1981 gs750 (gs750e) Retro Racer project

[LarsKroghStea]

And I made a little video of the updated gear indicator:

[LarsKroghStea]

The brake lines arrived today, and while they look awesome, I immediately realized I've made a mistake. I totally forgot to take into account that I've converted my front wheel from the original 17" to 19". I was afraid the "over the fender"-wire would be too short. I mounted them, and they have a natural bend towards the rear. The aluminum fender is made out of a pretty thin material, and it seems like there would be atleast 15mm of air between fender and tyre. Can't see why that would not be sufficient.





As a surprise bonus, the lines had exactly the bushings I was looking for I'll remove two of these amd install them on the rear instead.

[Suzukian]

So many goodies in such a short time. As far as the rear fender, the water usually is thrown tangent to the revolving object, which means the fender would have to be longer, but the bottom end could be a bit shorter. It just has to sit a little higher up on the wheel to keep the splash off the bike and your back. .

[LarsKroghStea]

So many goodies in such a short time. As far as the rear fender, the water usually is thrown tangent to the revolving object, which means the fender would have to be longer, but the bottom end could be a bit shorter. It just has to sit a little higher up on the wheel to keep the splash off the bike and your back. .

Yes, I ordered the longest fender I could find on ebay. I won't be doing long trips on this bike, so it will see minimal rain, but I like the idea of not having alle the dirt making a buildup on the swingarm, leading to moist and rust. But I will try to balance that with the looks

[Suzukian]

Nice not to have all the sand and particulates scratching up the rear end either.

[Diirk]

I blazed through your thread and that thing looks insane. Really bad ass.
Overall I'm a little tired of seeing bikes getting chopped up for "caferacer/scrambler conversions" or whatever... but this thing is none of that.
Very well executed. Absolutely brilliant work my friend

[LarsKroghStea]

I blazed through your thread and that thing looks insane. Really bad ass.
Overall I'm a little tired of seeing bikes getting chopped up for "caferacer/scrambler conversions" or whatever... but this thing is none of that.
Very well executed. Absolutely brilliant work my friend

Thank you very much for the kind words

[LarsKroghStea]

So, the fendermounts came the other day. They were thicker than I expected, and I also expected them to have a shim welded to the bottom so they would hide the bolts.
A little like this:

https://blackdiamond-motorcycles.ch/en/product/fender-mudguard-front-bmw-r80-r100-cafe-racer-bobber-conversion/

The ones i recived looked like this:






They were also way too long, but that's of course better than the alternative;



I've not descided on wether I'll shorten and bend them, grind them flat and drill/tap and put them on the underside, or bend them and weld them together as a loop.

I'm leaning towards this look:

https://www.caferacerwebshop.com/en/front-fender-scrambler-with-brackets.html

[LarsKroghStea]

The new footbrackets have arrived, and for some reason the mounting points are different from the ones I have. The rear holes doesn't allign, and is positioned 4-5mm forward and forward/up on the other one.



And the metal tabs on the frame must be flush to frame on '82 and protruding about 15mm on my '81:



There is plenty of metal that can be removed on the inside of the bracket, but it might be necessary to also alter the metal tabs on the frame.. This turned out to be more work than I expected, and I'll save this job for later. I don't regret buying the brackets though, as they are a very nice starting point for making new, nice looking brackets

[slayer61]

That's the way I HAVE to look at it sometimes... I didn't buy a part. I bought a pattern!

[LarsKroghStea]

That's the way I HAVE to look at it sometimes... I didn't buy a part. I bought a pattern!

That's a clever way to look at it

[LarsKroghStea]

Guess who's back..

As this buildthreads 10th anniversary is coming up this december, it's about time I finish documenting the latest mods. And finishing the bike.

This is a list of things to come:

• Finishing the rearsets - I've driven the bike with the original gearlever and no functioning rear brake.
• Upgrading the rear shocks - The Konis are a bit soft, and they have been relocated to my Dnepr-project.
• Keyless ignition via phone proximity (bluetooth)
• Yamaha R1 front caliper swap - to better match the master cylinder bore.
• Updated rear lights - integrated with blinkers.
• New headlight mounts with Motogadget mo.blaze tens.
• LED "cockpit" lights in the top triple.
• Front fender - need to weld new mounts. Have bought welder.
• Maybe rear hugger/fender.
• Relocate licence plate to swingarm
• Mounting pickup for speedsensor.
• Making mount for Motogadget Mini.

And probably a couple of other things that I've forgotten about.
I've been dissapointet a few times myself, when build-threads suddenly die before isssues I'm following are resolved, and I will do my best to answer the questions I left hanging.

[LarsKroghStea]

First; gearlever:



This involved just cutting the original gear lever, turning it 90 degrees upward, drilling and tapping it and using a turnbuckle to make it adjustable.
I've pressed in rubber O-rings to stop it from rattling.

The rearset location on this side is fine without the footpeg mount, so I'm skipping it. This makes it neccesary to fit a spacer on the swing arm bolt. If I can't find one that fits, I will make it on the lathe.

[LarsKroghStea]

Rear brakes:

On this side it was neccesary to use the footpeg mounts. I cut and shaped them to fit better, and I also had to remove the tab on the frame, as it interfered.with the mount.

[LarsKroghStea]

The new rear lights (and you can see the rear brakes in the background).:



They are 3 in 1 lights, with turn signals, low power red rear lights and high power red brake lights. The are extremely bright too.



I drilled and tapped the frame and screwed them directly to it.