GS(X)-250E Motarding.

[Guest]

Cool... see how I go if I destroy it or not first

BTW, have you thought any more about mounting your bash guard yet? That's one thing still sitting in the back of my mind I've yet to get to...

 

[mike-s]

Not yet, though it is something I will have to get to soon. It's playing second fiddle to getting all this other stuff sorted out first though. On a positive side, I guess I'm now in a position where I can just tack some mounting tabs to the frame, which would be the optimal method, especially if i used some long mounting bolts or just bend up some aluminium to size (latter is better as it'd absorb impact away from the frame), which would simplify things quite a lot over the crappy mounting methods i had in mind.

Though to do that I will have to make sure i remove the battery & fuel tank first . Don't need to get this far, only to set it on fire somehow.

I found a pic of the kind of thing i was thinking of doing,

With the idea of using the 25x7x400mm offcut aluminium pieces as the mounting points.

 

[Guest]

Hmmmm... yeah I really don't want to tack anything to the frame at all, I'd really rather it clamped to the frame.

I also don't want to use engine mounting bolts as I expect it will have to be removed for oil and filter changes, and I don't want to make that process difficult.

The shaping of that plate looks pretty good and is similar to what I had in mind, but it's certainly interesting to see what's inside it.

The bit that's got me at the moment is the sump being lower than the frame rails, but that picture gives me some ideas how to overcome that now.

More food for thought in the back of the brain... I definitely have other things higher on the priority list though as well...

 

[mike-s]

Well I have given the sidestand a couple of coats of rust-kill paint and put it back on the bike. It's working fine, though now there is a possibility that it being a tiny bit too long as the bike is only now about 6-8 degrees from vertical when on the stand, as opposed to the 20+ it was on it originally. Despite this it is still quite manageable. I haven't decided if I'm going to bother putting the same effort into the centrestand however.

For the heck of it i put some of the rust-kill paint on the visible parts of the frame and although it is self-levelling, it is still slightly noticeable. I mean it's a bit iffy, but it is still an improvement on the worn and faded paint underneath the lick of paint it now has. For comparison's sake the only part of the frame i haven't touched up are the swingarm (that's just specs of sawdust on it) and the centre stand, so you can certainly tell the difference it has made.

I'll take her out for a spin & some pictures sometime soon, though i suspect I may have to sell her in the near future (likely after i have shaken all the bugs out).

 

[Guest]

Aside from the possible dodgy length, that looks like it'll do the job nicely. And yes, I do see what you mean about the paint...

So why the possible sale? I thought she'd be a hoot to keep and ride...

 

[mike-s]

Well it comes down to the fact that my wife is pregnant and even though it is early days (due August) I have been told i can only eventually keep one bike. I will be honest in saying that is llkely that i'll be keeping my 900 and selling the plaything (this bike) as this one is a less viable form of day to day transport than my rf.
Although i will be a little sad to see it go once i do sell it, rising costs of 250 rego renewal make it harder to justify thhe little one, especially with how little it has ridden the past two years.

 

[Guest]

Aaah that makes sense! Congrats

Pity it'll have to go but at least you have time to finish her up and give her some exercise before selling

 

[mike-s]

Well, I cut it and took about 17mm of steel out and re joined it after cutting the paint back a couple of cm along the new welded portion. Although it is not as smooth a job a the earlier one, simply due to wanting to get it done tonight I opted not to use the grinder to finish it (and wake all my neighbours) in favour of just taking the burnt /melted paint and the scale/slag off with a wire brush and a bastard file for any noticeable major imperfections.

As expected the paint was damaged by the heat input from the welding, but the surprise was that some areas i thought would have suffered, didn't, and others i thought would be fine, were majorly affected.

Once it cooled down it got another coat of paint.

I have re-attached it to get an idea about just how much of a difference it has made, i think it's looking a lot better now. I'll do the "lean test" once it's all dried off and everything has been re-fitted again.

Had i the opportunity to do it again i would tack weld it while it is in the magnetic mount, let that cool and then try and do the weld continuously by rotating the peice so that i lay a single bead. Unfortunately tonight i did miss the gap a couple of times and weld onto uncut metal, making the weld bigger and uglier than it needed to be, but in reality that was only an extra 5mm of width at a couple of points, but I'll take the positive of it being extra metal for the weld to attach to over the fact it is uglier than it could be.

 

[Guest]

Cool, I think you'll be glad you did it Mike.

Better a bit of an ugly weld than a bike on it's side I say...

 

[mike-s]

well I decided to start on the centre stand. I measured, planned and started cutting.

First thing i realised is the rub plate was not standard, someone added it themselves, and burnt the plate in the process by using too many amps on their stick. They also touched up a nearby weld and left a nice big hole in there when the weld blew out. something else ill have to fix when i get the mig out.

As to my extension i am going to use some rod inside the stand for extra strength across the weld, i will also be using plug welds through the cuts to make sure it holds as i will be cutting the insert (not shown) i am using lengthways so i can size it up to match the diameter of the stand. It may not be explained clearly, but i know exactly what i am going to do and will leave it to pictures to do the rest when i post my next pic update. incidentally i am lengthening the centre stand a mere 15mm as it almost is long enough to be of use at it's current length.

 

[Guest]

Good stuff Mike, I was going to ask if you added that plate yourself but I see it was done for you...

I wonder is that because the stock 2 into 2 exhaust was changed out?

I cut my left exhaust bracket down and painted it as it has the rubber foot on it for the centre stand bump stop. If they moved the bump stop to where that plate is on the stand then that's actually a much neater solution than mine.

 

[mike-s]

The 2-2 exhaust was changed out by me, it had what i suspect was an original exhaust, it was ratty and was little more than a general "guide" for the direction of most of the exhaust rather than a manifold to force it to flow in a specific direction.

That plate was there simply to protect the centre stand from chain damage, i suspect that there must have been an incident of some as there has been a lot of welding done in that general vicinity.

I'm leaving my left footpeg alone as there is always a chance that a pillion may use it one day, and there is a bump stop there that stops the centre stand and sidestand from tangling up. Though i AM going to probably have to make up some sort of a new rubber insert/a mount of some sort once i finish off this current work as the OEM rubber bung has long since fallen off, and with my mods, will likely no longer hit the stand correctly.

 

[Guest]

Sounds like my old stock exhaust after I left it sit for a year or two...

Maybe the PO's chain and sprocket maintenance left a bit to be desired? Might have had a chain break and slap the stand around some...

I think you'll find the location for the rubber will be fine, but will hit the stand on the curved section rather than the foot. My hacked up exhaust bracket with the rubber on it has ended up a little further forward as I unintentionally let it rotate a bit while torquing up the footpeg bolt so it hits on the curved part and it's fine. The centre stand is not retracted in the only pic I have of it:

 

[mike-s]

Oh, well the centre stand has been de-jigsawed and is sitting on a hook drying and will be put on tomorrow hopefully.

My welding was slightly shoddy as i should have just lined it up, tacked them firmly in place and THEN gone over it with the mig. My biggest problem is i still sometimes have problems going off-line with the weld and although i do a great weld, i end up laying a bead on one side of the join instead of spanning it :-\\\. I did manage to splatter up one side as i rushed the job a little more than i ought to. But it was a solid weld and penetrated through the multiple pieces of metal quite decently. I am glad i opted to put a steel plug in for reinforcement with plug welds top & bottom, that should have added quite a bit to the strength across the join and means that i haven't sacrificed much or any strength in making this modification and then grinding the surface smooth prior to painting (frankly some of the welding was little ugly for my liking despite being solid welds)

After the grinding was done (sometimes the focus on my phone camera sucks).

And a lick of paint.

I seriously need to practice more so i can get some sweet beads happening without the excess or surface spatter i managed to get last night.
One thing I shamefully missed is one leg is about 1-2mm from perfectly straight, it's pretty close, but enough to **** me off when i discovered it after welding EVERYTHING.
So much for measure twice, cut/weld once.

 

[Guest]

Looks pretty damn good to me Mike! Still about 1000% better than my attempted welding so far... should work like a charm

 

[mike-s]

No no, it may have been a solid weld, but it was looking shameful with a bit of splatter. I don't mind admitting the fact i used a grinder to pretty it up.

 

[Guest]

No no, it may have been a solid weld, but it was looking shameful with a bit of splatter. I don't mind admitting the fact i used a grinder to pretty it up.

And if you never said a word noone would know

 

[mike-s]

Meh.
Fitted it tonight, the big irony is that i could have made the extension up to a centimeter (1/3 inch) longer as both wheels are just touching the ground now. That's the problem when you measure, but then decide to be conservative anyway.

But at the very least it is now sitting the weight on the centrestand and the rear suspension is unloaded. If i need to sit a wheel off the ground i can just sit it on uneven ground or just throw a plank underneath and we're laughing.

 

[Guest]

Meh.
Fitted it tonight, the big irony is that i could have made the extension up to a centimeter (1/3 inch) longer as both wheels are just touching the ground now. That's the problem when you measure, but then decide to be conservative anyway.

But at the very least it is now sitting the weight on the centrestand and the rear suspension is unloaded. If i need to sit a wheel off the ground i can just sit it on uneven ground or just throw a plank underneath and we're laughing.

Bugger! So close! But yeah, as long as it's stable on there that's the main thing... as you say a board or something will take care of the rest

 

[mike-s]

Springs arrived on Wednesday, will start mucking about with the spacer length & fitting them over the weekend when i finish work.