We are TALL. Whenever I shoot off anywhere, be it UK or somewhere else, at least once a day someone will comment on my height. At home, I’m average at best (heightwise..), abroad I seem to be seen as some sort of giant.
I can easily get my feet flat on the floor on the biggest of showroom enduro machines and a EFE doesn’t feel that big to me. However, “not that big” is something different than actually small..
Now, our friend Blubber, he IS an actual giant, he’s like 9ft something, give or take (not really), so he makes our beloved EFE look like a GS500E when he’s on it. To get his project to somewhat fit with his ample frame, he actually went and cut the frame to pieces, lengthened it, heightened it and widened it, conveniently making room for a GSX1400 motor.
B-King and ZX9 parts were hung into place at their respective ends of the bike, getting everything bang op to date to the modern day, with decent brakes and tyrechoice amongst other benefits, besided looking cool.
Paintscheme in mind, this took another turn when Blubber ended up with very tidy bodywork in the colours of the Dutch flag; choice was made to keep it as is. As it’s a proper longterm project, Blubber didn’t want to do thing by halves and went to work on the engine.
The GSX1400 engine is a good motor on its own, be it a bit boring; 100Bhp or something, not really something to write home about, especially taking the displacement into consideration. However, it’s been found over the years that these engines were built with Suzuki’s age-old Over-engineer Everything ethos, thus leaving a lot of room for improvement.
Some have been turbo’ed with very good results, or you can just go BIG, 1700cc-big. Readily available bits, some even on the used market, make it a viable, if often overlooked, option to go proper mad with this engine, instead of sinking your hard earned into something that’s at least 20 years older, with the added abuse during its life.
Now, as it stands, the bike is running and driving but far from properly finished, as is the same with any projectbike I ever laid my eyes on, I still feel as though this bike deserves the BOTM-medal for this month, because Blubber has taken it this far, with limited space and tools in his little shed (I checked) and still ended up with a bike that for most will look pretty much stock and untouched.
The bike itself is of a standard we rarely if ever see in our little country, all the more reason to celebrate this one. Those that know, will know.
Congratulations Blubber, your 1700-EFE is this month’s Bike of the Month
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