1981 GS450E Rebuild

[davidduarte]

Pete, I'm not sure if you've posted on this before, but what chain and sprocket setup are you using? I've got a 530 chain with 104 links, front sprocket 16 teeth, rear 45 (that's all stock). I'm thinking, for next time I get new chain/sprockets, I might go up a tooth on the front and possibly go with a 520 chain.

[pete]

Everything's stock at the moment. I never had an issue with the stock setup initially, so I've got new ones the same, 16T front, 45T rear, and 104 link 530 chain.

I'm hoping the 2 into 1 once I get it made will give me just a touch more midrange, and that should keep me happy.

[davidduarte]

I was thinking of going up one tooth on the front sprocket to lower the rpm when I'm riding on the highway. From what I've seen, the 520 chains are less expensive than the 530, so that would be nice

[pete]

Cool, that should work, and cheaper is always a good thing

[Leigh]

Be careful going up on the front sprocket. The teeth can snag on the bolt posts for the cover.

Yes, sadly that is the voice of experience you can hear..

[Leigh]

Be careful going up on the front sprocket. The teeth can snag on the bolt posts for the cover.

Yes, sadly that is the voice of experience you can hear..

[pete]

Leigh you're alive again! Good ta hear from ya

Have you cloned yourself in your absence? Seems two of you are replying

[pete]

I got some stuff done today finally... yay!

I've managed to remove some items from my whiteboard which means I'm making some sort of progress...



I redid my mock up today with the new rear guard, but I also put the indicators and headlight shell on and got the cardboard exhaust mock up out again too:





I'm going to have to relocate the rear indicators which is no big deal, and you can see I need to remove probably the front half of the rear mudguard so I can mate it up with the inner guard, but I'll also need to slim it out a little.

If you follow the line from the rear of the guard up and forwards, it needs to be less valanced to fit in with the front guard.

You can also see it should be relatively easy to just chop the rear part of the seat pan off and extend it out with a sheet of metal and get the edges folded down to match the original part of the pan.

I was also eyeing off this LED brake/tail light, but I think the size of my indicators may dwarf it and make it look stupid as it's only 100mm wide and 30mm tall, whereas the indicators are 90mm wide and 70mm tall...

http://www.thirdgear.com.au/product_images/v/881/DSC03642__42006_zoom.JPG

Tonight I also took a couple of dodgy videos with my gauge bulbs replaced with LED's. Ignore the indicators not flashing, I think the PC power supply I'm testing with can't cope and the voltage drops to about 9v:



And the other day I blew up my voltage monitor, so I got bits for that again yesterday and started soldering it up properly tonight.

[Matchless]

Your gauges look good with the LED's! Looking forward to your voltage monitor and how it looks!

[pete]

Cheers Andre, I'm happy with the result for sure.

I'm hoping to get the voltage monitor finished up this week in terms of the circuit board itself, but I need to try to find some red and green translucent plastic to sit on top of the white LED's... bit hard to explain but I know what I'm planning, just need to find a good way to execute it...

[pete]

Got a quote for getting the bike towed down to Tranzac today, $140 return.

Turns out my dad's ute has a canopy on and he can't see a way to remove it, so that means hiring a trailer.

Last time I checked, trailer hire was $65 for 3 hours or something, so $130 return basically, which means the tow quote is actually quite attractive seeing as it means someone who has towed many bikes can do it.

I also can't find any bike trailers for hire anywhere around me either which is making it difficult.

Aside from that, I enquired with Ikon suspension to see if there were any resellers here in Brissie, and apparently any bike shop can resell their products, but they'll also sell them direct. $165 for fork springs and $465 for black spring shocks... $630 total... ouch! Good suspension though...

I had a closer look at my brake/tail light tonight too, and it's just going to be far too big and will look stupid on the new rear guard, so I'm looking out for an alternative still...

[mike-s]

What about draining the fluids and putting it on a nasty old matress on its left side and tie it down under the canopy? It's light enough for two to manhandle in there.

[pete]

Not sure if my dad's measuring it weirdly or not, but that wouldn't go either as it's too narrow as well. Apparently there's some wooden monstrosity of a construction in the ute bed just to add to the pain...

[landshark]

With the dollar the way it is Pete i reckon you could get suspension much cheaper than that.
My progressive fronts where less than that and the dollar is better now.
Check the list of shocks on Bikecliffs site too.

[pete]

With the dollar the way it is Pete i reckon you could get suspension much cheaper than that.
My progressive fronts where less than that and the dollar is better now.
Check the list of shocks on Bikecliffs site too.

Hmmmm... now you got me thinking! I will have to look further. I figured the cost of shipping shocks and springs would make it prohibitive even with the good exchange rate...

Where did you get the Progressives from? Z1 or somewhere else?

Depending on what shipping will cost, I wonder if it will add much more for a pair of tyres?