GS(X)-250E Motarding.

As it turns out the freaking brake line is about the same size as the existing one, the difference being that the rings that connect to the banjo bolt are at a different angle .

I'll dick around with the brake lines and see what i can come up with, God this is annoying. I will likely have to call by a wreckers close to home tomorrow morning as reducing the length of the suspension is defeating half of the build purpose. If they have something that is at LEAST 93--97cm that would be great, 100cm would be pretty long but give me plenty of slack to work with. We shall see what eventuates.

In other news i picked up the aluminium sheet today from the engineering shop, the near month long delay was that they had to wait until they had a job with similar specs so that they didn't have to tool up the machine to just do my one-off (which would have cost me a bundle more than the $45 it cost me to get the bend done had i been in any hurry to get it done). I'll get around to a test fit & figuring out how the hell I am going to securely mount it once i have the brakes and forksprings figured out.

I also got some steel tubing to space the suspension with so i can cut the springs down about 4cm or so to stiffen up the front end. I also need to change the preload down for the rear shocks & if i can't find my suspension spanner i'll need to drop by a bike shop to get one. I have a rough idea where it is, but i'll need to see when i go to the garage in the morning.

I also took delivery of some bits & pieces I didn't have to complete my arc welding kit. Some easy-start rods as well as a mask, leather apron as well as a safety sheet (to stop prying eyes getting arc-eye). I just have to talk to the neighbours about the logistics of this. I don't want to go doing it within my garage space as said earlier, and have found somewhere else that may be suitable as it is sheltered from rain (good when dealing with insane quantities of electricity) rain, out in the open, i can hang the safety sheet rather easily). I've got a couple of potential options available to me for electricity, we shall see what happens however. Oh and i picked up some steel to do some practice runs with, It isn't galvanised or zinc coated, but it IS powder coated, and i'll have to remove that to get a good earth and join going, certainly that is the lesser of a number of evils.

Picked up a brakeline today that from my approximation/measuring i think is long enough. For $40 it had better be . Assuming the length isn't a problem and i can carry on with the installation, I just have to add a bolt & washer where the line branches (for dual calipers) to seal it off and that's that done.

I can then decide if i should then take it for a test ride & remember to take a block of wood with me, or if i should fire up the stick welder and extend the length of the side-stand first.

Cool, I believe step 1 is a success

Gaiters are certainly on the cards, but I'm happy making do with just the seals for the moment.

No nylon runner as yet, step #1 was simply getting the bastard rolling on it's own two wheels.

Nice work Mike! Definitely a good bit of ground clearance there! Did you end up adding a nylon runner for the chain?

I do have one suggestion though... fork gaiters. As it stands right now those fork legs look a little spindly compared with the rest, and some gaiters will not only fix that but will enhance the "look" somewhat I feel. Just my 2c...

You also need to let me know what you do for the H4 replacement as I haven't had much luck finding one so far, although to be fair I haven't tried that hard.

A few more things to be done, like finishing off sorting the sidestand, the front suspension and brakes, adding the bashplate, a H4 headlamp setup & permanently wiring the third alternator coil on, a couple of electronic gizmo's (nothing fancy, just a relay setup so the headlight doesn't come on until the starter is released & LED lighting on the dash) and a lick of paint (absolutely last on the list of to-do's) and it is complete.


click for fullsized pic

Mate that sounds great to me! Soft suspension should be relatively easy to fix.

You can always talk to someone like Ikon and tell them what you need, they might have something that will suit from a different bike.

Can't wait to see some better side on pic's in the daylight too

New seals, forks fitted. All that needs to be done is to sus out the suspension as it is certainly going to be far too light. I've used information in the following links ( link 1, link 2, link 3, link 4, link 5, link 6, link 7, link 8 ) and figured out that i can cut off a bit over 7cm's worth of springs to bring the stiffness up about 20%, but at first i'll take about half of that to bring it up only 10%. If taking 20% worth off and using 15w oil doesn't help (and i'll be amazed if it doesn't), i'll be following up with wreckers to try and get hold of some other springs. I just need to get a longer brake line as this one is expectedly short of what i needed.

As it is with the new shocks and the forks about 15mm through the clamps (final height through the clamps pending measuring angles & tweaking, etc), the seat height has gone from 78 to 86cm.Also with the slimmer 2-1 exhaust & without a bashplate the ground clearance is up from 14 to nearly 22cm! With a bashplate i expect it to go down to around 19.5-20cm.





Sorry about the dark pictures, but i finished throwing them together at 6:30 tonight, and being winter didn't help with available light levels.

I thought so. And the main reason i was asking is there is a spring loaded seal top AND bottom.

Yep, writing to the top, from the bottom of the seal you should be able to see the lip where the spring sits in.

Hmmm haven't done fork seals myself yet (mine were good and still looked good when I put the forks back together, time will tell) but that looks the right way 'round to me.

What's done so far, I've put it up on the centre stand on a nice tall pile of wood to make 100% sure there's enough clearance, and the front wheel & one fork is currently off. I started assembling it and realised i made a minor mistake by forgetting the spacer ring, but have since taken the fork apart to put it back in. Next up is re-assembly, fitment of the fork seals & associated paraphenalia, putting the fluid in the forks and see how the speedo cable & brake lines fare. I think the speedo will be fine, but i may have to get a new front brake line fabbed up, it's no biggie, but we shall see how it goes.

Which way is up on the fork seal? I'm guessing that this is the correct side to face "up" as it has the writing on the top edge


The presumed "underside" of the fork seal

I'm glad you looked further at that stuff... it's awesome (like pretty much all POR 15 stuff) but if it's moisture curing like the Blackcote (what I used on my frame etc.) they highly recommend not spraying unless you have a proper approved respirator etc. as any of it getting in your lungs will cure there.

That's one of the reasons I brushed the Blackcote on...

Either way, good luck on finishing it up, I'm keen to see it

Going to have a crack at finishing the GSX up tomorrow, but thought i'd throw in a note that I think I've found the topcoat i'm going to use on my tank (and other parts) once i fully prep them inside & out. I'll be using Por-15's Hardnose paint. I'm putting this here for myself to have as a reference just as much as a guide for others.

From reading online it seems that although the guide that come with the paint says to thin it by 10-15% when spraying, even the guys at POR say to thin to 30-40% and to use multiple light coats instead of the two "not too thick, but also not too thin" coats that is recommended in the guide. Which is what i would likely do, given that this stuff is challenging to work with.

[edit]However that being said, this stuff is still nasty to work with and needs to be used with nothing less than high levels of ventilation. I'd likely just do it under my garage door and not in the garage, on a quiet (so no one else is around) low-wind day with a fan cranking behind me to the side to blow fresh air past my face, oh and while wearing a decent filter mask.[/edit]

You know that tank actually looks pretty good like that... almost makes we wanna polish and clear coat mine, but I think that'd hurt the eyes in the sun somewhat...