Gettin there, sloooowly...

[po-boy]

My problem is 99.9999999% of the bikes similar to what you are creating end up complete garbage that the creator rides for a month, realizes the bike is now trashed, and they end up in worse shape than they were before.

You very well might end up making something very interesting and well-made, but the odds lean towards welding the back end tight, cutting off the exhaust, painting it flat black, using a leather throw pillow as a seat, and the whole now-destroyed mess looking like complete sh*t.

Sorry to crap on your thread. Good luck.

Gotta admit, I'm a lil shocked at this coming from you. Yor last project, sweet as it was, was anything but stock. You modded it to suit your taste, and did a damn fine job. If a brave few of us chose to save these old bikes from being melted down and turned into your next can of green beans, and in the process of doing so, we cut, grind, and mold the bike into our vision of a "custom" , then what has been lost? Case in point: My project bike had been sittin in a barnyard since 99', when the PO, a Harley guy who took it on a trade fore some HD parts, parked it there to rot into ground. He advertised it on craigslist for $50, "come get it before it goes to the scrap yard". I did and $30 later, it's mine. Lets face it, the fact that we are hashing this out on the "appearance mods" portion of this great site is proof that most, if not all of us want to make our bikes different, special. ours. Am I trashing a pristine collectable? Not hardly, just breathin a lil life back into an old forgotten hunk of scrap metal. Can I get an Amen brethern?
We now return you to our regular scheduled programming...
Jeff

[Richharr]

My problem is 99.9999999% of the bikes similar to what you are creating end up complete garbage that the creator rides for a month, realizes the bike is now trashed, and they end up in worse shape than they were before.

You very well might end up making something very interesting and well-made, but the odds lean towards welding the back end tight, cutting off the exhaust, painting it flat black, using a leather throw pillow as a seat, and the whole now-destroyed mess looking like complete sh*t.

Sorry to crap on your thread. Good luck.

summed it up, where will our lives go from here?

http://thelisalog.blogs.com/the_lisa...g_over_th.html check this out

[TheCafeKid]

Gotta admit, I'm a lil shocked at this coming from you. Yor last project, sweet as it was, was anything but stock. You modded it to suit your taste, and did a damn fine job. If a brave few of us chose to save these old bikes from being melted down and turned into your next can of green beans, and in the process of doing so, we cut, grind, and mold the bike into our vision of a "custom" , then what has been lost? Case in point: My project bike had been sittin in a barnyard since 99', when the PO, a Harley guy who took it on a trade fore some HD parts, parked it there to rot into ground. He advertised it on craigslist for $50, "come get it before it goes to the scrap yard". I did and $30 later, it's mine. Lets face it, the fact that we are hashing this out on the "appearance mods" portion of this great site is proof that most, if not all of us want to make our bikes different, special. ours. Am I trashing a pristine collectable? Not hardly, just breathin a lil life back into an old forgotten hunk of scrap metal. Can I get an Amen brethern?
We now return you to our regular scheduled programming...
Jeff

I have to agree with him a little bit here. If he was cutting up a perfectly good bike to make a chopper, shame on him, but it was NOT perfect, and not all that restorable to boot. I did the same on my cafe. I wanted something that was already ruined, found a 77 GS750 that someone had tried some bastardized amalgamation of...i dunno what... and then turned it into something worth while, instead of rotting away in a yard somewhere, or being sold off for the worth of the aluminum in the motor and the steel in the frame. Better to see a GS motor still on the road, than see it making a soda can right? I also agree with Groundshock, that if it was restorable, or really nice, it would be a shame to cut it up. I wouldnt dream of it on a couple of the GSes ive owned or own. Contrary to what most might think, the prices on these are steadily going up. Try finding an 83 1100ES (only made one year) or a super clean 1150, or Skunk..they are getting harder to find, and more expensive when you do...

[po-boy]

Are those GSXR brakes and rear wheel?

No, just the stock 750L originals, and oh yea, some elbow grease and rattle cans.

[groundshock]

Gotta admit, I'm a lil shocked at this coming from you. Yor last project, sweet as it was, was anything but stock. You modded it to suit your taste, and did a damn fine job. If a brave few of us chose to save these old bikes from being melted down and turned into your next can of green beans, and in the process of doing so, we cut, grind, and mold the bike into our vision of a "custom" , then what has been lost? Case in point: My project bike had been sittin in a barnyard since 99', when the PO, a Harley guy who took it on a trade fore some HD parts, parked it there to rot into ground. He advertised it on craigslist for $50, "come get it before it goes to the scrap yard". I did and $30 later, it's mine. Lets face it, the fact that we are hashing this out on the "appearance mods" portion of this great site is proof that most, if not all of us want to make our bikes different, special. ours. Am I trashing a pristine collectable? Not hardly, just breathin a lil life back into an old forgotten hunk of scrap metal. Can I get an Amen brethern?
We now return you to our regular scheduled programming...
Jeff

My issue lies with guys who chop the back of the frame off, weld the stock rear fender to the frame, sawzall off the exhaust, cover a pack of shop rags with leather for a seat, then hose it down with a 99 cent can of flat black from Wal-Mart and come around thinking they ride OCC bikes.

Uncool.

I'm talking about tasteless, irreversible modifications to bikes that, with less than a hundred bucks of parts, would've been great 95% bikes for someone to appreciate.

Again, nowhere did I imply that you're going down that road, just simply giving you my other-side-of-the-street opinion if that was your plan.

My last project had zero irreversible mods, and was an excuse free machine that you could ride from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine and look great doing it. Maybe I live in a fantasy world where i think all old bikes should be given the same treatment... i dunno.

No disrespect meant here, and I hope your project turns out for the best.

[po-boy]

do what you want, do what makes you happy, just make it cool!
Are you a member at
thechopperunderground.com ? you need to register to get in, site hacked and erased last year so registration is required to enter...
Really good guys, and very knowledgeable about what you want to do.
( they refer to this site often, so i hope the admins dont mind my link)

it is what you are looking for...

Yeah, Im on there also, just a handful of GS guys over there, but lots of talent. I'm in Harrison, just west of ya.

[buster]

I went over to the thechopperunderground.com web site just to take a look at the talent on the other side of the street. Your right it does look like a couple of them know what there doing but for some reason most of the projects either look like they were 70's freek shows with lots of gold paint and chrome or the cool looking bikes had owners with Adult ADD. I just wish some of those guys that are cutting up the bikes would finish a project. The one guy works out of a shed and had 5 bikes (all unfinished) sitting in there. So in that aspect I can agree with Groundshock, hell there is a guy on craigslist right now with an unfinished "chopper" that wants almost a 1000 bucks because he lost interest. I think that these people should not cut up a bike if they are not going to finish the job and actually put them back on the road.

Your project looks cool and I would love to see the finished product so do us a favor and don't lose interest....just my 2cents

[Richharr]

po-boy, this thread has become the straw that broke the camels back

[po-boy]

po-boy, this thread has become the straw that broke the camels back

Yea, oops! Just wanted to share some pics of my lil project and BAM, a political debate on the downfall of the male species. Oh well, I'm gonna finfish it, with or without the approval of others.
Jeff

[po-boy]

Got the week off and doin some work on the bike, me time, gotta love that... Tailight from old oil can and original mount, oil tank(aka battery/electronics box), watering can w/ some tweaking, total cost= <$5...

[po-boy]

One more, just the new parts...

[elevatorman71]

muh baby

heres some new pics for you guys

[po-boy]

Hey Elevatorman, whats the measurement, center to center, on yur struts? Mine are gonna be 8-1/2" but doesn't look as low as yours. Love the stance yours has...

[stumbleweed]

Nicely done, DuDe. I planning to chop my basket case than to get it back to original.
I never thought of using the swing arm for part of the hard tail. I am glad I found this site.

[drphilgood]

Its lookin good just keep chippin away at it and youll get there.