"Prettiest" GS 750 chop.

[verde]

This is my Dirtbag build for 2011. I was in the middle of moving, so 30 day build time was cut down to 2 weeks.

Bike: $450
Steel: estimate ~$100 worth, lots of leftovers from other projects.
Lexan: $38
Paint: $25
Nuts/Bolts/Misc: ???

I wanted to revisit the "floating seat" style hardtail I did on my last build, but for 2-up and no seat suspension. Also wanted to make the top tube of the hardtail horizontal or even angled the "wrong" way. I also have a square tube fetish.

On with the pics, the starting point(note: JUST moved and have not had the time to clear out a decades worth of abandoned roommate junk and claim the garage as mine)

PO's awesome gas cap:

Smiling 'cause this is the easy part:

Real life headlight fluid!

Time to get down to business:

Checking out the new stance at the end of the day:

Setting the rear axle height and getting a little too eager to start cutting:

Finally found a use for my creeper:

 

[verde]

Notching the .120 wall 1" square into the stock frame:

End of day 2

Trimmed into swing arm and DOM tubing from last project is a perfect fit!

Long Notch on frame end of bottom tube:

Making template of long notch so I have most my figuring done already on second bottom tube.

Reverse template and transfer through with center punch, cut out, and finish shaping:

Bottom tubes ready to be tacked in place:

Iron filings show where my welding cables lay while welding up the hardtail:

End of day 3:

More to be posted latter tonight.

 

[verde]

This sums up day 4 of the build:

Then I trimmed some more out of the frame to make mounts for the coils like this:

So that they'd be out of the way for these:

Tweek with hammer, test fit, repeat:

Tacked in place:

Starting to take shape at the end of day 5 with gussets and tail section tacked up:

Day 6 I burned in the frame gussets, including a little filler sliver since my source piece I split diagonally for the two sides was just a c-hair too small:

And added some more to the tail section as well:

Painted the engine cradle so I could get the engine back in and do the exhaust. Gotta do things like this with the time crunch I was on:

 

[verde]

Making factory 'Y' work with new hard tail:

Crazy long mock up:

Tacked up and pulled off:

Welded and a few coats of BBQ paint later:

 

[Erki]

Sweet build so far. Keep it comin.

 

[verde]

MDF jig for the seat risers:

Some action shots:

Same jig for the passenger section, just skinner holes for #'s 3 and 4:

Added middle piece and ready for grinding:

Top half gets paint:

Time to look at the wires:

Hot wire test:


Trailered north:

Hideous desperation wiring done morning of:

 

[verde]

Staging area at the beginning of the challenge ride:

Made it! Then turned my clutch into butter on my first burnout:

She did the whole 100+ miles with me, strapped to the teeth with bottles of gasoline!

Fellow builders voted it the "Prettiest." Check out the award! All awards this year were designed and made by local artist talbot de vil

Now I can take my time getting a new clutch, figuring out a gas tank, painting the fork legs to match, and whatever else.

 

[cowboyup3371]

What exactly are the poles from the exhaust? Are they part of the exhaust too?

 

[wkmpt]

I like it.

One question, though. Where do you put the gasoline in?

 

[MotoX]

Haha oh man this is a lovely build! Honestly I don't like much of the tailsection, but the spirit of it is awesome! Keep it up and keep feeding us the garage porn!

 

[Mop Bucket]

Congrats on the award. Now your girls is going to have gas and a major award attached to her. Fun to watch you build.

 

[verde]

Thanks for the comments, guys. This build was a blast

What exactly are the poles from the exhaust? Are they part of the exhaust too?

Yeah, if you look at the build pics closer it's pretty clear. Here's the video of the hot wire test. Idles real quiet but scream like a cessna when I open it up. Weirdest thing about having them that far back is sometimes I though I was another rider was coming up behind me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojBeVePch-g

I like it.

One question, though. Where do you put the gasoline in?

Another act of desperation given the time line. Note the lawn mower's gas tank bungied to the handlebars. Got maybe 15 miles per fill, hence the bottles of gasoline my girl was carrying.

 

[DAConover]

Any chance that orig seat would fit on my '80 550L?

 

[verde]

I'm not sure about fitting an '80 550L. I'm still visiting friends in SF but can take some careful measurements and pics once I get home.