1981 GS450E Rebuild

[landshark]

Matchless,
They have been very slow lately, there is a thread on here about it. Something to do with new products?
I ordered some parts a couple of weeks ago and it was a slow process, but they came through, and cheaper than the others.
Someone recommended a PM to Ashley here on the forum, just do a search on Boulevard and you should find it.

 

[Tim Tom]

The windscreen looks brilliant mate. Put it on now!!

I'm not so sold on the side covers though. They don't flow with the bike at all, especially unpainted. I noticed you still have the flanges and gromits to house the OEM side cover. One option may be to fit these on (after they've been painted to match of course!!)

However, I think it would be pretty easy to cannibalize some hinges, and a little key lock, and just create either a solid hinge top, or even a pair of some metal straps to lock the battery in. You could attach some of your rubber to the bottom of the straps to protect the battery. Simple, and visually sparse, but providing good security for your battery.

I also agree with Spyug about the fender mounts.... I didn't want to say anything earlier because I thought you'd address it in time. However I think you ought paint your fender extensions black or maroon. The eye does draw right to them

 

[Matchless]

Matchless,
They have been very slow lately, there is a thread on here about it. Something to do with new products?
I ordered some parts a couple of weeks ago and it was a slow process, but they came through, and cheaper than the others.
Someone recommended a PM to Ashley here on the forum, just do a search on Boulevard and you should find it.

Thanks, must have just searched before that was posted. Will watch that thread now and see if there is any response.
It quite amazing how a lapse in service can spread so quickly around the world these days. Its a pity they do not make contact available with their marketing manager on their site.

 

[Guest]

Pete,
Your bike looks great man! If it works for you leave it as it is and ride!

Just a quick question I need to order something from Boulevard Suzuki and I cannot seem to get it sorted and they are not replying to my mails.

I seem to recall that somewhere in these thousands of posts you mentioned how it works when ordering internationally from them.

Much appreciated.

Thanks Andre! I'm still stoked that she's done and I can ride her every day

These last little details are annoying me and I want to knock them over but that's it... after they're done she's done and I can move on

Matchless,
They have been very slow lately, there is a thread on here about it. Something to do with new products?
I ordered some parts a couple of weeks ago and it was a slow process, but they came through, and cheaper than the others.
Someone recommended a PM to Ashley here on the forum, just do a search on Boulevard and you should find it.

Yes, definitely been a bit slow of late. I think they're only a small shop and Ashley is the key parts person. I suggested to someone having delays to PM Ashley on here (that's her screen name) and apparently they got an almost instant response to their PM. Might help...

The windscreen looks brilliant mate. Put it on now!!

I'm not so sold on the side covers though. They don't flow with the bike at all, especially unpainted. I noticed you still have the flanges and gromits to house the OEM side cover. One option may be to fit these on (after they've been painted to match of course!!)

However, I think it would be pretty easy to cannibalize some hinges, and a little key lock, and just create either a solid hinge top, or even a pair of some metal straps to lock the battery in. You could attach some of your rubber to the bottom of the straps to protect the battery. Simple, and visually sparse, but providing good security for your battery.

I also agree with Spyug about the fender mounts.... I didn't want to say anything earlier because I thought you'd address it in time. However I think you ought paint your fender extensions black or maroon. The eye does draw right to them

Thanks Tim! Gotta bath her today and check the tacho out, and once I've done that that screen is going on

And I agree with the side covers, the way you said that nailed it for me, they're just not right. Perhaps in black as the other guys said may help them blend in but I still don't think it's right, and I think I'll stick with my plan B of a cover for the battery box, and a hinge along the lines of what you suggested is what's in my mind for that.

I'll endeavour to get some more photos once I've bathed her today out in the beautiful bright blue sky we have for a change (hope it hangs around) and you can see what you think of the front guard mounts then... I still say it's the flash in the garage that highlights them in those photos

Thanks, must have just searched before that was posted. Will watch that thread now and see if there is any response.
It quite amazing how a lapse in service can spread so quickly around the world these days. Its a pity they do not make contact available with their marketing manager on their site.

Yes indeed Andre, it can be very frustrating and I think they should fix that issue as that's the sort of thing that can hurt a business, especially if word of mouth says they're no good.

 

[Guest]

Ok, sussed out the tacho situation today and it's a little odd, but I think it comes down to the fact that I should've ordered the other cable instead of the one I got... maybe... there's two on the fiche and the one I ordered doesn't have the rubber cover on it that my original one did, but I'm wondering now if the bits that engage with the tacho drive and tacho are a bit shorter or something.

I found the cable at the engine side was only finger tight, so thought that might be the issue, but tightening down didn't fix it and the square drive for the tacho wasn't spinning.

Pulled the cable off, cable not broken.

Started her up and the tacho drive is spinning away happily, so the drive isn't broken.

Put the cable back on and tightened down, not spinning, gave it a push and it started spinning. Plugged into the tacho, no go.

I reckon for some reason it's not engaging properly which is just weird... oh well, roll on the Acewell! Fingers crossed for next pay day.

Anyway, aside from that, I got a spit and polish done today and the fly screen mounted up. Took her for a short run to get the chain warmed up for a lube and stopped on the way for some pic's:

Fastest I could get to was 70kph so a bit hard to tell if the fly screen does anything useful, but it held together and didn't rattle or anything annoying like that which is always a good start.

 

[Tim Tom]

Pete,

The little screen is looking great! Also your right about the front mudguard riser. In the sun it doesn't look so out of place at all.

Also whats that orange rectangle thing hanging by your chain guard?? Registration of something?

 

[cowboyup3371]

Yea, I was going to say the same, your inspection sticker just looks out of place down there. Is that where it's supposed to be or can it go someplace else, say under your flyscreen?

 

[Guest]

Pete,

The little screen is looking great! Also your right about the front mudguard riser. In the sun it doesn't look so out of place at all.

Also whats that orange rectangle thing hanging by your chain guard?? Registration of something?

Thanks Tim! Very happy with it

I think that's the big downside with all my pic's being taken in the garage late at night, the flash really doesn't give a true representation of how things look, so it was really good to be able to get some natural light photos yesterday.

Yep, that's my rego sticker... ugly but I gotta have it...

Yea, I was going to say the same, your inspection sticker just looks out of place down there. Is that where it's supposed to be or can it go someplace else, say under your flyscreen?

Scott it's gotta be on the left or rear and easily visible, so that's really the only place I can put it to keep it visible and try not to spoil the lines too much... you'd think a number plate would be enough given that's all the police or transport department use as a reference anyway...

 

[Englishman]

Looking good Pete. Have you had the metal polish out? I don't remember the engine cases having that mirror finish before - especially on the clutch side. The fly screen was a real touch of quality DIY too.

Mark

 

[Guest]

Looking good Pete. Have you had the metal polish out? I don't remember the engine cases having that mirror finish before - especially on the clutch side. The fly screen was a real touch of quality DIY too.

Mark

Hey Mark, yep, spit and polish yesterday... they're not quite mirror polish though, they just look that way because there was actually some blue sky and sun for the photos They do scrub up well though...

Cheers for the compliment too, very happy with how the screen turned out and keen to get some more km's on her now and see if that gets a little turbulence off my chest up around the 100kph mark.

 

[Guest]

And on another note altogether, I got department of finance approval today to get an Acewell gauge, which should mean no more bouncy needles and non-working tacho at last!

I hope to order that tomorrow and hopefully the tacho drive blank of plate from the 1100S will fit and I'll try to pick that up locally from the dealer near work too.

Oh, and I started doing some planning for my enhanced battery box and got a diagram with some rough measurements up on the white board.



(A) will bolt to the rear two bolts holding the battery box in and two hinges will get rivetted on the top.

(B) will be the lid and I'll stick some rubber underneath so if worst comes to worst and it did happen to touch the + terminal, it will touch rubber instead of aluminium. The lock will mount at the front (sketched in green) and engage with (C).

(C) is a bracket that will bolt to the front battery box mounting bolt, and will have two parts at the top; one to let the lid rest on and prevent it touching the top of the battery, and a second one a bit lower down which is where the lock will engage.

All will be made out of the 2.5mm alu. I have sitting around to give it some strength and to start with I'll go for the brushed look again. If it stands out too much I'll have to paint it black.

Alternatively, I can get a bit of the 1mm alu. and replace the black plastic side piece so it all looks the same.

I also had a different thought again today... oval number plates instead of side covers, although the left one would have to go under the pipe for practicality which could make it all look a little odd...

 

[Guest]

Just ordered the Acewell, so as long as they're in stock at the dealer I should have it later this week and can start working out how to mount it and wire it in.

My only confusion right now is how to make the single indicator light on the existing setup work with the left/right indicator lights on the Acewell. I'm sure it won't be too hard once I get it sorted...

Oh, and mounting the sensor on the front fork/caliper should be interesting also, not much room down there...

 

[Matchless]

Just ordered the Acewell, so as long as they're in stock at the dealer I should have it later this week and can start working out how to mount it and wire it in.

My only confusion right now is how to make the single indicator light on the existing setup work with the left/right indicator lights on the Acewell. I'm sure it won't be too hard once I get it sorted...

Oh, and mounting the sensor on the front fork/caliper should be interesting also, not much room down there...

Pete,
I fitted a Sygma to a BMW100. The actuater magnet was a problem, so I gutted an old hard drive which has two rare earth magnets. They are just about impossible to pull off with your fingers and used 2 part epoxy and glued one to the brake disk. The pickup needed a small bracket. It has been working fine for more than a year now. Ran the wire along the speedometer cable, you may want to use the brake pipe.

 

[Englishman]

Just ordered the Acewell, so as long as they're in stock at the dealer I should have it later this week and can start working out how to mount it and wire it in.

My only confusion right now is how to make the single indicator light on the existing setup work with the left/right indicator lights on the Acewell. I'm sure it won't be too hard once I get it sorted...

Oh, and mounting the sensor on the front fork/caliper should be interesting also, not much room down there...

Pete
See if there is room to put the magnet on the rear sprocket and mount the sensor off the back chaingard brecket. You will need to lengthen the cable. That's what I'm hoping to do with my Acewell. That way there is no wire running down the forks.

Mark

 

[Guest]

Pete,
I fitted a Sygma to a BMW100. The actuater magnet was a problem, so I gutted an old hard drive which has two rare earth magnets. They are just about impossible to pull off with your fingers and used 2 part epoxy and glued one to the brake disk. The pickup needed a small bracket. It has been working fine for more than a year now. Ran the wire along the speedometer cable, you may want to use the brake pipe.

Cheers Andre, I'm trying to avoid sticking magnets on myself as I just can't bring myself to trust myself to do a good job of that... even though I'm riding a bike I rebuilt from the ground up... go figure

Anyway, those magnets would definitely do the trick and I'm hopeful I can get it sorted with the magnetic bolt I'm getting with it.

Good tip on running the cable with the brake line too, I might just do that

Pete
See if there is room to put the magnet on the rear sprocket and mount the sensor off the back chaingard brecket. You will need to lengthen the cable. That's what I'm hoping to do with my Acewell. That way there is no wire running down the forks.

Mark

I'm gonna stick with the front wheel to start with Mark and will do the back wheel if I can't find any other way... I think with Andre's suggestion above I should be right with the wire down the brake line, but I definitely understand why you don't want to worry about running a wire down the forks as such.

 

[Redneck]

Hey Pete for whatever reason my post did not make it but let me say the bike looked awesome out in the Sun.

Which Acewell did you get anyway. The black digital one?

Paul

 

[Guest]

Hey Pete for whatever reason my post did not make it but let me say the bike looked awesome out in the Sun.

Which Acewell did you get anyway. The black digital one?

Paul

Cheers Paul, it was definitely nice to be able to get some half decent ones for a change.

I went with the base model 2853 which has the chrome fascia. Has all the functionality I could ever want and after the seeing the photos Mark posted in your multifunctional gauge thread it convinced me that's what I needed.

 

[Guest]

Well my Acewell was marked as despatched today and it's supposed to be coming express post so in theory it should be here tomorrow if the post office doesn't do their usual trick and not put a card in the PO box to tell us it's there...

And between last night and tonight I've got the battery box cover pretty much ready to test fit.

I need to re-route the trickle charger battery + connection as it will interfere with the lid where it is currently, but that shouldn't be too hard to do.

So this is what I have at present:



I've done no smoothing/neatening/appearance stuff, just cut, drilled, bent, and rivetted the hinges onto the rear bracket.

The next step is to mount up the two brackets and work out if the lid will open and close without interference and mark out the holes for rivetting the hinges on.

Then I can figure out the hole position for the lock and get the lock mounted, then give it a bit of a brushed look and stick some rubber underneath the cover and it should be good to go.

 

[Englishman]

Man arnt you the busy bee. Fly screen, battery box with a lock.......what's next?

Wish you would reconsider putting the Acewell sensor on the rear wheel. You could do my R&D for me and shorten my build time line
Mines still in the box!

Mark

 

[Guest]

Man arnt you the busy bee. Fly screen, battery box with a lock.......what's next?

Wish you would reconsider putting the Acewell sensor on the rear wheel. You could do my R&D for me and shorten my build time line
Mines still in the box!

Mark

Well... obviously the Acewell is next

But then there's the rear carry rack, then that should make her "complete" I reckon... at least complete enough to move on to the Duc and just enjoy riding the GS

Looking at the Acewell... I reckon it should be relatively simple on the front fork... if it doesn't work out I promise I'll think about the rear wheel ok?