GS1000 streetfighter idea w/ picture

[Guest]

Very nice fairing. Does it come with the mounting stuff? 500 bucks? :shock:

 

[80GS1000]

Very nice fairing. Does it come with the mounting stuff? 500 bucks? :shock:

Dunno about the mounting hardware, but for $292 unpainted plus shipping from Japan it better...

Yeah, the prepainted ones are really spendy at $500 (thank Bush for the weak dollar), but the unpainted ones are a little less.

The Airtech GS1000S fairings are around $180 unpainted but I'm not sure the original GS1000S fairing would look good in combination with the suspension components on the bike.

How's the BEAST coming along? Will it be ready in time for July?

 

[Ironriot]

$300????? :shock: Well then again I'm a cheap skate so that makes my brain reel. I'd think you've put a considerable amount of money into your bike so 300 for a nice fairing ain't TOO bad. Although for that kinda money, I'd take a stab at molding my own out of fiberglass and then selling repops of it to people on here :-D

 

[80GS1000]

Heh, if you can make a fiberglass mold of that fairing, DO IT. I'll buy a copy off ya. As for the cost of everything, it might surprise ya how little it really is. eBay's been great for bargains. But I don't do anything halfass, especially when it's fun like building a GS1000.

Alright, so in the interest of making a checklist, here's what needs to be done to finish this build in no particular order. Suspension mods were stage 1.

Revalve/respring GSXR forks and rear shock. Paint forks silver. Stock spring rate on the Gixxer running gear is a bit soft for my taste, and/or I need to go on a diet.

Do a bit more frame bracing. The better suspension has highlighted the need for more bracing due to flex in the frame spine area and in the headstock area. Once the frame welding's been done, get it powdercoated.

Craig Smithy road races a GS1000 over in New Zealand and has reported that his frame is rock solid with the bracing below even when his knee is on the deck at 120 MPH. Very impressive. Braced frame is in the foreground, stock frame is in the background.

Engine rebuild. The motor is pretty tired and NEEDS MORE POWER. It's done 35k miles and is getting kinda wheezy. Top end HP is crap right now, 100 MPH top speed. This will not do, at all. Any ideas on making the ultimate GS1000 engine are more than welcome. : )

So, Wiseco 1100 cc kit, ported/flowed head, new valves, new camchain, Carrillo rods, Falicon lightened/balanced/indexed/welded supercrank, undercut tranny. Web Cams, #110 grind, .395 lift. New Dyna 2000 ignition, new spark plugs, new spark plug wires. New stator. Pingel fuel tap. Black engine paint. 120+ reliable HP expected.

Oil cooler installed. Need to get one of Terry's adapters and some Earl's hoses and fittings.

New 4 into 2 into 1 exhaust made. The lowest part of the frame sits about 8" from the ground, but the V&H eats up 4" of ground clearance and is fairly beat up on the bottom, restricting flow. As is, it was dragging under heavy cornering on the right side. I got a cheap GSXR 1100 header that's 4-2-1, so the V&H will donate its flanges to be welded onto the 4-2-1 header. The 4-2-1 header is only 2" tall at the collector, so with proper design we'll have 6" of ground clearance.

Cosmetics. Yoshi GS1000 paint, blue and white. Yoshi GS1000 seat.
GS1000S style fairing. Ditch the rear fender and use a fender eliminator to mount the license plate.

A proper battery box.

That ought to keep me busy for a while.

 

[UncleMike]

Too late for a vote to stay naked?

 

[80GS1000]

Too late for a vote to stay naked?

As in, no front fairing? Or are you getting fresh? :shock:

 

[UncleMike]

As in, no front fairing? Or are you getting fresh? :shock:

Eh, tomato/tomahto. But yes, no front fairing. It just looks so freakin' sexy without. Really shows off that trick front suspension.

 

[Suzukfan78]

Wow!

Wow!

Your bike is going to be amazing. I would like to do somthing very similar to that. Are you going to dyno your bike when the engine mods are complete? Im curious to see what that engine combo puts out. How is it that your top speed is only 100mph?, that seems so low. Is its final drive ratio high or somthing? The fairing will sure be nice to tuck behind at triple digit speeds. Cant wait to see whats next on your bike.

 

[80GS1000]

Your bike is going to be amazing. I would like to do somthing very similar to that. Are you going to dyno your bike when the engine mods are complete? Im curious to see what that engine combo puts out. How is it that your top speed is only 100mph?, that seems so low. Is its final drive ratio high or somthing? The fairing will sure be nice to tuck behind at triple digit speeds. Cant wait to see whats next on your bike.

We might do a bit of dyno tuning to dial in the carburation and get some HP/torque figures once it's all together. Why engine performance is so anemic right now is a mystery, it should be much better. No idea on the motor's history so a strip down may be revealing as to the cause of the weak HP. It pulls hard to 80-90 MPH and then wheezes to 100. Final gearing ratio is stock at 2.8.

 

[Mark M]

We might do a bit of dyno tuning to dial in the carburation and get some HP/torque figures once it's all together. Why engine performance is so anemic right now is a mystery, it should be much better. No idea on the motor's history so a strip down may be revealing as to the cause of the weak HP. It pulls hard to 80-90 MPH and then wheezes to 100. Final gearing ratio is stock at 2.8.

Sounds like jetting or compression. I would do some plug chops and a compression or leakdown test to see what's up before I pulled anything apart.

As for frame bracing, Tony Foale has an excellent article as well as a bunch of other neat bike stuff on his site:

Articles home page: http://www.tonyfoale.com/Articles/index.htm

The frame bracing article: http://www.tonyfoale.com/Articles/Frame.mod/KawaMods.htm

It should be mandatory reading before taking a torch to an 80's vintage frame.

Great build you have going here, GS.

Mark

 

[80GS1000]

Sounds like jetting or compression. I would do some plug chops and a compression or leakdown test to see what's up before I pulled anything apart.

As for frame bracing, Tony Foale has an excellent article as well as a bunch of other neat bike stuff on his site:

Articles home page: http://www.tonyfoale.com/Articles/index.htm

The frame bracing article: http://www.tonyfoale.com/Articles/Frame.mod/KawaMods.htm

It should be mandatory reading before taking a torch to an 80's vintage frame.

Great build you have going here, GS.

Mark

Lots of great mech. engineering info on chassis design there Mark, thanks for that. Foale's idea of setting up a jig for testing frame flex is a really good idea, might have to look into building one. As Foale points out, that way you can pinpoint where the frame flexes and install bracing to suit.

Last year Ducati won the MotoGP championship on a tube steel, trellised frame beating out all other comers including the Japanese and others on their twinspar extruded aluminum perimeter frames. Goes to show that tubular steel frames can be just as stiff or stiffer than the more high tech frames even in the highest level of motorcycle roadracing.

So, taking a page from the Ducati playbook, it might make sense to install some triangular trellising along the frame's spine and headstock area to stiffen those areas up from forces created by cornering and braking. Properly designed, this would greatly improve the frame's stiffness and add only a minimal amount of weight.

 

[Guest]

I wouldn't mind doing a little bracing on my 1000 before I get it powdercoated, but I'm no good with a welder. I wonder if I could take the frame somewhere and have it done? There are a couple of custom chopper builders in Reno... I wonder if they would do it?

 

[tone]

Just a thought on frame bracing i want to share with you all :-D

When bracing one of these old gs frames its very easy to get it all bent out of shape due to the frame being slightly "sprung" & the heat of welding causing distortion theres a few ways to minimise this including bolting spare crankcases in to retain stiffness, using a jig & using heat sinks (but not so close to the weld as to cool it too quickly) Another helpfull tip is to only part weld the tube on say the left side of the frame then part weld corresponding tube on the right side of the frame & keep swaping between the two until fully welded

in case you are wondering where this info comes from i started my welding carreer bracing these frames for racing in the early 80's with a well known frame maker & still do a few for forgotton era racers today :-D

 

[80GS1000]

I wouldn't mind doing a little bracing on my 1000 before I get it powdercoated, but I'm no good with a welder. I wonder if I could take the frame somewhere and have it done? There are a couple of custom chopper builders in Reno... I wonder if they would do it?

Have you noticed much flex in your frame while riding?

Once you have the design of the frame bracing all set, anyone who's experienced with MIG/TIG welding and simple fabrication should be able to do it. The guy I used for the monoshock mounts and first round of bracing has been doing frame repairs and bodywork on cars for 20+ years. The subframe is rock solid now from the bracing there.

 

[Ironriot]

You guys are making me want to brace my frame lol. And its just a 550. It doesn't go fast enough to require the bracing.

 

[Ironriot]

Just a thought on frame bracing i want to share with you all :-D

When bracing one of these old gs frames its very easy to get it all bent out of shape due to the frame being slightly "sprung" & the heat of welding causing distortion theres a few ways to minimise this including bolting spare crankcases in to retain stiffness, using a jig & using heat sinks (but not so close to the weld as to cool it too quickly) Another helpfull tip is to only part weld the tube on say the left side of the frame then part weld corresponding tube on the right side of the frame & keep swaping between the two until fully welded

in case you are wondering where this info comes from i started my welding carreer bracing these frames for racing in the early 80's with a well known frame maker & still do a few for forgotton era racers today :-D

Well you're the leading expert in frame bracing as it seems. Where are the problem areas for these old bikes? Where would you normally put the bracing in?

 

[tone]

Heres a pic of the sort of bracing i do (its nicked from another site ) the guys there spent ages sorting out what was what & still came up with exactly what we'd been doing for 20+ years :-D

F is not really needed & can cause more hassle than it worth, care i needed when fitting A & C cos they can foul the tank (tack & check before fully welding)

the area around C is the weakest area of a gs or gsx frame, E & D stiffen the swingarm area considerably Although i use a much smaller lighter tube for E

the green D is for a mono conversion but i do mine differently to that

Hope it helps

 

[salty_monk]

I can weld ok... no welding gear here though, mine's all back in the UK.

 

[Zooks]

Looks very similar to the gussets that are welded into rollcages in racecars. I'm originally a metal fabricator too and have done a lot of racecar work. Many 'types' of car racing require that a triangular shaped gusset be inserted into every corner on the cars rollcage. That's a lot of extra welding. Precision is not quite so important in that circumstance though.

I find this sort of stuff very interesting.

 

[80GS1000]

Heres a pic of the sort of bracing i do (its nicked from another site ) the guys there spent ages sorting out what was what & still came up with exactly what we'd been doing for 20+ years :-D

F is not really needed & can cause more hassle than it worth, care i needed when fitting A & C cos they can foul the tank (tack & check before fully welding)

the area around C is the weakest area of a gs or gsx frame, E & D stiffen the swingarm area considerably Although i use a much smaller lighter tube for E

the green D is for a mono conversion but i do mine differently to that

Hope it helps

Thanks for the info. So provided that the bracing shown is done, how stiff and stable does the frame become under hard cornering and braking compared to, say, a modern sportbike?

The subframe bracing plus the new swingarm worked a treat for eliminating flex on the back of the bike. Used to wallow and weave under heavy cornering as the rear of the frame and swingarm would load and unload their flex. Not anymore. \\/

Taken right before it was painted: