GB400 Cafe Racer ideas? [Archive]

drmikenz

28th June 2009, 22:15

greetings all,

just picked up a '89 MK1 GB400 a week or so ago off TM, done 104k. Its my first bike in a few years and since i've got a bit of disposable cash (about $1500 or so) at the mo i was thinking of cafe'ing it up a bit. However I have to admit i've got little to no (tending heavy on the no side) mechanical skill/knowledge so was hoping to pick a few brains.

bodywork is ok, a few dents on the tank from the bars and the muffler has kissed the gravel at least once. Engine seems ok but will stall when cold at the lights and has backfired on me a few times when cold. once its warm seems fine. not alot of pull over 90k which worries me a little.

i'm thinking of putting some Hagon shocks on the rear (still originals on there), some progressive springs on the front, bar end mirrors , one of th dunstall replica's and hopefully a flyscreen. Does this sound like a reasonable way to go ? anything else i should be doing first ?

Also does anyone have good recommendations for someone in auckland to give it a tune up/good looking over ? it was sitting on someones shed for quite a while before i got her

thanks and hopefully the questions weren't too idiotic :shifty:

CookMySock

29th June 2009, 06:24

Ok those km's are little high, so make sure you have a little cash up your sleeve for when the inevitable happens.

Mods - well, whatever you want to do first. If it were me, it would be bars and seat. Carve up a new seat from a block of foam and glass it over, and sand, bog, and paint. Bars - any clipons that will fit, and swap your controls over.

Steve

Voltaire

29th June 2009, 07:40

I'm doing a cafe bike and bought a Ducati 900 fibreglass seat on TM and a really nice set of clip-ons that the guy makes.
Tried my hand at widening the seat with a kit from fibreglass place down Morrin Road in Panmure, guy there is really helpful.
Dunstall exhausts are nice but they rust really fast.
There is a site for singles called ....thumper talk, I got lots of info on the Honda 80/100 I was doing a while back.

xwhatsit

29th June 2009, 07:52

The GB already has nice clipons at a pleasant sort of height. Stick a single seat on (the Mk.I has a double seat, right?) and you're pretty much done!

Such a pretty bike. Would have to be one of the most gorgeous tank designs ever produced.

drmikenz

29th June 2009, 09:09

yup, one of the previous owners has put a single seat on there already, tho i'm pretty sure its the double seat which has been modified

Dodgyiti

30th June 2009, 07:15

Ok those km's are little high, so make sure you have a little cash up your sleeve for when the inevitable happens.

Agree with the kms, a little on the high side mate. I am local to you, why not drop by and we can firstly give it a compression test with a nice warm engine and see where your at. Good on you for looking at the suspension before thinking about cosmetics, a good start but lets get an idea where the motor is at too. As DB rightly said, 100K is a good innings for the 400 so it may have had a freshen up but things like discs, fork sliders and carb jets/sliders will need looking at too.
Other than that - they are a great bike with a great reputation for reliability and holding their price- hence I had to buy the SRX when I really wanted the GB because the SRX was cheaper.

Mike
0212112511

drmikenz

30th June 2009, 21:36

Agree with the kms, a little on the high side mate. I am local to you, why not drop by and we can firstly give it a compression test with a nice warm engine and see where your at. Good on you for looking at the suspension before thinking about cosmetics, a good start but lets get an idea where the motor is at too. As DB rightly said, 100K is a good innings for the 400 so it may have had a freshen up but things like discs, fork sliders and carb jets/sliders will need looking at too.
Other than that - they are a great bike with a great reputation for reliability and holding their price- hence I had to buy the SRX when I really wanted the GB because the SRX was cheaper.

Mike
0212112511
thanks dodgy ;) will be in touch soon

R6_kid

30th June 2009, 22:47

Deus Ex Machina is opening up on Wellesley St in town, was in there yesterday, they have a lot of cafe accessories that could make your life really easy!

www.deus.com.au for inspiration - no doubt anything you see on there will soon be available here.

fridayflash

30th June 2009, 23:40

nudemetalz

1st July 2009, 14:40

Yup, with those kms I'd look for an XR600 motor to slot in. Has been done before and apparently they go rather nicely !!!

Good website http://www.thumperpage.com/articles/gb-500faq.html

Paulo

1st July 2009, 16:05

ive got a gb500, and yea they already have clipons..i just lowered
mine by putting them under the top clamp, i also stripped the paint
off the tank and recoated it with satin clear..looks awesome
great bikes-well worth a bit of effort.
as for the mileage a guy in our club has a 400 thats done 145k!
he bought it new and has only ever done a camchain on it.
reckons it burns a bit if oil, but doesnt smoke..just like mine lol

Would love to see a pic of that, I had planned on doing the same with the tank until the wind in Wellie blew my bike over and now I have a lovely dent where my clipons pushed the tank in, bugger.

drmikenz

1st July 2009, 19:17

Yup, with those kms I'd look for an XR600 motor to slot in. Has been done before and apparently they go rather nicely !!!

Good website http://www.thumperpage.com/articles/gb-500faq.html
i'll keep an eye out, but i'm guessing since i can't do the work myself its probably out of my price range for the next 6 months or so. at least if i want to stay married ;)

Dodgyiti

1st July 2009, 19:21

i'll keep an eye out, but i'm guessing since i can't do the work myself its probably out of my price range for the next 6 months or so. at least if i want to stay married ;)

Should not be too hard to slot the 600 in, never say never- and how do you know you can't do it yourself? Your a kiwi arn't you?

drmikenz

1st July 2009, 19:35

Should not be too hard to slot the 600 in, never say never- and how do you know you can't do it yourself? Your a kiwi arn't you?
well all i can remember of my childhood was feijoas, stubbed toes and weetbix so i'd so i'm pretty sure i am ;)
just no idea where to start with mechanical kind of things really.

CookMySock

2nd July 2009, 08:41

feijoas, stubbed toes and weetbix.Wow, that gave me a wikid flashback lol. I can just smell the toast, and see the stove with the enamel pot warming the milk right now.. :whistle:

Steve

nudemetalz

2nd July 2009, 08:54

You should become a bucket-racer. We have the ability to slot all sorts of motors into all sorts of frames !!

fridayflash

2nd July 2009, 20:09

133619
Would love to see a pic of that, I had planned on doing the same with the tank until the wind in Wellie blew my bike over and now I have a lovely dent where my clipons pushed the tank in, bugger.

heres a pic of the gb..the only one i can find on this comp, a side on shot
looks much beter but i lost my camera ph so cant take one atm..

fridayflash

2nd July 2009, 20:14

as for the clipon dents i wouldnt worry about them, mines dented to
fuck on both sides from lowered clipons and looks factory hehe
admittedly i wouldnt allow that to happen to a mint tank :slap:

Paulo

3rd July 2009, 17:04

133619

heres a pic of the gb..the only one i can find on this comp, a side on shot
looks much beter but i lost my camera ph so cant take one atm..

cheers looks nice! am toying with the idea of stripping mine back as well.
Got some tomaselli clipons that I'll put even lower and adding a headlamp screen mesh for the hell of it. Here's a pic I took at Deus in sydney. Lots of naked steel.

kr250

4th July 2009, 13:23

Looking for rear sets for72 daytona any ideas

Paulo

4th July 2009, 13:44

I'd give British Bike spares in Upper Hutt a call If they dont have em they might know who does.

http://www.britishspares.com/1.php

drmikenz

8th July 2009, 23:22

133619

heres a pic of the gb..the only one i can find on this comp, a side on shot
looks much beter but i lost my camera ph so cant take one atm..

looks pretty sweet :) is it much of a mission to put the clip ons under the riser ? got the hagon shocks the other day so hopefully this weekend the soggy old ones will be finally retired!

98tls

8th July 2009, 23:37

Looks like fun to me,on ya.If you go the Hagon route with the shocks sing out,i bought one of the first rear damper units they made for my TLS and got some great service from there sales guy.I fitted it up prior to going away on a fairly lengthy trip and he phoned before i left asking if he could get some feedback on my return,last time i spoke to him he said to refer anyone i knew to him re product for a bit of a deal,a nice touch i thought.EDIT........Bugger just read your last post,sorry mate.

fridayflash

12th July 2009, 20:23

na.. not hard at all, it just meant i had to slip the headlight clamp down
a little...which spaced the headlight down away from the instruments,
a look that suits it i reckon...im thinkng id like to fit 'ace' bars
but thatll mean ive gota change my to tripleclamp to a handlebar mount
job..and i dont know what bikes would have a compatible size etc

Bonez

12th July 2009, 20:56

Did you get the Cd drmikenz?

wickle

12th July 2009, 21:33

Would love to see a pic of that, I had planned on doing the same with the tank until the wind in Wellie blew my bike over and now I have a lovely dent where my clipons pushed the tank in, bugger.
Couple of photo's of Fridayflash's GB500

drmikenz

13th July 2009, 08:53

Did you get the Cd drmikenz?
i did, thanks mate :) just PM'd you

Paulo

13th July 2009, 15:46

Couple of photo's of Fridayflash's GB500

Nice!! I just scored a spare GB tank on TM so I'll take to that with the sandblaster and be able to keep the stocker as well. cheers!

terry66

1st June 2010, 21:22

hi mike you still available for a look at a GB400? if so give me a txt on 027 733 6355, cheers terry

BuzzardNZ

2nd June 2010, 13:12

I've owned 3 GB400's and all I can say is make sure your cam chain and tensioner are sound, as the GB is known for these parts crapping out.
I doubt your electric start still works with that kinda mileage, all 3 of mine failed at some point. Didn't really matter, as was very easy to kick start.

ICE180

2nd June 2010, 20:20

I am doing the same thing on My GB 400tt (88 67Km)

I am picking up my new chamber from custom chambers tommrrow full system Headders powder coated and stanliess Exhaust $650.
replaced the cham chain and bits as soon as i got it

I did a dyno run with the old pipe on it last week and will do another this weekend hopefully with the new pipe
let you know the results

Shadows

2nd June 2010, 21:17

ive got a gb500, and yea they already have clipons..i just lowered
mine by putting them under the top clamp

I did the same thing with mine. Instant race bike hehehe.

ICE180

5th June 2010, 13:08

did the dynos with the factory and after market

Factory had and extra 1ps top end but the custom chambers one has more power from earlyer on and a much better power curve
making it much nicer to ride as the power is there when you need it

Factory exhaust 21.3 PS @wheel
custom Chambers 20 .2 PS @wheel

This was done at red barron on there dyno

uku1_25

11th June 2010, 22:42

hey nice to hear someone else has a bike like mine except mine is gb500 tt classic and yeh they do tend to stall at the lights when cold but thats not the reason its to do with the valves and timing honestly i dont know alot or beep all about bikes but i have had it cheacked over time and time again and this is the diog for the problem im told the best way to get rid of the pro is to find a new engine and thats what im looking for also watch your timing chain they wear very fast you''ll get about a year on a brand new one thats while just normal road riding and the valves are always very weak anyway just thought would bleet abit im actually wondering if anyone knows of a compatable engine to put on my gb500 as recently the timing chain tappets and valves all spat there brains in one hit very sad cried abit but thats what girls do when it comes to there pride and joy so if anyone knows could you let me know im desperate to get my girl back on the road before my next races in august aw and you cant buy parts for the 400cc or 500cc so ive been told but if you know you can ill take that too anyway enjoy your bike there worth every penny :)

terry66

7th July 2010, 21:05

hi, you can buy parts for the 400 and the 500 from econohonda.
on another note im turning my 400 into a cafe racer as i write, ive made a single fiberglass seat which just needs bogging and sanding before i mount it, i'll be attacking the rear end with an angle grinder to be able to lower the seat to sit on the frame and will weld a half round tube for the rear. ive started sanding the tank and think that i''ll paint the seat and tank red. if your interested i'll post a few pics of the progress.