77 GS 750 Build

[Octane80]

Got the fork in tonight after painting her up and adding new seals and oil.

[tas850g]

I have rear shocks from a 77 750 that had about 15k on them. Make an offer. I also have rear calipers.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Great looking progress! the attention to detail is paying off. Did you refresh the carbs before you got them all pretty?

[Octane80]

Thanks for the kind words! The carbs were cleaned out really well, but I didn't replace O-rings because it wasn't leaking before and they still appeared to be ok... Though I think I may go ahead and order them up and replace them anyway now. Tonight was frustrating, after calling two tireshops today neither messed with motorcycle tires and the cycle place in town wasn't picking up the phone I decided to attempt installing the new tires. I do have some tire irons for the purpose but they were quite the bastards, and furthermore to add to the frustration I messed up the paint a bit on the rear rim and pinched the tube in the process so now I must take the tire off again repaint and replace the tube bah...

[Hoosier Daddy]

I posted these links a while back on another forum when I was doing mine in the garage. I know these are tubeless but the technique should help you out.

Remove a tire video
SCUDMAN How to remove a motorcycle tire

then how to install
SCUDMAN How to install a motorcycle tire

and finally Ballance
SCUDMAN Balancing

[Octane80]

It's been a while since I've been on the bike, but recently I got the last of the parts I needed to finish the build. So far I went back into the carbs and put in new o-rings then I bought some 20 guage sheet metal and bent into shape a seat pan, then foamed it up and sculpted it and tonight I got the vinyl all sewed together... I'm really having a hard time with vinyl color the brown kinda gives it a classy old school look, while black gives it a little bit more of the contemporary streetfighter look, any opinions?

[midnightcafe]

looking good! What kind of foam did you use? Spray foam? I like that the seat is the entire subframe unit rather than having a fiberglass tail. Are you using real leather? What kind of needle/stitch pattern are you using?

I know, what's with this guy and asking questions?! But I hope to do the same kind of work on an upcoming project

[verde]

I'm really having a hard time with vinyl color the brown kinda gives it a classy old school look, while black gives it a little bit more of the contemporary streetfighter look, any opinions?

Looks good

I'm a brown leather guy myself.

The Triumph:




The piece I have picked out waiting to go on my GS bobber:

[Octane80]

Yep the bottom is just spray foam though I am going to coat that in a 1/2 in of high density foam before I do a final attachment of the seat cover. The material is a good quality vinyl which I grabbed from the scrap bin from Hancock fabrics. The singer 66 sewing machine I have was manufactured in the early 1900's and is only capable of one stich which is just called a straight stitch as far as I know. I will be adding a passengers seat behind this which will be low profile so as to sit under the fiberglass rear which will snap into place. The front seat will be on a hinge so I can still open it up and get to the battery and what not. Included is a close up of the stitches... not perfect but this is my 2nd sewing project and though my machine is heavy duty it's very basic (treadle powered) and I have no feet for it other than the standard so it's hard to keep things lined up...

[TheCafeKid]

Looking pretty good so far. You're likely to kill yourself with the bars you have on it though. Not enough clearance around the tank. Get a proper set of clubmans or clip-ons. You need to clear the tank lock to lock and have room for your hands.

[Octane80]

Got the new bearings in the wheels and got the tires in without pinching a tube while only exerting around 1/3 of the effort this time thanks to the motion pro kit and warming up the tires a bit before I started.

[Octane80]

Got a little more done last night, had to paint calipers, rear disc, and started cleaning up the battery box. I believe I'm falling in love with the creation and can't wait to get her out on the road, though I have another month before my motorcycle training course begins. It's kind of turned from this cool retro styled bike into a steampunk esque cafe work.

[Gumbo76]

Clearance?

So what is the clearance like for those handlebars and your tank? On my '79 GS550, I had to put on new bars cause folding them down like you show in the pics would make the bars hit the tank every time!

[Octane80]

Right now the bars are just sitting in loose, I will have to twist them up a little for hand clearance. Either way they still look fine so I'm just gonna hang with them.

[Octane80]

Here's some pics showing some of the recent work, bearings-seals, fork seals, rear disc painting, and the seat pan. I found the perfect roll of tape for a seal installation tool!