm pivot, but that's just me.

the more i look at it the more i agree with you.

been looking at different bikes and am looking at loosing the rear part of the frame altogether and having ally plates made up to mount the rearsets on.

will be much cleaner and more comfortable to ride me thinks.

adam the master fabricator is in today.

sure he owes me a favour.

after our chat, decision made.

gonna be brave, frame on another diet tomorrow.

so after having to resort to the evil mr lloyd and his plastic card of doom to fix wifey's car, it only seemed fit to cane it again for some bike bits.

karma in my mind.

these turned up the other day.



trouser movement moment on opening the box, well impressed with the way their made.

can now attack the frame again.

ive fitted forwards ,mids but never rearsets so looking forward to this part of your build plenty of pics please

im gonna be picking your brains on brazing to

33 mm stanchions ? well they are on gsx 250\ 400's. can't you get some proper clip on's ?

i want to keep the alloy headlamp mounts that fit over the stanchions.

plus i prefer the look of drop bars

amazingly, i've actually done some more work on the bike now work is slowing down.

rearset mounts on, dry build next.

no pics yet though.

to get over the emotional trauma of painting a Citroen c5 yesterday, i decided to carry on with the tail section.

first attempt at this so excuse the mess.

covered plug in gelcoat then fibreglass matting after eight coats of release wax.



once dry, plug was troublesome to say the least to remove.
had to break it up to get it out in the end.



the rearset plates are with the lasercut guy and should be back in a week.

coming along nicely there mate

appreciate this doesn't look much different but the seat unit is now slimmed down and fitted and the metalwork on the frame is finished.





frame is now left at work to clean up and paint in the next couple of weeks, work depending.

found a local foam supplier to start the seat next week.