Pix of Ron Bayless' Forward Controls

[ron bayless]

hERE i AM AGAIN.Someone on this forum posted forward controls on his bike recently.it is very possible to do, just not the way i was doing it.I wanted to make splined couplers for the rear brake to stick out 3 inches to clear the right side engine cases, but never wanted to spend 2200 dollars for the cutter to do it.But at least 2 guys here recently did it a different way.The brake lever extends straight down instead of straight forward about 5 inches or so and has the linkage hooked to that in the back and thwe way i did it in the front using the former crash bar mounting holes.the controls themselves is like making a door hinge.the inside "pin" is welded immobile, and the outer tube rotates around it with its travle in a circle wise fashion being limited byt having linkage conncected to it.Mount a handmade lever/rod sticking out from the moving part for you fut to ress down on to activate the rear brake and a peg on the end of the immoveable rod part and you have the right side.repeat for the left.only on the left all you do is turn the shifting peg straight down and cut the rubber peg off.drill a hole in its end, connect the linkage to it in the back and to the crash bar site in the front like you did on the brake side.Look at any harley.you see on the shifter side a lot of linkage going up and over the engine case.Its the same thing on the gs, only you go under the cases.I myself would like to see some pics from the guy that recently did this.His bike was either a 850 or 1000.Ron.

[jmlcolorado]

Im working with a guy now that has an 1000 and he's fabed together a setup on his (the way ron discribed).

I will talk to him and see if he'll let me post some pictures up. I have some pics already but i want the okay from him first.

Their really just thrown together to function rather then looks but a little more time into em, they could look real nice.

Check back tomorrow night and ill hopefully post up some pics of them.

I was just interested in this thread cause it seemed you (ron) were really spending alot of time on your setup and was hoping the outcome would have been great. Im sure they woulda been the best looking forwards on this side of mars except the cost.

Im always interedted in something a little different then "all the other guys" and personally i love the function and look of forwards.

Since im building a chop, they would go great with my build. Just figured i'd check to see if anyone had put the brains into em and was "mass producing" them.

I commend you ron for spending all that time and effort into your design and its too bad nobody could aid you without such high costs

[ron bayless]

Thanks.I made 6 trips to dallas,one to midlothian,my buddy and i committed to the 2000 dollars for the cutting tool, then our cashiers check was lost in the mail for 30 days, so we decided to call it quits.one guy here said he got some that were made for hondas and kawasaki that he made adapters for somehow.See, the way i see it is this.The gs 1000 electrics were crap, i never understood how to troubleshoot them or fix them.But the motors are in my opinion the best inline 4 cylinder motorcycle ever made.They look complicated, but they arent.I would still like to have anther one.Only i would bastardize it too.Forward controls,z bars,flush turn signals,etc.Cruise along in 5th gear about 50 miles an hour, then roll on the throttle.you will swear you are in 3rd or 4th gear they have so much pull.Thats why i liked my gs so much when i had it.But for touring, for me, my ultra classic rules.

[jmlcolorado]

Yeah i had an 89 1100 shadow for a while. My second bike. That bike was great for touring! Huge thick seat, giant tank. It was great. Ive been wanting another bike for quite a while but lack of funds held me back. Thats when i ws offered the FREE gs 1000!!. I went and looked at it in the guys garage. It hadnt run in over nine years and it still had 2 gallons of fuel in the tank!!!

I had to stare at it for an hour before i said yeah. It was ugly and no where near my style of bike. I took it thinking i would do minor mods to it just to make it presenatble. Then one thing led to another and now its all chopped up.

Two weeks later my buddy (neighbor) got the same bike. Literally two months difference in the build dates! We picked his up from some kids that did a little bobbering to it. We looked it over and found the carbs were trash. So offf to rebuild em. Looks like they were trying to use a drill bit to remove the jets!! Peices of the carb body were broken and missing! It was a mess. Finally got em done and put em on the bike. Got it fired up and i HAD to ride it.

These things have great torque! Ive ridden it around the neighborhood a bit and im impressed. REALLY imoressed! I cant wait to get mine back together for spring time!!!

[ron bayless]

You will love it.The seats for me are the most comfortable.A yamah venture, my ultra, and the gs big bikes have the most comfortable stock seats ever in my opinion.

[jmlcolorado]

Well the stock seat was cut up about a week after i got the bike to be used for the custom spring seat pan. But it was pretty comfy the first week