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Build History '86 Suzuki GSX R 750 G
(The above image is of a stock example ) Build History Version After passing his test , and a succession of smaller two strokes , and lightweight trials bikes , dean finally bit the bullet and went for his first big bike. He'd had a few rides out on my GPz 'fighter , and although he loved the streetfighter look , the zed was just too heavy for him . He wanted a big bike , but without the weight , and it had to be cheap ! His holy grail came in the form of a '86 GSXR 750 G . It was manically fast , very light and thanks to it being painted a hideous shade of rover night fire red - it was cheap ! . It was completely standard , and the bodywork had had a few repairs over the years , but it had been well maintained , and underneath the hideous paint scheme ( with brush painted gold 'highlights' ) it was in fairly good nick. He'd planned to streetfighter it from the outset , and enlisted the help of his big brother ( Me ! ) . Having built the zed into a respectable 'fighter , we had half an idea of what we wanted to do , and how to achieve it . The trouble was , he had virtually no money to spend - hmmm , a bit of a hindrance I know , but everyone had to start somewhere ! The first thing we could do for free - was the polishing ! , so he took over our dads shed ( the same one I built the zed in ! ) Dean had access to the polishing section of an engineering shop where we both worked at the time, and so proceeded to strip off all the major components that he could sneak into work un noticed by the gaffers .
Virtually everything made of alloy apart from the frame was stripped of it's paint / de greased in the shed , and stuffed into bin bags for the journey to work .Dean did all of the polishing himself during his lunch breaks and after work ( and most of the time - during work ! ). I managed to borrow an RGV 250 seat unit off a mate , to see if we could make it work ,after a bit of chin rubbing we reckoned we could .I managed to sell all of deans original plastics ( even in the terrible paint scheme ) and raise enough money for dean to buy a fibreglass RGV seat unit from Race Composites. Together we fitted to seat unit to the existing subframe by making alloy brackets to support it , mounting it so that the lower edge of the tail unit was parallel with the lower rails of the subframe. Dean then used some smoked Perspex to hide the rear lights that he'd mounted inside the tail unit , and made a new under tray from a sheet of polished alloy. A car painter friend , offered to paint the bike for a drink if he prepped it himself , so once all the sanding was done , dean handed over the original tank & front mudguard and the modified RGV seat unit for a few coats of Canary Yellow . The wheels were polished on the edges , and the centre's painted with yellow smoothrite aerosols which matched the new paint a treat ! . The engine , side stand, disc centre;s etc were painted with black smoothrite ( the poor mans powder coating ! ). With no headlamp / faring etc , drastic action was needed at the front end . Some 4" bates lamps were obtained , and dean made the brackets from some more alloy sheet ( that he got from work ! ) . The clocks no longer had anywhere to live , so a new surround was fabricated , welded and then polished . Handlebar risers from M&P were bolted to the polished 750G top yoke , then some renthal 'bars and mini indicators finished off the front end . I donated an 'unknown' Carbon fibre race can from one of my old dirt bikes , and we hacked off the original system from the down pipes backwards. A new link pipe was made up from some universal exhaust bends from a local motor factors , dean then welded the lot up and gave it a coat of black VHT paint. The air box was removed and the battery was relocated in it's space under the tank . S&B filters were fitted to the original VM29 Flat slide carbs. We assembled it all back together with some shiny stainless cap heads ,and were very pleased with the result - especially considering it had cost virtually nothing over the original purchase price of the bike.
The bike stayed in this form for well over a year , and proved fast , light and trouble free. Dean had really learnt how to ride fast on his GSXR 'fighter , and soon the need for sticky rubber mounted on 17" wheels , decent suspension, and decent brakes became apparent. Version 2 ! Finances were ( slightly ) healthier by now , so he took the plunge and got a cheap set of USD forks & callipers from a ZXR 750 , we knocked the GSXR stem out of the old yokes , and fitted it to the ZXR ones ,& the forks just bolted straight in !. A front wheel was sourced from crashed ZX6R for free , he had the rim straightened and after I'd made him a couple of spacers , the front wheel was in . PFM cast iron race discs originally meant for a ZXR750 bolted straight onto the '6 rim and matched up with the ZXR750 calipers.
The rear wheel was a bit more of a pig ! , dean used a ZX6R wheel to match the front , but it was way too wide. A fair bit of meat was machined from the cush drive , and a new rear caliper hanger was made up to fit the GSXR caliper to the ZX6R disc. The rear shock was treated to a new spring and a rebuild , then dean mirror polished both the wheel rims . There was no Speedo drive facility on the new front wheel , so a Sigma Digital push bike unit was used , which meant a new clock pod had to be made to house it . A front mudguard from an import GSXR 400 was made to fit and the whole body kit , together with the wheel centres was repainted by a different chap , who promised a decent job at a rock bottom price.
It was in this guise that the GSXR made it's first trip to the Isle of Man TT festival , the new & improved wheels , tyres , brakes & suspension - really made themselves known . The bike had been radically transformed . But , dean really wasn't happy with the paint job on 'version 2' , at the end of the day "you get what you pay for" , and it showed. Version 3 ! Finances had recovered sufficiently for a new paint scheme - this time performed by Keith at Nasty Paint , who had painted my zed and my current ( at the time ) GSXR 1100M . The cheap RGV tail unit had to go too , so did the ( by now ) rotten exhaust system.
A friend of deans liked the high level pipe on deans bike , and even though the collector at the end of the downpipes was rotten , offered him a swap for his crusty nexxus system !. The nexxus system turned out to be made from stainless steel and with a fair bit of effort polished up like new ! , an new link pipe was fabricated from steel , then chrome plated - and another race can ( donated by a different friend ) finished off the system . With the RGV seat unit junked , a Harris unit ( intended for one of their rotax engined racers ) was pressed into service , this time we made a proper job of it and the GSXR subframe was removed , and replaced by a bespoke one that dean fabricated himself that was secured to the frame by rose joints. The wheels and bodywork were packed off the Keith for a full custom air brush job , the now knackered flat slides were replaced with a set of CV's from an 1100 , pukka K&N filters replaced the poorly flowing S&B's and then set up on the Dyno . The subframe and cam cover were powder coated blue to match the paint work & the final icing on the cake was a new SPA combined digital Tacho / Speedo to replace the push bike jobbie and yet another new clock pod !.
Shortly after completion the bike was featured in SF105 and after only a few months on the road it was at the Streetfighters show in Sheffield . After the show , we went to collect out bikes and there was a chap waiting for dean with a fat wad of cash - he wanted to buy the bike ! . Dean really didn't want to sell it , as he'd only just finished it , and was looking forward to the summer on his new steed. However , his head ruled over his heart and he took the cash - the lure of paying a few debts off & still being able to buy a much more modern , faster , better handling - race bike was too much , so I don't really blame him........................much !
'86 Suzuki GSX R 750 G
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