Advice on '78 GS550 guage mounting

[Guest]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51362130@N02/4724690670/Hey, Here's a '78 GS50E I recently acquired. 20K miles and pretty cheap.

After attending to mechanical issues, I added clip-ons and dropped the headlight and clocks a little, to see how it would look and go. Goes fine, but I'm not sure about the look (don't mention the dirt bike gaiters). Does anyone have any better ideas for guage mounting than this? At this point, I simply bolted the guage cluster under the original grommets with longer bolts and 2.5" spacers, and bent the mounting tabs back a little.

[Bill C.]

Gauges

Looks good from that angle. How about a picture from the side?

[ChicagoBob]

Here's a side view

A little cluttered by leaves, but I added a side view to the flickr link in post #1.

[Bill C.]

Gauges

The gap between the headlight and the gauge cluster looks awkward. Maybe move the light back up a little. The other thing that might work would be individual gauges instead of the cluster.

[ChicagoBob]

Thanks, Bill.

You're probably right. Might remove the guage mount ears and fab a mount from the ignition bolts, and also move up the headlight .

[Tim Tom]

If you like the cafe slimmed down look then +1 on small individual gauges. The stock cluster is clunky. You might be able to hide it behind a small bikini type fairing though.

[DrImodium]

What headlight ears are you using?

[ChicagoBob]

The $14 Mike's XS three-holers.

[Redneck]

Do you have a pic of the front with the small lights? I am trying to slim down the look of my bike also. I bought some mini blinkers to go on the back so that I did not have the bohemoth wings hanging off the back


and I am thinking about maybe going with some LED Mirror turn signals and removing the ones off the forks all together.

[ChicagoBob]

Here's a close-up

[Redneck]

Wow those are almost invisible. How bright are they? I am very interested now. I might use amber lenses but other than that those are awesome. Very low profile and hidden.

[ChicagoBob]

Mini turn signals

They seem to be as bright as ordinary turn signals, even though they use low-wattage bulbs. You need a no-load flasher. They were eBay item 270574946119.

[Redneck]

They seem to be as bright as ordinary turn signals, even though they use low-wattage bulbs. You need a no-load flasher. They were eBay item 270574946119.

I just got mine in today and have gotten them mounted.




Not sure what wattage they are drawing but they are much smaller than the stock ones so I am not sure. I may need to get a no load flasher anyways now. Wife isn't going to like that one. LoL. Hopefully will get them hooked up tomorrow and see.

Paul

[Maddog209]

The bars looks good but I wouldn't worry about the "dirtbike gaiters", I would get rid of the cargo net on the tank first. If the gaiters are installed correctly, they actually compliment the bike very well. Just my opinion since I happen to have a set on my 78 GS550.