Baz’s Suzuki GS1000 special

Baz brought the bike along right at the end of its build. He’d cobbled a loom together because he couldn’t resist seeing it working, but he wanted something more reliable, and with a new dash.

We discussed rear indicators and tail light, and Baz said he’d like something better than the fairly dim tail light on one side by the number plate – but he didn’t know of anything. I suggested Kellerman micro indicators, which also do brake and tail. They cost almost £100 each these days, but they are a) very small and b) very bright. Baz went for them.

With the hurried final build, there was a lot of fabrication and re-thinking needed to get the slickest possible look for the finished bike. I spent a long time making and painting a speedo bracket that held the speedo face at the right angle, relative to the rider and the ignition key immediately under it. More time went by hooking up the speedo sensor, making headlight spacers, and finding a way to mount the coils on a frame whose coil brackets had been removed.

Modifying the stainless tail unit was another biggie. Drilling the holes chewed up two step drills! That’s stainless for you. Baz had fitted the battery tightly in the seat hump, with the terminals projecting through the metal to an electrics tray under the seat. Now I would not recommend this, you understand, but I think we found a way to make this arrangement OK.

Baz had also found someone on eBay who refurbishes old handlebar switches. These are period Suzuki, repainted (which they weren’t originally) and with new lettering, which is very well done and faithful to the original.

The Koso HD-01 speedo/tacho is a lovely piece of design, but the connection cables are quite short. Technically you can extend these cables but it’s lots of extra time, which I had already spent making spacers, brackets and adaptors. I found a rubber harness boot and fitted that over the dazzling white of the connector plugs. It’s enough to stop them catching your eye.

Some bikes are grumpy waking up. Others sing from the first moment. Baz’s Suzuki was in the latter group. It should be a real giggle to muck about on next year.