Lower/ strip down or replace gauge cluster?

[Guest]

I have a 78 gs550 that I'm getting up and running. It came with clubman bars which look good. I have a solo seat enroute as well. Cut the back fender down and kind of go for a mild cafe look. I was thinking of popping the forks out of the tree and flipping the head light bracket upside down to lower the head light a bit. Something different then the cafe ears everyone else uses.. But instrument cluster?? What to do there. They are huge and chunky. And make the front end look weird.. But they are useful.. Has anyone ever lowered the cluster to a flatter angle? Or could I strip all the chunky plastic casing off? Or would I loss all water proofing? Or for all the headaches would I just be better off replacing them with some low profile gauges??

[Jmcb]

this what I mean.

[Steve]

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I have seen some smaller gauges used that actually were quite nice. There were lights in them that showed Neutral, Oil, High Beam and Turn Signal, keeping quite a lot of their stock function. They were not quite "plug and play", as there has to be a bit of adaptation to the wire harness to get those lights to work properly. I don't remember what brand they were, but they might have come from Dime City Cycles. At least that would be a decent place to start.

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[dorkburger]

I can say this. I literally, accidentally, lowered the angle on my 83 1100e cluster after a deer incident.
With the lower and more forward then stock superbike bars, the new flatter angle of the cluster actually worked well in regards to viewing it.

[eddypeck]

Not sure how the front end of a GS550 compares to my GS1000G but I've also pondered the same question about losing a bit of height from the cluster.

It's a stock bike and I don't want to change that (much) and certainly anything I do to get it how I want it would be reversible and easily put it back to OEM should that be required.

I have however got some wider flatter bars, not clubman and not quite drag bars but almost. I've also been looking at the headlight bracket and figured flipping it over would drop the headlight say 10-20mm, not a lot but maybe just enough to make a subtle difference.

As for the clocks, and this might be different on yours, I've looked and can see the clocks are mounted on rubber bungs above the bracket on the headstock. If I take them off and mount them below the bracket that could drop them 20-30mm (about an Inch). Not sure if that would interfere with the headlight. It might be that flipping the bracket isn't enough and I have to get aftermarket headlight clamp but I am thinking its certainly worth trying, and won't cost me anything.

When I sort out the wiring for the switchgear (changing to modern switch rather than the non-functioning self cancel) then I'll swap over the bars and play around with the headlight and cluster configuration.

Still got an engine to finish building so not quite ready yet, but have ordered a bulk lot of bullet connectors.

[Jen]

I lowered mine quite a bit by taking apart the gauges and bracket assembly, and then putting the bracket in a vise and reshaping the bracket. Worked great, and i still have the functionality of the stock gauges, but with a little bit better profile, slicker look. I have clip-on bars so it was a necessity in order to get the clearance for the brake reservoir and clutch cable.

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[Jmcb]

You haven't had any issues with them lossing water resistance since removing the casing?

[Jen]

You haven't had any issues with them lossing water resistance since removing the casing?

Is this directed at me? I put everything back together (including the rubber dampeners) after I re-angled the bracket. So no issues. I was initially worried about glare, but it's been great, no problems.

[eddypeck]

I’ve literally just got in from the garage. I’ve removed the sump so while waiting for the oil to drain decided to tinker with the front end.

as I described above, I’ve just removed the clocks and refitted them under the mounting bracket instead of on top. It’s lowrred the clocks more than I expected. The headlight is still in the same place so the gap is tight, but still fits. With the headlight bracket flipped as suggested I think that would push the headlight down a bit as well but didn’t go that far.

[Jmcb]

Any chance you can snap a few pics of that??