GS450s Build - Scrambler maybe? Let's get it running first.

[Tim Tom]

cool little project! I would suggest mounting new rubber as soon as possible. 30 year old tires are dangerous on any surface. I'm sure you can find a modern dual sport knobby that would fit. Knobs on GS would be super cool.

[pete]

Mate it's great to hear you're out and about on it! Do you have any side on pic's? Hard to see how the mudgaurd is in that one...

As for the headlight, the plastic holder for the bulb on mine was worn when I got it years ago and it used to work it's way out of the shell and then flop around, resulting in basically no light in front of me, and it would eventually blow the bulb. At the time I just duct taped it but I'll be looking for a H4 style 7" replacement soon. Might be worth checking that out on yours if it's doing similar things.

For the front forks, the first thing I'd do is stick the original front mudguard on and see if that fixes it. If you look underneath you'll see somewhat of a fork brace built into it.



When doing my mock ups, Flyboy picked up that my front guard was still too much "road bike", which is spot on, so I'm working on lifting it without compromising the built in fork brace. I discovered I can lift it the diameter of a Pepsi Max can (about 65mm) and I'm hoping some 3mm thick steel plate will be strong enough to make some plates that keep the fork brace doing its thing.



It should look something like this, which still is nowhere near as high as yours, but definitely less road bike:



It's quite a subtle lift, but should be enough.

The other alternative john82q suggested was to get a real fork brace and then I could do whatever I like about a front gaurd, which means what you have on now would be fine.

If you want to do the 550 front end, search around here, I'm sure at least two guys have done this already and swapped the whole front end on, I think the stem is a match.

Finally, for tyres, Shinko 244's have our OEM sizes (3.00-18 and 3.50-18) and are 50/50 road/trail, so that could be a good answer for you. They're too dirt biased for my needs, but if you want real dual sport tyres, then they're hard to come by for our front tyre.

I hope that helps... but definitely good to see you're getting somewhere

[pete]

And if you don't happen to have your original gaurd any more, there's one for sale on here in this thread:

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=177954

[CDC]

Front fender was missing when I got the bike, and when I inspected the mounts, it appears 2 of the bolts are sheared/rusted off in the leg. However, a guy on CL has a 1980 gs550e fork/triple so I think I'll go check that out.

[pete]

Cool, that could be the go. I'm sure it was a simple bolt on, but definitely search around here first before taking my word for it

[CDC]

So I've been out riding this bike instead of sitting at my computer, but now that it's cold and rainy here, I suppose I should update the thread.

I ended up doing a 550 fork swap, which overall went quite smoothly. Only issue was that the sheetmetal front fender no longer lined up and the angle for the gauge mounts was off a bit. They still bolted up but they're angled a bit more vertically now. Works ok, but I might do something to level them back out at some point. The forks feel much better, but I think the biggest difference was the All Balls steering head bearing I installed at the same time. So much better. More to come.

[pete]

Glad to hear you've been enjoying it! Sounds like that 550 fork swap is almost a bolt on? Good stuff...

I wish I was out riding mine, but still a little way off yet...

Have you got plans for a front guard? I ended up making a brace/guard mount out of some aluminium but I have yet to see how it goes on the road.

[CDC]

Yeah, definitely a bolt on affair. Triples went right into the 450 bearings. Had to change fork ears and I think the 550 uses a bigger light so it's not totally square, but you wouldn't really notice just looking at it. Wheel spacing and axle were the same.

[pete]

Cool, easy as! So you stuck with the 450 wheel then?

[djg42]

awesome stuff! Very interested in your bike! Did the GS550 forks you used have single or dual front discs? Anyone know which models had double front discs?

[CDC]

awesome stuff! Very interested in your bike! Did the GS550 forks you used have single or dual front discs? Anyone know which models had double front discs?

I'm running a single disc on the original wheel. Will have to look and see if there are mounts for a second caliper on the 550 fork.

Also, I'm contemplating a tire change. I have a set of IRC GS11's on the bike now, which I actually really like. It's just that they're starting to crack up a bit on the tread so I don't really trust them on the superslab.

I'm looking at some shinko sr241s that are quite affordable and fit with the look and intended use of the bike. I have ridden shinko tires before and was impressed by their quality. My only problem is that they don't make them in the stock sizes. I could do the rear in 3.5 x 18 like stock, but there is no 3.0 x 18 for the front. If I go with these tires, would it be better to run 3.5s front and rear or go 4.0 in back 3.5 in the front? Anybody have experience with this?

[pete]

Actually check out the 244's... you can get the right sizes

If I could find them here in Aus I'd get them, but it looks like I'm going to have to get some universal block trials tyres...