'76 GT500 restoration

[wvc]

I had even thought of buying his GT750 one, and trying modify it, but with all the weights and everything being different, I thought that might be difficult. For Tyler, it would only be a matter of changing a few numbers and letters and running more off. I may email and ask him again, and say pretty please. . Maybe if I had a few other people interested, I could give him an idea how many would sell right away, that may perk his interest a little more. I'd probably buy 3 or 4 myself just to have spares. If anyone would be interested, let me know how many, and I'll email him again. Probably won't go for it, but hey, its worth a shot.


Also on another note, I received the first T500 / GT500 reproduction front footpeg rubbers back from Greg Clauss. They look great. They even retained the small S logo, and the Made In Japan from the original. I asked about buying more sets, he said he'll probably make more in a few weeks. Not sure what the price will be yet, but should be less than the other place selling repops.

[johnakay]

I'd be interested but only to sell on.
it depends how much he want for 2.
if I think the price is right and me make a little bit then I'd buy at least 5 to 10 pairs or maybe more.

[wvc]

Well, I finally found someone who was willing to work with me on getting the VIN decals made up. I had contacted Tyler Tech again to no avail, and Repro. Decals wasn't interested, and Dean from classicmotorcycledecals in the UK kept saying he would rework his RE5 decal for me, but then would never follow thru or respond back again (weird)

But I located a guy in Michigan that was willing to do it. I gave him all the dimensions, with plenty of photos, and they turned out great. He made a couple with the VIN numbers blank to attempt stamping them like originals, and a couple with the numbers printed in. I think the label material is gonna be too thin for stamping, so I'll probably go with the printed number ones. I held them up to my GT550 and they look very close. Nice reproduction item. I think he's selling them on ebay now for about $35 each.

Also got all my chrome parts dropped off for rechroming, they should be back in about 6 weeks.

[oldjapanesebikes]

Nicely done ! It appears you had these made specific to just the GT500A ? I don't see a listing on any of the auction sites - perhaps you could post the vender details here ?

Thanks !

[wvc]

Yes, I had him make them so they were specific to my bike, and as close to original as possible. He's an easy to work with guy, and should have no problems changing the year to 76 or 77 if needed. I think he only prints up his decals as they sell, so its not like theres a large stock of preprinted ones that can't be changed.

His name is Jerry and his email address is jrure@aol.com . Be sure to tell him Matt from Ohio sent you.

[oldjapanesebikes]

Thanks !

[rbond]

WVC, would you be 'Smokeymatt' of youtube fame for the 'GT500 tribute'?

[wvc]

nope, not me...but i have seen the video.

[wvc]

Got the chrome parts back today. Heres a few pics. I'm 90% happy with the work, but there's a couple items that bugged me. Most of the parts have residue still on them from the chrome bath. Looks like they hung everything up and air dried them, then wrapped them. The residue comes off easy enough with a polish, but for 2 grand, you'd think they'd clean the pieces better after chroming. The front fender has 2 small dings that look like they happened after the chroming, and appear to have small cracks in the plating coming from the dings. Looks like they dropped something on the inside after it was done, then wrapped it up hoping I wouldn't notice. I'm going to take the fender back and talk to them about it, but I have a feeling they'll deny any liability for it. And they lost the small gas cap lock buttons and trim rings. I left the mufflers there to have re chromed, and they knocked a few bucks off the price of that, to cover the lost gas cap parts. Overall I guess I'm mostly happy, and the parts look nice for the most part. Maybe I'm being too picky, just seems the service should have been a bit better.
Oh and they just called, they forgot to give me the suzuki tank emblems I had them polish. I think thats 4 strikes. I'll probably try somebody different next time.

p.s. Thanks again CJF for that fender brace. Its all nice and shiny now.