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I'm sure most of you have seen the pics of the new Yoshimura 1135R Katana. It's almost identical to the '82 bike, but with some upgrades.
Well looking at it (and some modern naked bikes) has gotten me thinking.
Notice how the 1135R slopes downward rather than upward. It's got a modern nose down attitude to it. The bars are dropped, the headlight and nose fairings are low, and the minimal guage setup all helps visually lower the bike, giving it a "fast while sitting still" modern superbike look.
Despite my '82 GS 750's sporting pretensions for its era, it does not resemble a modern bike. The thing is, compared to a modern naked bike it only has a few elements that help to date itself: The guages, the handlebars, the headlight, the tail section, and the turn signals.
Well in my bike's ignition module-induced downtime, I've decided to address all of those issues.
Pics will be forthcoming, but it begins nonetheless.
What I've done so far:
Removed rear fender. Under the seat will be replaced with a sheet metal panel to hold stuff under it, but I've taken it all out. No more ugly rear plastic, no more huge license plate holder.
Totally redone the taillight and license plate mount. I've yanked the (shattered) OE unit and began making what will be a flush mount (read even with the rear of the tail) lens made from plexiglass and custom mounted the bulb inside the tail section itself. The bottom of the lens serves as the mounting point for the plate.
Removed rear turn signals. They'll be replaced with very small aftermarket ones bolted directly to the sides of the tail cowling.
Lowered the rear end (just the preset adjustment for now). Just taking it from a level 5 to a level 1 drops the bike a good inch or so. This moves the tire closer to the underside of the rear, but helps me because I'm now nearly touching down heels.
The upcoming:
The headlight/handlebar/guage cluster is the number one "I'm straight outta the eightays" giveaway, so they're going the mod route. Thankfully this is cheap and easy.
Since the headlight mounts on two fork mounts, it's easy to drop. What I'll be doing is cutting the mount brackets off their spot welds, lowering them about 3-4", then simply rewelding them in place.
After that, the guage cluster can be dropped significantly as well. The current stock mounting places the guage cluster atop two tree mounted "ears." What I'll be doing is pulling the cluster off those ears, remounting it underneat them, and spacing it downward using shims to adjust the drop to my desire.
The handlebars right now are what I believe are called the "sportbike type" which has them on risers above the trees, but pretty low. Unfortunately after the guage/headlight drop, those bars will look like ape hangers. Those will be exchanged for clip ons to drop them a good 3" or so.
At that point, things will be looking pretty damn nice and I'll consider whether or not to go through with the hooligan headlight look, comprising twin 5 3/4" headlights.
I figure the whole mod job should cost me somewhere south of $50.
Well looking at it (and some modern naked bikes) has gotten me thinking.
Notice how the 1135R slopes downward rather than upward. It's got a modern nose down attitude to it. The bars are dropped, the headlight and nose fairings are low, and the minimal guage setup all helps visually lower the bike, giving it a "fast while sitting still" modern superbike look.
Despite my '82 GS 750's sporting pretensions for its era, it does not resemble a modern bike. The thing is, compared to a modern naked bike it only has a few elements that help to date itself: The guages, the handlebars, the headlight, the tail section, and the turn signals.
Well in my bike's ignition module-induced downtime, I've decided to address all of those issues.
Pics will be forthcoming, but it begins nonetheless.
What I've done so far:
Removed rear fender. Under the seat will be replaced with a sheet metal panel to hold stuff under it, but I've taken it all out. No more ugly rear plastic, no more huge license plate holder.
Totally redone the taillight and license plate mount. I've yanked the (shattered) OE unit and began making what will be a flush mount (read even with the rear of the tail) lens made from plexiglass and custom mounted the bulb inside the tail section itself. The bottom of the lens serves as the mounting point for the plate.
Removed rear turn signals. They'll be replaced with very small aftermarket ones bolted directly to the sides of the tail cowling.
Lowered the rear end (just the preset adjustment for now). Just taking it from a level 5 to a level 1 drops the bike a good inch or so. This moves the tire closer to the underside of the rear, but helps me because I'm now nearly touching down heels.
The upcoming:
The headlight/handlebar/guage cluster is the number one "I'm straight outta the eightays" giveaway, so they're going the mod route. Thankfully this is cheap and easy.
Since the headlight mounts on two fork mounts, it's easy to drop. What I'll be doing is cutting the mount brackets off their spot welds, lowering them about 3-4", then simply rewelding them in place.
After that, the guage cluster can be dropped significantly as well. The current stock mounting places the guage cluster atop two tree mounted "ears." What I'll be doing is pulling the cluster off those ears, remounting it underneat them, and spacing it downward using shims to adjust the drop to my desire.
The handlebars right now are what I believe are called the "sportbike type" which has them on risers above the trees, but pretty low. Unfortunately after the guage/headlight drop, those bars will look like ape hangers. Those will be exchanged for clip ons to drop them a good 3" or so.
At that point, things will be looking pretty damn nice and I'll consider whether or not to go through with the hooligan headlight look, comprising twin 5 3/4" headlights.
I figure the whole mod job should cost me somewhere south of $50.
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