Vetter side cases on an 83 GS 850

[Burque73]

May as well go totally retro and sport the Vetter rear end as well! I'm having to customize the mounting brackets a bit since they came from an older GS. I will make a forward bracket once theyre hanging right.



How much clearance do I need from the exhaust pipes? Do they get hot enough to melt this plastic if they touch?


Any feedback will be appreciated.

[trlsrider]

my gk exhaust are within 2 inches of saddlebags but no signs of excess heat...
but i also have zero rush hour traffic


and btw your bike is sparkling gorgeous

[Burque73]

Thanks man. It always looks better in the pic for some reason. You can't see the bits of rust from the battery vent and crud built up on the engine unless the angle is right.

I've never been crazy about the look of the windjammer but sitting behind it sure is nice! The bags someone said (Grimly I think) will make the rear end look like a starship which made me laugh. I agree they're a little funky looking, but hey I'm really looking forward to the cargo room.

I can get 1/4" of clearance on one side but the other is right on the pipe. If 2" is the target clearance, I'll go back to the drawing board so to speak.

[trlsrider]

i will be home in a few hours and check dimensions ...this was away from bike guess

[mnferwerda]

Don't forget when riding, your shocks will compress (weight and bumps) so you'll need to calculate in some room for that.

[mnferwerda]

Well, ignore that last remark. Exhaust pipes are not attached to the swingarm... duh

[Steve]

Don't forget when riding, your shocks will compress (weight and bumps) so you'll need to calculate in some room for that.

It won't matter how much the shocks compress, the bag to muffler clearance won't change.

What WILL change, though, is how much weight you put in the bag.

The Vetter bags mount in rubber grommets to provide some 'give' when bumps are encountered. Adding weight in the bags will make them sag a bit more, reducing clearance to the mufflers a bit. At that location, it might be as much as 1/4".

I just went out to the shop to check clearance on my son's 1000G. It has the proper mounts, so no adapting was necessary. There is only about 1/2" from the pipe to the bottom of the bag.

He has not reported any problems with heat, but he hasn't done much riding with them in the summer time, either.

Just to double-check, I checked the clearance below my GK bags on my 850. My 4-into-1 pipe ends right about the front of the bag. I had some issues with heat in the bag, so I made an extension to take the exhaust beyond the end of the bag. Seems to be a couple of inches there, I did not measure exactly.



Personally, I would rather not have the bags touching the pipes, so give them whatever small amount you can.

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[Dogma]

He has not reported any problems with heat, but he hasn't done much riding with them in the summer time, either.
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If those pipes were going to get hot enough to make trouble, it would have been the day Dan and I crossed the WV/VA border a couple times on 33. That wasn't a cold day, and climbing the mountains as fast as we could made the bikes plenty hot. Hotter than a day on track.

[Burque73]

Ok, I see my error. First of all I am using a backrest from an 81 850 which is complicating the matter of mounting these Vetter bags which, by the way, were from a 79 850. I was trying to mount the Vetter bracket on the rear bolt location for the frame grab handle under the seat. I see now that it needs to be moved back and raised to where the rear blinker bracket bolts on.

Here's another issue, the backrest has to move up. I'll need to cut the mounting tabs from the backrest and relocate them, then I'll have the clearance under the bags to the exhaust. I haven't been able to closely examine a completed setup in use so I'm learning as I go with this. Plus, I searched for months to find the correct year and model brackets and this was as close as I could get.

Nice job on that extension Steve. And thank you for the input.

[Steve]

If those pipes were going to get hot enough to make trouble, it would have been the day Dan and I crossed the WV/VA border a couple times on 33.

Would that be the day of the "turtle shells"?

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[Dogma]

Would that be the day of the "turtle shells"?

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Yes. In addition to exploring the thermal limits of 10W-40, that day also had a cold and very, very wet portion during which the turtle shell dodging occurred. And a sharing keys portion, because you had his keys and had already left. Fortunately, one of my bike keys worked well enough. Hmmm... I just now figured out that I can "borrow" Brad's bike.

The turtle shell thing is relevant to this thread, for those who don't know the story. The Vetter side bag mount includes a piece of wire that holds the bag on the bike. Using a replacement wire of insufficient strength resulted in the bag falling off after hitting a bump. Several times. It was a lot like playing Mario Kart, to have to keep dodging luggage in the road.

[Burque73]

That turtle shell story is funny. Unless of course it's your bag that came loose.

I had to remove the backrest to mount the Vetter brackets, but they're on!



At least the built in Corbin backrest will work until I can make some mounting brackets for the chrome one with the cargo rack.
I have the nearly 2" clearance to the pipes now too.



For the front support I ran a 3/4" tube to the bottom of the passenger foot rest. It attaches to a 1/4" pin through the support bracket and a cotter pin through that making it easy to remove.





Oh, the chrome blinkers came apart trying to remove them so I pulled these from the parts bike. I actually like the black ones better next to the bags anyway.

[trlsrider]

dont forget to uncover your plate,
one has red thing
other pic has glove
worried the feds are watching ya?

spare bike eh?...mb a seat you might sell?
my base on my seat is way rusted away

[Burque73]

dont forget to uncover your plate,
one has red thing
other pic has glove
worried the feds are watching ya?

spare bike eh?...mb a seat you might sell?
my base on my seat is way rusted away

Haha, not worried really, just cautious. I've seen lots of other pics where the plate is obscured and figured maybe a good idea.

Sorry, I sold the seat and lots of other parts from it.

[bluehwy]

Nice bike, I like the black indicators better too...