A couple of weeks ago I’ve featured this awesome GSX-R1100 Cafe Racer. This bike went viral on the interwebs and I stayed in close contact with the builder, Dino Maltoni, owner of Dino Cycles in Argentina. With this machine, they put their shop on the map and I looked forward to their next project. After some teasing on Facebook and Instagram, they’ve presented their latest build; a beautiful GS400 Cafe Racer. Words by Nicolas Fernandez:
We present you this excellent Suzuki gs 400, 1978, our last work of the workshop (Dino Cycles) of Dino Maltoni. Everything was born from a publication of a friend Facundo Giorno in which he tagged me, and there was a project disarmed that was not I could finish in which the engine had been rectified again, I loved it since the bike was unarmed but its parts were in perfect condition, I got into the car trailer and on the fly I called the number that came out in the publication I was attended by a man to whom I told him that I was interested and that I would like to see her. The very kind told me that he had no problems and that he was waiting for me, once at the home of the subject, he invites me to go and meet the motorcycle. He already had two more bikes and he was thinking of restoring it but due to divorce and not being able to pay the lawyer, he made the decision to sell it urgently, we fixed a fair price and I brought it to him.
Once entered the workshop we dismantled it and sandboxed the painting, which was shortened, modified and painted in the oven as a factory, we had the crazy idea of giving it a retro look when we placed those huge rolled Pirelli wheels, 15 with Cruce de rayos de época which made it seem robust and compact both we used to call Pitbull and the dog, the inverted front suspension with disc brake and back with gas holins that give an excellent ride very comfortable, the chassis was cut on the back, to the original colin I will return it leaving a cabado, which in the background is made of stainless steel to reflect the lights of the LED’s hidden in it, a detail that I liked a lot as it was, the candy blue was chosen, for the motorcycle with a golden outline around the black lateral drops, back pedals, semi handlebars, handcrafted to give it a sporty handling, dashboard with speedometer and rpm rpm count, brake handles and clutch with regulators of opening and deposit, low mirrors, and a very short exhaust that when listening to pass in front of one looks like a racing car.
Photos by Franco Martínez
bonjour
cette magnifique moto m’a fait rever…! j’aime acheter mais j’ai aucune idée sur son prix
veuillez me renseigner si possible merci à bientot
I have been riding for 46 years (since 5 years old). The first motorcycle that I bought myself was a Suzuki GS 400. If I could have made it look this good, I would still have it. I did learn how to wheelie on it.
Stan
Which ohlins shocks are these? What’s the tire size, thanks
This bike looks very confused and out of place with its sleek racer look but extremely oversized & extremely slow steering poor lean-angle transition front cruiser tire. Inverted forks and $800 shock absorbers extremely out of place when mismatched with tire technology from the 1950s.
And on a small-capacity twin like that, you need as much torque as you can get, and chopping the exhaust a mile shorter for the classic hipster-with-a-hacksaw look is the #1 way to mod a bike to make it have way less engine power (torque).
Throw the correct size rim widths on this for a proper sized sporty set of tires, and fabricate a proper full length 2-into-1 exhaust, & this bike would look and ride in a vastly improved way.
Punch the cylinders out for two Wiseco K844 pistons to make it 449cc, and get some MegaCycle cams ground for it, and re-jet the carbs appropriately, and this thing would transform into a ferocious screaming monster! All hipster style, no substance is what it is in current form. It probably has a fairly plush suspension if it was revalved for the significantly lighter weight of this bike versus the donor GSXR, and if the shocks were spec’d properly for this application, but that is its own me attribute beyond the classic hipster treatment.
The seat and tail do look very proper for a 1970’s/1980’s retro race bike however, but the 1930’s/1950’s mismatched/same size cruiser tires look sooooo out of place with beautiful 1970’s bodywork & 21st century inverted forks. Fashion faux-pas, majorly.
I do REALLY LOVE the seat and tail treatment on this GS400. Incorporating the stock tail shapes and wrapping the seat up on the tail like a true vintage superbike seat gets major style/function points for deviating from the normal generic cafe racer bump stop hump and skateboard deck seat…