TOPIC:

I just bought this bike a few days a go for $500 sight unseen. It runs and just needs a little work, Speedo replacement and tune, and tires to be road worthy, I drove it 30 miles home and it ran very well.



For now I'm just wanting to get it running so i can run around town and commute on it. After I've made sure I get any and all the bugs out I'm wanting to give it some mild mods. Something along the lines of a Cafe Commuter or a Traffic Fighter. I found this pic on Pintrest and I really like the way it looks. I don't think I need to go crazy with all the front end and brake mods but I'd like it to get somewhere along these lines. If anyone knows anything about this bike or one like it any information on how it was built would be great.



This is going to be a long road but should be interesting. Bear with me and we'll all see how it turns out.

The black bike looks to have Zrx11/12 front and rear suspension bits. Keihin FCR carbs and a handbent header. Ducati Brembo calipers all around.

Later, Doug

Sweet find!

I am all for the black looker!

All the classic twin shock Gpz has a very specific look about them, it doesn’t matter if it’s the 550, 750 or the 1100. It’s like Cycle magazine wrote after their test-drive back in 1982.
It the kind of bike that could give you a speeding ticket even if your parked curb side. I guess they share it with bikes like the Suzuki GS1000S and E’s.

Tyrell gave a couple of very poetic lines in my project tread

Tyrell Corp wrote: LOVE early GpZ's

Keep em' coming.


Origami paperfold swage line bodywork and loud graphiics over bright colours not to everyone's taste i know, but it works for me.

The King is dead, long live the King! * Nicked from Dave Mardsen, z power uk, great writer and kawasaki expert. ( referring to the English tradition of mourning the death of the deceased King, but celebrating his succesor, a metaphor for the kz to Gpz lineage )

That black rod keeps what’s so nice about the design chopping of the rear frame and replace the end with a 50/60’th Norton tail just doesn’t make sense.

Go for swing arm, rims and a 41 mm fork and I think you will become a completely new person, the one you always wanted to be.

I will keep you posted on my progress and my Zephyr 750 swing arm looks like the easiest fit, its 235 over the pivot just like the Gpz, it might take just a little machining to make room for dust caps for the swing bearings, it’s already twin shock and just a tiny bit longer.

Because bikes are meant to be ridden.

Nice find, the front fairing (cowling?) and side and bottom mounts are a bit difficult to find now, it is the same part as the 1000/ 1100's. Note the 550 part looks the same but is just a touch smaller.

What makes these iconic twin shock GPz special is the looks imo, so whilst I really like the black modified one I'd be cautious of hacking it about too much café racer style.

These bikes handle really nicely, so maybe get a feel for it first before you start modifying.
Nice find !

Tyrell Corp wrote: Nice find, the front fairing (cowling?) and side and bottom mounts are a bit difficult to find now, it is the same part as the 1000/ 1100's. Note the 550 part looks the same but is just a touch smaller.

Thanks! I think I found a 1100 on ebay but I'm not sure I want to put another back on. If I were to put a fairing back on it would with a round headlight, I think the square one is the only thing that lets it's looks down. I remember the 80s and know that this was a cutting edge design feature at the time put it hasn't held up.

Tyrell Corp wrote: What makes these iconic twin shock GPz special is the looks imo, so whilst I really like the black modified one I'd be cautious of hacking it about too much café racer style.

I'm not going to go to radical. I just like how clean that one looks without being too hard core. I'll probably skip swapping the swing arms and forks, etc. I'm planning on anything I do to be reversible.

Tyrell Corp wrote: These bikes handle really nicely, so maybe get a feel for it first before you start modifying.
Nice find !

This is exactly my plan. I'd like to get it running ride it for the rest of the season and figure out how I'd like to personalize it over the chilly months.

Here's a short list of ideas (working designation{s} Cafe Commuter or Traffic Fighter):

Build a solo seat/rack, saddle bag unit that can be readily swapped over to the existing seat for 2 up if it suits the occasion. I think I could do it easily if I had a spare seat pan and a tail rack off a GT750/Z750 shafty.

Replace the headlight with a round one with or without a bikini fairing. The only reason I'm thinking of the fairing is to cover up the ugly dash. I like the idea of solo round gauges but I like all the features the stock cluster has. My once upon-a-time bike was a 83 BMW R80ST and the only thing it had besides the tach and speedo was a neutral and high beam light.I like the gas gauge, voltmeter, etc.

Replace the tail light with something not so chunky. It looks like a illuminated brick hanging off the back of the bike.

Replace exhaust with either 4-1 or 4-4 set up.

Maybe stuff:

Swing arm mounted rear fender.

Pod air filters

I'm not thinking of doing an major mechanical enhancements unless it improves reliability and/or maintenance. The only thng Ive been considering that's "major" is installing a kick start if it's even possible.

First thing to do is maintenance, not mod. Valve adjustment should be high on the list of things to do. If the valves are sunk into the head they won't close and will turn into krispy cridders soon after. Various other things should also be done like cleaning out the brake system, carb clean, vacuum carb sync, etc. Get yourself a factory manual and go down the list of scheduled maintenance. If you ditch the airbox and/or exhaust don't forget to purchase a jetting kit. Way too many people do mods like these and then cook the engine with lean carbs.

Good luck

+1 on that. Get the bike sorted first.Make sure everything is tiddly pooh before you go pulling it apart and messing around with it.Get it on the road and spend the summer getting to know it,buy it a couple of drinks,maybe dinner and a movie.etc.Meet the parents!
OK,sorry. Wrong forum!
I just read your post properly.If its running ok then go for it.Get stuck in.Dont go wasting time and money on new tyres or sorting the brakes and things like that as youll be changing them anyway. (I spent e300 overhauling my brakes,only to bin them and go for a full on frontend/backend conversion)
If youre aiming in the direction of that black bike,youre going to need deep pockets (is that a yoshi pipe?) but itll be great. Go for it and enjoy.
Good luck

I'm definitely going to go at this with a practical mind.....

I'm going to do a "light" version of that bike at the very best. No super high end brake/suspension mods or anything of that sort, maybe a slight upgrade,

I did have one other thing I was considering. Sprocket swap. going up a tooth kinda thing. I know doing that makes it faster instead of quicker but doesn't it also make it a bit more fuel efficient since the cruising revs would be lower?

Up a tooth makes it quicker. Bigger sprocket on the back will give you more lift and less top end. Smaller sprocket gives less lift and more top end. I think??

I went one tooth more on the counter shaft. Less pick up but lower Revs at speed. I'm at 3500 at 55 MPH. You might make up a dash for your gauges and lights. I held off on what I thought of the 80's squared look. This might give you some ideas.






Steve

Thanks, I think I'll stick with the stock assy for now. My speedo was toast so I found a another cluster on eBay. It's a GT750 cluster which looks identical to the one I have.

While surfing around for parts i saw somewhere that they had sprocket sets that increased both sprockets by one tooth increments. I'm guess that if you up both sprockets it will mitigate the loss of low end grunt while still helping cruise efficiency

I went out earlier to check the charging system but couldn't get it started. Not surprising since the previous owner said he could only get it started cold by by pushing it. Ain't nobody got time for that! I checked it for spark and i assume its got compression, I don't think its getting fuel. So I just pulled the battery, put it on the charger then pulled the carbs. I just ordered a set of rebuild kits and I'll check the valve clearances before they get here. after I get it started again I'll check the timing and so on.

BTW, I checked the petcock function by using a vacuum pump and it worked just fine.

Is it new. If not get one. You can fry components using a bad battery.
Steve