I used Reproduction Decals here in Canada this time for the tank and side cover badges. They sell the same product as Badge Replicas in Australia and so far at least, I’ve alternated back and forth between them depending on which one the currency exchange favours ( Reproduction Decals, even though a Canadian company sells everything in US dollars, but on the plus side, the prices they quote do include the shipping cost) At any rate, when I placed the order, the exchange rate slightly favoured buying in US dollars so they got the order.
The quality from both companies is excellent, and the side cover badges were exact so far as size and colour to what would have been original, however it was a bit disappointing to see that the tank badges were about a 1/4 inch narrower than the original ones as per the photo. Evidently this is due to shrinkage of the casting metal, but really I would have thought that the amount of shrinkage would be simple to calculate and allow for in the design of the mould. At any rate, the result is the new badges can’t be made to fit the original mounting holes in the tank and so the advice was to cut one locating pin off of the back of the badge and then just glue the badge on. Not completely ideal, but it does work.
Seat trim was another problem as currently no one sells this as a separate stock item. The Suzuki seat trim for this model goes all the way around the seat, finishing on both sides about 1 1/2 inches from the front seat edge, and is made from polished stainless steel. Folks like Cool Retro Bikes will sell you trim as a package when you have them do your seat for you, but they became quite rude when I asked to buy just the trim by itself. I explored a couple of other options, but in the end I did what I usually do and just looked for a used seat having good trim – if I also ended up with a good seat pan and some foam as well then I considered that to be a bonus.
The seat was recovered by Calgary Seat Cover who are quite happy to take whatever cover you have and properly put it on your seat pan. While it isn’t a super difficult job to do yourself, I also wanted the foam rebuilt and so for me at least it was just easier to have someone else to the whole thing for me.
It didn’t take long to locate a suitable candidate on eBay and after it had arrived, I just removed the trim, worked out any little nicks or dings in it, and then polished it back up. I mounted it on the seat pan with stainless steel screws, nuts and spacer washers and everything was ready to go !