GSX 400E -83 chopper

[Flaming Chainsaws]

If I were you, I'd give Mindless a visit if possible. He is a forum member and is currently rebuilding a super awesome bike and is also in Sweden.

I would love to see that bike in person but I won't be going to Europe anytime soon....

Anyways, where's the pictures?

 

[MotoX]

Yeah Psy, though I have to say it's a double edged sword. With the rules in place we can have guys rebuilding in their own garages without having to pay big sums of money to proffessionals that are authorized to do the work. We also don't have alot of accidents due to bad building. But safety comes at a price, either the missing safety or the higher build cost

Of course, on a small bike like mine, it probably would be sufficient with some lower grade tubing I guess, I'm no expert though so I happily do as I'm told from the guys who know and cough up the extra "green".

Thanks Flaming, I'll give his build a look and maybe even visit if I have the opportunity and get the OK from himself

Yes the pictures, right now alot is taking place only in my head, I promise there will be alot of garage porn when I actually start though The methods I use to reserv the geometry of the bike should probably be something you are not to familiar with, so that should be interesting to show.

The plan is to make a triangular frame with the pointy tip behind the rear wheel and the flat end ahead of the fork crown. I'll then put tubes directly taced to the front of the frame in 4 places, 2 under engine and 2 above engine which will keep the front end of the frame in it's current place. I'll then take away the rear wheel of the bike, keep the swing and screw 2 pipes on where the axle should be, this to keep the angle of the rear wheel tensioners and weld these 2 pipes to the triangle aswell.

I guess people normaly make a more re-usable jigg than this, but since I will only build this for this bike I figure I can spend the 45$ on something that I can later just throw away or re-use for smaller stuff on the bike...

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

Gratulationer p? att f? din motorcykel och hoppas att det v?nder sig ut d? planerad!

Subscribed! I want to follow along on this one.
As far as your steel tubing woes, that must be tough! I am one of those spoiled Americans who take for granted certain things that you members from other parts of the world have to deal with. My hat's off to you for going to such great expence and extents to get your dream.

 

[MotoX]

Gratulationer p? att f? din motorcykel och hoppas att det v?nder sig ut d? planerad!

Whoa wait a minute, a Swede in the states ey? Thank you for your support m8 and yeah, the expenses pile up, but at the same time it is alot of fun, so what the hell

 

[MotoX]

So, a stop at the metal shop to order the tubing, the guy said it might take up to 2 weeks, but that should suit me just fine as I 1) have alot other stuff to do and 2) can finish of the jigg in the mean time with metal that he has in the shop.

So for the Jigg, I have actually changed my plan slightly and will probably go for a tighter jigg built on square tubes with round tubes up to different points of the bike. I post this here to ask you if you think this should be strong enough or if there are any risk to lose the geometry in the bike this way?

Right now there is only one diagonal pipe going from a pillar, I will have an equal pipe on every pillar to make them stronger but didn't want to clutter up the image any further.

Should this be ok? Do you think I need gussets inside the 4 outer corners? I don't realy see the need for it with my 2 bridges supporting the engine mounts in the middle.

Anyway, my plan is to weld this jigg after the bikes geometry today. Then I'll secure the front axle and the front engine mount of the bike into the jigg. After that I'll cut the bike in the middle, since the fork crown is still intact I think the front axle mount and the front motor mount should be enough to keep the correct angle of the fork crown, does anybody think otherwise?

Anyway, if you think this should work, then I should be able to weld the new frame onto the rear axle of the jigg and get a whole bike again with correct geometry.

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

Whoa wait a minute, a Swede in the states ey? ...

Nah... Google translator. I use it to sometimes to greet members from other countries to make them feel at home

I will have an equal pipe on every pillar to make them stronger ...
Should this be ok? Do you think I need gussets inside the 4 outer corners?

One or the other should be fine, really see no need for both. Triangulated bracing in either form will add lots of strength.

 

[Flyboy]

Wow, you really are putting a lot of thought into your build, with that attention to detail, it has to turn out to be awesome.
Watching with interest.

 

[MotoX]

Nah... Google translator. I use it to sometimes to greet members from other countries to make them feel at home

Well I tell you it worked like a charm Thank you for that!

One or the other should be fine, really see no need for both. Triangulated bracing in either form will add lots of strength.

Yeah I suppose that should be true. Triangulated bracing can sometimes take up alot of room though Alot of the jiggs you see in shops where the reproduce bike frames I feel you normaly just see them built out of U-frames. Does that mean that the pillars on my jigg could actually just be built out of square tubing like the bottom plate and then forget about the gussets or the triangulated stuff? Or would that be to risky?

 

[MotoX]

Wow, you really are putting a lot of thought into your build, with that attention to detail, it has to turn out to be awesome.
Watching with interest.

Hehe the question is if my follow through can keep up with my preperation Let us hope so for the bikes sake though xD

Actually the reason for my detailing on the jigg is that once I cut that frame in half I realy want it to get back together again without shifting the axles, if I lose those after it is cut up there is no way back again

 

[MotoX]

I did some changes to the frame in the 3D program to illustrate the thought of getting rid of the tube-pillars and go with square as pillars aswell. It feels like it should be quite strong anyways right? If people can go with U-frames then square tubes should be just as strong, or am I thinking the wrong way here?

Also, do you guys think the rear pillar holding the rear axle should be strong enough to withstand twisting from when I weld, or should I reinforce this pillar in any way to keep it from twisting around it's own axle?

 

[Hoosier Daddy]

Tack it in various spots to hold it in position before the final welding.

 

[MotoX]

A long time since something happened here! Yesterday and today I got some time of work (have been working 21 days straight so the time for the garage have been rather limited to say the least). I finaly got the weld up and running and got all the parts for the jigg measured and cut correctly. These are what I have to play with.

After welding the bottom frame together (and using the frame as training, 7 years since I welded that 4 months 2 hours/week ) and welding on the front and rear axle tower I could mount the bike. It sits now in level above the floor and wont move a millimeter so the jigg came out real sturdy!

I first wanted to drill holes and run the axle pipes through the square pipes, but when I investigated the cost of the drillbits I found that the drillbits I needed would run me up to about 150$ I instead carved out half circles out of the square tubes and laid the axle pipes in there to weld it up. This feels sturdy enough so I'll probably do the same with the engine mounts.

The holes that are there in the picture is from a cone drillbit I tried using, turns out those cone drillbits doesn't work very well in 3mm iron

 

[Guest]

I see you're not leaving anything to chance... it looks very well thought through :clap:

 

[MotoX]

Hehe yeah Psy since this is my first build I build everything in the computer before I make it IRL, nice way of doing it in the sence that I am well prepared when I start (I take measurements directly out of the schematics in the computer), the dull part I guess is that level of surprise those improv-builders get. But with some experience, extra tools and spare parts lying around in the future I might do the same thing one day

 

[Guest]

nice way of doing it in the sence that I am well prepared when I start

yeah... that's how I usually START my projects....


... but then the impatience gets the better of me and I tend to get:

that level of surprise those improv-builders get

 

[MotoX]

yeah... that's how I usually START my projects....


... but then the impatience gets the better of me and I tend to get:

Haha yeah, when I get the experience you guys have AND when the metal gets cheaper in Sweden, I will be glad to take the same approach!

 

[MotoX]

Took the opportunity to add what this little project costs in the first post, will update it as I go...

 

[MotoX]

The point of no return has been reached! At 19:12 local time today my old frame died and will leave place to a newly built frame further down the road. I know this upsets some of you with a bike like the one I started out on, but I will do my best to redeem this horrible act by building something nice out of it!

The jigg is doing its work as the frame didn't budge when the subframe got removed.

Here we see big heap of metal that should get replaced by a few pipes, should make the bike alot lighter!

To keep the exact geometry of the bike I welded the tensioners directly to the jigg. Shouldn't be that hard to just cut them lose when the frame is rebuilt.

Started to get rid of excess metal on the tensioners, will have to fill in the gaps on these later to get the right shape against the new frame.

 

[Guest]

looking good !

are you planning to extend the frame?

 

[MotoX]

looking good !

are you planning to extend the frame?

No I'll give that one a pass. Since it is a 400 I like the short look better, otherwise there will be alot of uneeded space in between the rear tire and the engine.