Grab Rail Added to my T500

 My 1975 T500M is painted and restored to look like a 1973 T500K. One detail that was fitted to the T500K but was omitted by Suzuki on the T500M was a rear grab rail. Although I'm not that likely to carry pillion passengers I wanted the bike to look as much like a T500K as possible so I decided to fit the missing grab rail.

They are no longer available as a new Suzuki part and I've been looking for a used one for about a year now, however they are available as a new aftermarket part made of polished stainless steel rather than chrome plated steel. So I bit the bullet and ordered one last week from classicbikeracks.co,uk. It arrived today and I fitted it this evening. It's a quality bit of kit and really looks the part.

Rear Grab rail prior to fitting

Grab Rail fitted left hand view

Grab Rail fitted right hand view

A bit of a detail job on the Suzuki

 It's the little details that make a difference to a restored vehicle if you are going for an originality look. OK so my '75 T500M has been restored to look like the earlier '73 T500K but that is a better looking colour scheme IMHO.

However, one small item that is missing that would have been present on both a T500M or T500K are reflectors on the front forks. The reflectors themselves are readily available as a pattern part, but the bracket that holds them is not. I did see one single reflector for sale on ebay last week and it had the bracket in place in the photos. This meant I could design and make a couple of brackets.

I bought a pair of reflectors, made up the brackets and mounted them on the bike. The brackets are not at all load bearing so I made them out of 1.6mm aluminium and gave them a polish with a wire brush so they look fairly similar to the originals which would have been chromed.

Bracket in place on a reflector prior to fitting

Bracket in place on a reflector prior to fitting

Fitted on the bike

Fitted on the bike

 

Another little job on the Suzuki

Just swapped out the handlebars for ones that are correct for the later model T500. Mine had early bars with a cross brace fitted by the previous owner. The new ones are the same profile and rise but without the brace. 

New Handlebars and Mirrors Fitted

Handlebars and Mirrors fitted by the previous owner

I also fitted a new pair of mirrors as the previous ones didn't match.

The bike is a '75 T500M but has been restored with the '73 T500K paintwork, both models had the bars without the brace like I've fitted. I'm trying to make the bike look as much like a T500K as I can having already previously changed the rear lamp unit for the classic Suzuki "Dogbone" rear lamp as it had been fitted with the earlier smaller round one by the former owner. It's now looking very close to a proper T500K, I just need a rear grab rail now which was fitted to the T500K but not the T500M, thats a job for the future.