GS1000 streetfighter idea w/ picture

[80GS1000]

Really coming along nicely now, good work!!

Thanks, we're in the home stretch now. Another week or so and hopefully the monoshock mounts will be welded in and the bike will be a roller again. :-D
Also need to have a steering dampener bracket, exhaust hanger bracket, instrument bracket, and new battery/electrical mounts made up. The paint on the back half of the frame is missing in a few spots from Mr. Grinder taking off a lot of the stock tabs, so it needs to be repainted.

Then it's wheel and chain alignment time, hook up all the electrical/fuel gear, and hit the start button. Hopefully it'll start back up the first time I try...

As for body paint, I can't make my mind between blue/white Yoshimura replica, red/white Yoshimura replica, or just repainting in the stock ruby red, all of which are good looking color combos. What do you guys think?

The tank and tailpiece are both very sunfaded on top - whoever owned this bike before me left it outside for a good portion of its life.

Gotta have this thing done before the Yosemite GSR rally in July, but ASAP would be even better.

 

[solo suzuki]

me i would just shine it up nice and ride the thing for a season
have fun with it, get all the bugs worked out...
paint will be a nice 'winter project'
all your paint suggestions are winners!

 

[80GS1000]

me i would just shine it up nice and ride the thing for a season
have fun with it, get all the bugs worked out...
paint will be a nice 'winter project'
all your paint suggestions are winners!

True enough about the paint, don't have to do that right now.

Have you decided what to do with your 1100 yet? That's a sweet ride for sure - if you sell it, hopefully the buyer will appreciate all the work you put into it.

 

[Mike_H]

I'm with Solo here. Get it working right, before you put all the time into prep and paint. You DON"T want to have to go back and weld some other bracket over your freshly painted frame. Don't ask how I know this, just Trust me....

 

[80GS1000]

Good advice regarding frame paint - I'll keep that in mind for sure.

 

[solo suzuki]

Have you decided what to do with your 1100 yet? That's a sweet ride for sure - if you sell it, hopefully the buyer will appreciate all the work you put into it.

no i haven't, it's been a crazy week around here work/house/weather/time...
everytime i go into the garage and look at the bike i'm thinkin' this bike's been around for me for a couple of decades...i really don't know.
but if i could find a good home for it, i'd sure could use the money to finance part of the next project...
i haven't advertized it or anything but i realize it's a passion and there's no way any of this is justifiable.
...not even owning one of these old bikes, we're all sick!

or at least i am. somebody hep me!!!

 

[80GS1000]

no i haven't, it's been a crazy week around here work/house/weather/time...
everytime i go into the garage and look at the bike i'm thinkin' this bike's been around for me for a couple of decades...i really don't know.
but if i could find a good home for it, i'd sure could use the money to finance part of the next project...
i haven't advertized it or anything but i realize it's a passion and there's no way any of this is justifiable.
...not even owning one of these old bikes, we're all sick! or at least i am. somebody hep me!!!

I dunno man, I have to think that money is easier to find than another GS1100 with all those tasty mods - it's really one of a kind and must perform great. I'd keep that bike if I were you, but it's really up to you what to do with it in the end.

What project do you have in the works?

Justifiable? Nope - extremely fun - you betcha.

Any sane person wouldn't spend over 7 months amassing and engineering parts to graft a new sportbike suspension onto a 27 year old bike in the hopes of building a custom, agile oldschool bruiser of a sportbike, but I have, and it is indeed a passion. One of the most interesting and engaging things (to me at least) that I've worked on lately. I find myself sketching out parts at work when I should be, *ahem*, working. :lol:

I've reached the point in this project that I want this thing to be done, NOW. It's warm out and I want to ride.

 

[80GS1000]

Making progress...

The shock mounts were fabbed up and tack welded to the frame. I then sat on the bike and wheeled it out to the driveway. The bike is now a roller! It now feels much lighter than before and it rolls so much more easily with the radial tires.

Next, the shock mounts will be blended into the frame, and welded in permanently. Then the frame bracing to support the shock mounts, and to keep it from flexing under the load of the new wider rear tire and suspension setup.

Sag is negligible since we set the preload before putting the weight of the bike on the shock. Rake is set at 24.5 degrees - quick steering, but not too quick/twitchy.

Huge thanks to Todd, my welder/fabricator who's done *great* work.

 

[Commodus]

Wow. I'm not generally a fan of monoshocked bikes, but that looks really really good.

 

[80GS1000]

One more pic - the steering stabilizer bracket and GSXR rearset brake pedal bracket are done too.

 

[t3rmin]

Lookin' good!

WRT the paint colors mentioned earlier: IMHO the gold forks don't go so well with the red paint. I'm thinking blue would jive better but I dunno...?

 

[johnnay]

Kewl!!

Mine is now a roller as well - will post pics one of these days...\\/

Still lots to do though, and it's getting warmer.. I want to ride!

 

[drhermanstein]

Kewl!!

Mine is now a roller as well - will post pics one of these days...\\/

Still lots to do though, and it's getting warmer.. I want to ride!

The "I want to ride" factor is getting more pronounced in my thoughts around my project as well. I'm getting a runner that I can sell easily as soon as mine is done.

 

[drhermanstein]

One more pic - the steering stabilizer bracket and GSXR rearset brake pedal bracket are done too.

I love the bare bones look right now. Hide as much of the electrics as you can. It looks great in general as well. AWESOME

 

[80GS1000]

Thanks for the kudos guys.

I agree, the stock ruby red doesn't look that good with the gold forks. The two "finalists" for paint choices are either red/white Yoshimura replica, or blue/white Yoshi rep - can't decide. The black front fender will need to match whatever color the bike winds up being.

I love the way the '81 Yoshi GS1000 racebike was painted, thinking along these lines:

http://homepage3.nifty.com/utaka/favorite/img/GS1000S.jpg

but then again Wes Cooley's GS1000 looked great too:

http://www.oldskoolsuzuki.info/patrick/projects/knarf_gs1000/clink/

The bike is starting to get that stripped down streetfighter/racebike look that I was after. It's also light as hell right now from stripping off anything that's not absolutely necessary, I'm guessing somewhere between 430-460 pounds with a tank of gas and oil filled up. The newer suspension components are much lighter than their stock counterparts. Will have to get out the scale and measure weight and weight distribution.

The difference in rolling resistance and ride smoothness between the old Pirelli bias ply tires and these new Michelin radials is unbelievable, even when just pushing the bike around in the driveway.

The battery and electrical board will be out of view when the bike's seen from the side. I may hollow out a section of the rear part of the seat to stuff the Odyssey battery in. Since the R/R and other electrical goodies need airflow, the electrical board will be hidden between the stock shock mount gussets.

Detail on the upper shock mount. It's rectangular steel tubing, using a 90s GSXR 750 upper shock mount. 10.9 grade bolts used throughout. Everything was measured and designed with a digital caliper to 0.1 mm tolerances.

4 10.9 grade nuts were welded on the back for strength.

Todd hard at work with the grinder.

The ends of the rectangular tube were then flare cut, and "caps" made of thin steel plate were welded and blended onto the ends of the tube to create the illusion of a solid piece of steel. Then the top shock mount assembly was tack welded to the frame and the top shock mount bolted up. The ends were intentionally left long so a nice fat bead can be laid on both sides of the box to attach it to the frame. X shaped bracing above this shock mount will help dissipate the torsion created by the shock mount. The ends of the box will be blended into the frame so it looks like it was always there, giving it that "factory" look.

 

[solo suzuki]

SCHWING!

 

[80GS1000]

Another angle:

 

[first timer]

i would go 80's blue race colors, we have enough red ones around :wink:
keep up the good work.

 

[Mike_H]

WOW, I'm away for a couple of days, and look what happens. Nice work man. Its turning out very well.

 

[beergood]

i would go 80's blue race colors, we have enough red ones around :wink:
keep up the good work.

As someone who painted his red before going through all the other pics on this site, I agree.

I think I am going blue/white or blue/silver on my next one.

Other than that, I find this one of the most interesting threads going. Good work.