Sunday after dinner

After a day spent over by the coast with family we headed back home this morning. It was of no surprise to me that Ali's family decided to come visit us back, as a somewhat spur of the moment idea. Actually this moment was last evening but I've noticed that the guy that once told me "I hate surprises" don't mind pulling them now. 'm thinking age has softened him some. Close to a couple of decades ago I showed up to see his bright and attractive young daughter without their knowing, may have elicited the response. I thought I was a great catch for a boyfriend at 19 and what dad would want me to date his cherished daughter? Don't ask me today how I would react if a boyfriend of my daughter showed up unannounced at my home today. After spending time with Ali's mom, dad, older sister and my two nieces and finishing dinner they made the 3 hour trek back to their place, my mind quickly went back to my project of making the GN400 a cafe bike. I've come to realize that I've neither the time or finances to go "top-notch" on this project. I know I don't want to cut corners either! It's just I realize how much I have missed riding a motorcycle. I don't want to have this thing sitting any longer than it has to when I could be riding it. ( I still gotta replace that key too! With that said, after the family left I went outside and looked at a Honda CL 360 that was also given to me some time ago. Not much could be done with that bike as I never received a title or bill of sale and some bonehead had run it over with an equipment trailer cracking the triple clamp and bending the forks. Not running at the time and no key meant... Parts Bike. So I pulled off the seat and the tank this evening. I wanted to see if I might be able to make use of these on the Suzook. After pulling them off I recognized I really liked the style of the seat off the Honda. It could even be made to fit the GN with possibly little effort. The tank of the CL, had a noticeable difference in fuel capacity that the GN. Research showed that the GN400 tank could hold 3.4 gallons of gas, while the CL could only top off at 2.9 gallons. This means that the current 78 miles before hitting the reserve would drop and that was unacceptable. As it is now the GN's petcock is having issues so that I can't even use the reserve as the petcock valve is getting hung up on the tank weld at the bottom. I was hoping that changing out the tank would solve that problem, though it's not going to happen with the Honda's gas tank. Seeing that I couldn't really do much there, I removed the bolts that hold the levers to the brake and clutch on the Honda scrambler and used it to replace the one that had come of "GIN". (I'm not one to name any of my vehicles but I think that for this particular project I will tag the 81 Suzuki GN400 with an A.K.A. of "GIN".) Being that I couldn't accomplish much more that securing the front brake lever that had come off Friday for the wild ride home, I scanned the internet for idea's that I might be able to incorporate, fab-up or purchase for GIN at as low a cost as possible. After drooling at all kinds of pictures that come up when you type "Cafe Racer" into google images, I wanted to see if I could use some computer wizardry to see what she might look like as a completed bike. Using Microsoft paint and an hour and a half of time I came up with this concept.

I'm thinking that with using the seat of the Honda CL360, I might be able to have the option of riding two up if I can find or make up a tail section cowl for the rear that would come down on the rear part of the seat. This would rest on the last half of the pillion and bolt on to have the solo cafe look then be able to be removed and retain the look but allow room for two. That's what's jumbling in my head anyway. Can I do that and still stay in the low cost frame of mind? Don't know? But the picture I doodled gives me an idea of what it might look like. Of course it would have a black and white check pattern on the tank and cowl. A polished and clear coated set might also make it stand out as I'm going all black on most everything else including wheels. It seems this will be more cost effective that trying to replace, or spend big bucks to get the rust and oxidation off the thing. Who know's? Well that's where I am for now. Type again later. The Snoman.