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1981 GS450E Rebuild

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
Pete, i am sorry mate, just my opinion but that front mudguard just looks so wrong, it does not suit the bike at all
 
Do you have a photo reference for the inspiration for the front-end? Has kind of a dual-sport look.
 
I think an original guard mounted up a tad higher would look good, that guard looks to long and it sits up way to high, i think chopping a good 5-6 inches out of the plastic one and lowering it will give you the look you want, as it sits in the pics thats higher than a trail bikes front guard.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys, and yeah, I tend to agree that it's just too high and just don't look right.

The problem with the stock guard right now is that if I put it on (even in the stock position), it will impact with the right header when the forks compress, so that's definitely a no go.

Maybe trimming the dirt bike guard like Josh suggests and putting it on top of the fork brace I intend to bend up will be the best bet... much easier to trim a plastic guard than the stock metal one!

The URL is a link to an inspirational pic of a Triumph Scrambler, and you can see how the front guard is raised minimally, but enough compared to stock to give it a good dual purpose look, which is what I'm trying to achieve...

http://mrmoto.smugmug.com/photos/224361590-L.jpg

You can see it has a sump guard, hand guards, and mesh headlight cover, all things I'd like to do as well...
 
thats what i would do, make the fork brace slightly higher and trawl ebay until you find a mudguard that you like, plenty of plastic guards about, then bolt it to the fork brace, you can easily trim the rear to clear the headers if needed
 
Yeah definitely need to do some more playing around, should have half a garage free again on Tuesday actually as I'll be home to get my tax done.

Hopefully I'll get to look for some aluminium for the brace as well, which reminds me (yet again) that I need to measure up for the sump guard/bash plate and see if I can get enough to make that up as well.
 
I just rediscovered an image I'd saved to my PC quite a while ago.

Initially it was for exhaust ideas, but I just noticed the fork brace... I hope I can make one look this good! I think I'll try to make it extend a bit higher though to endeavour to mount a guard to it as suggested...
 
Ah, merely mounting a brace where the front fender used to be. Confirms my thoughts that the frontone acted as a lightweight fork brace after all.
 
mike-s said:
Ah, merely mounting a brace where the front fender used to be. Confirms my thoughts that the frontone acted as a lightweight fork brace after all.
Click to expand...

Well... apparently not everyone agrees... however if your front guard is like mine, then flip it over and you'll see an extra bit of bracing tacked underneath.



I started a thread on the topic, and the general consensus (sort of) is that something is required, hence why I'm tackling the making of a brace...

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=178508

Woodsy said:
Looks very similar to my stock one, although thats abit rounder.
Click to expand...

I keep forgetting to ask if you have a pic of that, or if it's just part of your front guard like mine?
 
Got a bit of time in the garage tonight, although it's a full house in there so no good full side on shots could be taken, but I did do some more playing with the front guard and did up a bit of a template for the fork brace.

Guard on back to front a bit above the stock position:



I know the front section looks a lot better like that, but doing something with all that excess at the rear is a different story, especially given that it flares out right behind the forks there, so it could look a little dodgy...

So round the right way at about the same height:



The good thing is I did some quick measuring, and I can very easily take 5 inches off both the front and rear, which I think should be enough to do the trick...

I really need a full on side shot of the whole bike to see if that's right or not though, hopefully Tuesday for that.

Then I did a mock up with cardboard of how I think the fork brace will work which also let me get an accurate size of the aluminium I need to try to find on Tuesday:



Then I whacked the guard on over the top of the brace and it should be able to mount on top at a good height I think:



Once again I need a real side shot to see for sure.

So I now have the dimensions of the brace up on the white board:



And I did a very quick and dirty measure for the sump guard/bash plate, and a rough idea of how it might mount up so I can look for some aluminium for that also:



So what say the masses? Am I on the right track now or is the jury out until I get some side shots and maybe do some GIMP work to shrink the guard like I could cut it?

Oh, and I also have budget approval to duck into Jaycar and pick up the auto multimeter which includes dwell angle on Tuesday. Fingers crossed they have one in stock!
 
Cheers Josh! Still reckon I'll need to trim, but I can worry about that after sorting out the mounting etc.

I'm keen to see how it looks with a full side on view though...
 
yeah heaps better

yeah heaps better

bit of a trimm both ends, and its a goer.

Before comitting the brace to metal, you might want to pop the springs out of the shocks and see it dosnt hit at full compression, and every which way.

Set of knobbies, and we wont see you for dust. :p
 
Cheers John, and yeah, good call on the spring removal. If I get the Ikons soon enough then I'll have to do the spring swap anyway, although I'm pretty confident removing 5 inches from the rear will make it aok.

With the arc of the steering, it looks like if I clear the horizontal right header, the left header will be fine, but I'll definitely need to check those things properly first...

As to the knobbies... yeah bring 'em on!
 
Rightio, tax done for another year, picked up supplies, and got half a garage to do another mock up, but that's all I'll have time for this avo as I have to get moving shortly and take care of some other stuff.

Anyways...

Picked up the auto meter from Jaycar, heaps of stuff that will come in handy:



Popped into Capral aluminium at Zillmere and picked up a 400 x 1200 x 2.5mm sheet of aluminium for the fork brace and sump guard. Ideally I wanted 3mm, but for $20 I can't complain! Should be plenty sturdy enough anyway if I bend it right:



Then time for the mock up. I managed to tape it in almost the right place, but it kept sagging forward a little, so it will probably end up maybe half an inch higher at the front at the most.

The masking tape front and rear is where I can trim it back:



I reckon that's at least good enough to give it a trim and a mount once the fork brace is made up, and if it looks like crap I can rethink then.

Also, John, as to the clearance on the rear, if I trim it there then there is no way that's hitting against anything even full lock left/right and definitely not with the forks compressed, don't even need to drop the springs to see that which is even better.

And on a side note, discovered there's a Dynatek ignition setup to suit these twins apparently. The DS3-3C for $US309.99 is listed as "Dyna S Ignition System for Suzuki GS 400 Twin w/ Coils", so I expect it will be fine for the 450's as well, but if I was to go down this (expensive) path, then I would definitely be clarifying first. Interesting that it comes with the coils too, so no using the OEM ones.
 
Did a bit towards the voltage monitor tonight, got LED's mounted up ready to solder to see if the circuit works or not:



Once that's done I can get to calibrating and mounting it, then it will be somewhat useful...
 
Figured I'd best do something about the fact that there was no way to hook a car battery up to the bike to start her up given I haven't decided where the battery is going or what sort of battery it will be yet.

So, did up a bit of a jumper to go from the bullet connector on the inline blade main fuse over to the short lead on the starter solenoid, so I can just hook a jumper cable to that, being ultra careful it doesn't short against anything:



Sorry for the dark photos, but the camera batteries are nearly dead again, so had to do without the flash tonight.

At some point I'll need to hook the car battery up to make sure everything still works as expected so there are no nasty surprises waiting for me.

Week and a half to go... not that I'm counting...
 
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