Maintenance log: Suzuki GSX1200S oil-cooled Katana! Low-mounting the Brembo S50 brake master reservoir tank as low and beautifully as possible—custom bracket tuning

Today’s musings (‘ω’)

Yesterday I took our kitten Tama in for neutering—you know, the whole castration procedure.
On the drive to the animal hospital, he was wailing like it was the end of the world, but when I picked him up in the evening… the little guy was surprisingly chipper (laughs).

The vet told me, “His appetite will probably drop after surgery, so please keep him quiet and rested tonight.” But the moment we got home, he was dashing around the room like crazy, and then it was nothing but “Feed me! I’m starving!” at full volume—energy at maximum. He was so tough I couldn’t help but laugh.

The pre-op blood work came back all clear, which was a relief. Still, those detailed medical numbers always make my heart skip a beat—I’d rather not stare at them too hard. Between the hospital trips and shuttling him around, I felt like I was out all day and completely worn out.

Mid-October has arrived, and the sunset in the evening really does come early now. Our place is surrounded by pitch-black countryside with not a single streetlight, so basically I don’t go out at night, and whenever I drive somewhere, I make it a rule to be back in the garage before the sun sets. In dark rural roads, the best approach is to thoroughly avoid unnecessary accidents and trouble.

Only two and a half months left in the year. I’m amazed at how fast the calendar is disappearing, but today I’m steadily plugging away at work at my own pace ( `ー´)ノ

Limited-edition inspection certificate holders for our first anniversary in Chiba (*´ω｀*)

A+B+C strategy for bracket fabrication

Stepped counterbore collar + bent round rod + plate construction.
We’ve also drilled anti-rotation pin holes.

Even for a single bracket or small part, you need a stock of round rods in different diameters and various sheet materials.
And the machine tools required—lathe, pipe bender, shear, drill press, TIG welder… plus a wet blaster just to clean up the weld scale beautifully.
Creating a single small metal part demands this much equipment investment and space.

Without the equipment, you either hand-file it with basic tools over endless hours, or outsource to laser cutting—but either way, the labor time balloons or the outsourcing fees add up, and it all comes back as a cost increase.

Those cool one-off parts you see on social media and in magazines look like they were whipped up in a flash, but behind the scenes everyone’s holed up in the shop late into the night, grinding away with their hands. Custom shops really do run on an almost unimaginable passion and hard work… ( `ー´)ノ

The scale comes off in a flash… I think back on all the trouble we used to have.

The brake master tank is a Brembo S50

I’ve been thinking lately that “a little bit of hassle might actually be better.”

If you make the master cylinder’s separate tank tiny on both sides, the handlebar area looks clean at first glance. But when it comes time to change the fluid, the capacity is so small it air-locks easily, and it becomes a quiet pain. The trendy tiny Kellerman-style turn signals have the same effect—the bike looks tighter—but when you step back and ask, “Does this really suit a 20th-century classic?” you start to wonder if it matches the bike’s character and the spirit of the era.

When parts get smaller and lighter, the bracket can be thin sheet metal, and you don’t need vibration-damping rubber or floating mounts—so from a builder’s perspective it’s definitely “easier.” But in exchange for that efficiency, something essential about the motorcycle’s weight and character seems to get stripped away.

Now that convenient, refined bolt-on parts are everywhere, the irony is that when everyone tries to “stand out” by piling on the latest parts, the streets end up full of identical cookie-cutter bikes.

Without getting swept up in trends or convenience, you have to ask: “What world am I really trying to express with this bike?” Both builder and rider need an unwavering vision, or you’ll get lost in the customization maze (´ω｀)

We got the inspection today, so now it’s just maintenance until completion!