GS(X)-250E Motarding.

[mike-s]

Interesting idea that, though to be honest i'd rather just get the brake lines as soon as i could just so I can get past this point and progress forward a little, hence me heading off to the wreckers in about 20 minutes.

Well as it turns out, the local wrecker was a bust. They no longer stock "second hand" brake lines due to reliability issues and said they can get them made in a few days for about $80. I think i'll look around, but i suspect i'll possibly use the link you gave me.

As to the bashplate, definitely glad to have it again. And no I've not welded before, hence there never being enough practice, though I'm reading up a bit on how to do it.

[mike-s]

Well i found an ebay store in Melbourne that has the right sized hose for an absolute steal (link to the product page) and have just put an order in.

[mike-s]

Fork springs cut, the guides are right, it is a right bastard to cut them with a hacksaw, getting the dremel out and having a go at it was the best move to make, just a shame i broke two wheels, but it's no surprise given it's hardened steel.


Now i need to just assemble with the temporary wood spacer to make sure that everything fits satisfactorily and preloads to my liking. Once that is done i will then go and put permanent steel spacers in there.

I WILL find the c adjuster after i either a) buy another or b) get the thing adjusted to my liking WITHOUT using that tool.

[pete]

Good stuff Mike, you're getting there!

Man that brake line is cheap! Is it any good though? That's my only concern with such a cheap line... guess you'll just have to wait and see 'til you get it and see how it looks.

I was just going to get mine from HEL as they're local here, except that they obviously don't give a sh&* and don't reply to emails. They don't list anything on their site for my model, but they list a GS400 that is a single disc setup, yet they list a dual line kit for it for the dual line price... I asked them what the go was and if they had one for mine, not even a single email reply... I left my mobile too but no call either. Oh well...

Good to see you got your springs cut, hopefully it won't be too hard to get a nice ride sorted.

And definitely looking forward to seeing that bash plate, and do lots of practise welds. I really didn't do enough practise before I got stuck in and it shows, but I really needed to get it done this week so I didn't mind considering you can't see the welds with the fibreglass over the top.

[mike-s]

I guess if it's braided it's got to be half decent. The guy has a 99.8% positive feedback with the negatives being marginal whinges at most, so iguess it's worth having a go at his wares.

[hillsy]

Pit bike parts on eBay are cheap. Doesn't mean the quality is bad.

Looking good.

[mike-s]

Got the front forks together with the dummy spacers which are 20mm longer than the spacer+cut off length to increase the pre-load slightly for testing. I can cut it down by 10mm or even back to "original" if i need to, but the docco i linked to recommended this be done to help hone in the optimal setting. It's looking good thus far, but i can't really test the loading until mid next week or so due to the lack of a front brake hose.

To keep Pete and the curious calm i put the bashplate in an approximate position so i can figure out precisely how much to cut off the corners at the front. Thus far i think i'm Moving in the right direction if i do something like this.



That is only approximate, but still it means I can bring the corner in to be approximately in line with the chassis and not protruding in the nasty manner that it currently is. I didn't cut the corner down prior to bending in the off chance i managed to cut too much off, which would leave me with an expensive bit of metal to hammer things on.

A side on view, this still gives me 18.5cm of clearance, at least 4.5 and possibly more above stock. This is WITH the tree running about 2cm down on the forks as you can see in the bottom photo! In case anyone is curious, that socket is sitting there to help the plate balance in the right spot.


A view from the front, this certainly looks like it could work


As to the mountings, i think i'm likely going to go with one at the front between the headers, an extended bolt on the engine mount with a rather stiff spacer and something towards the rear, i'll take it out in the light of day and try and get more of a direction on this tomorrow.

Also backed the rear shock down to the 2nd lowest setting, looks a bit better but still something I will finesse once the brake line is on.

[pete]

I guess if it's braided it's got to be half decent. The guy has a 99.8% positive feedback with the negatives being marginal whinges at most, so iguess it's worth having a go at his wares.

Cool, I'm just paranoid about brakes after attempting to stop in my first car pointed down hill at a brick wall when the master cylinder carked it. I was able to pump the brakes up just in time but I get paranoid about brakes now

Pit bike parts on eBay are cheap. Doesn't mean the quality is bad.

Looking good.

True, just my paranoia at play...

Got the front forks together with the dummy spacers which are 20mm longer than the spacer+cut off length to increase the pre-load slightly for testing. I can cut it down by 10mm or even back to "original" if i need to, but the docco i linked to recommended this be done to help hone in the optimal setting. It's looking good thus far, but i can't really test the loading until mid next week or so due to the lack of a front brake hose.

Cool, seems to make sense to me, not that that means much of course...

To keep Pete and the curious calm i put the bashplate in an approximate position so i can figure out precisely how much to cut off the corners at the front. Thus far i think i'm Moving in the right direction if i do something like this.

That is only approximate, but still it means I can bring the corner in to be approximately in line with the chassis and not protruding in the nasty manner that it currently is. I didn't cut the corner down prior to bending in the off chance i managed to cut too much off, which would leave me with an expensive bit of metal to hammer things on.

A side on view, this still gives me 18.5cm of clearance, at least 4.5 and possibly more above stock. This is WITH the tree running about 2cm down on the forks as you can see in the bottom photo! In case anyone is curious, that socket is sitting there to help the plate balance in the right spot.

A view from the front, this certainly looks like it could work

Yep, I reckon that will work

As to the mountings, i think i'm likely going to go with one at the front between the headers, an extended bolt on the engine mount with a rather stiff spacer and something towards the rear, i'll take it out in the light of day and try and get more of a direction on this tomorrow.

Also backed the rear shock down to the 2nd lowest setting, looks a bit better but still something I will finesse once the brake line is on.

Mate that all sounds and looks good, and I still need to do something about a bash plate for mine yet too. I shouldn't have pipes where you do to worry about though, just the sump maybe, wait and see.

Hopefully that brake line shows up quick smart and you can get it together

[mike-s]

I've figured out the cut to make and have done it on one side. Wasted time trying to use the dremel cutoff wheels. Gave up after it ate 3 of the wheels in less than 2 minutes each and went back to the hacksaw i had started with. even then it was a royal bastard to make the cut. Part of me wishes i had made the cut prior to the bend, but the problem is i doubt i would have gotten the cut right had i decided to do it/get it done prior to the bend. Going to take another 20 minutes to make the second cut. I wasted more time trying to get the dremel to work than it took actually doing the damned thing by hand, go figure.

Oh and got an ebay notification that the line was posted out today. Might be lucky and it gets here on Monday maybe Tuesday.

[pete]

Man I feel your pain! I've done that a few times with making things like my choke adaptor, in the end it was just quicker with the hacksaw.

I went through two of the flimsy cut off wheels on the fibreglass yesterday but the reinforced one did the trick.

Hopefully that brake line will sort you out quick smart and you can take it for a run

[mike-s]

Well i decided to bury myself in the garage for a little while tonight and finish off the front cuts to the plate. Also decided it might be a good idea to take a photo from the side that still has the crash guard mounted so i could try and get some more ideas.

Thus far i think i think i have a rough idea on how this mounting thing is going to work.



I think i might make a T style mount that will fit on the front engine mountings around the outside of the crashbar mounts, with a brazed on aluminium stem going down between the downpipes to a brazed on flat plate that will bolt to the crash guard.


I'm then going to get some thick aluminium tubing (or rod and drill the inside out to spec) and using brazing, make a spacer and a vertical mount onto some L shaped mounts just outside of the underslung chassis bars.


The rear mounts are going to be the hard ones to do, and i have a couple of ideas regarding that. The first is to make an "A" mount for the rear of the bashplate, with the top of the A being removeable and only used to secure the bottom of the A, which would go underneath the chassis bar.

That is unless i tack weld on a couple of mounting loops to the rear of the underslung bars, and if i do this i might as well do the very same thing to the front mounts as well.

Not exactly something i was planning or wanting to do within the first dozen hours of using a stick welder. Here i was going to be proud of myself if i used it to merely extend the sidestand.

[chuck hahn]

Just my .02 worth here. I just LOVE the yellow and black.. It reminds me of an old Super Bee. Just looks like a pizzed off yellow jacket just waiting to sting your azz!!!!

[mike-s]

To make registration easier, although i do dig the yellow/black too, I'm just going to go with painting it all blue again as that is what is on the registration label and is going to give me the least number of hassles. Besides i don't mind the dark blue that much, looks quite alright to me.

I've attached a rough idea of what i was thinking for the rear mounts. The basic idea is that the bottom bit mounts to the plate, and there is the cap that goes over the top of the frame tube simply to hold it in place & stop any harmonics/buzzing.

I feel a bit more comfortable doing something like that than i do about welding on the frame, and this one i can put a couple of pop rivets to hold it in place and then braze it onto the plate.

[pete]

If I'm interpreting what you mean correctly, sounds like it will work just fine.

So is it done yet?

My bash plate is way down on my list at the moment... getting the bike back with the shiny new Tranzac on it is priority one

[chuck hahn]

Will the front height of that plate add an unneeded amount of air spoilage from the front of the engine? Maybe just go with about a 1 inch frontal slope. Seems you would want as much unimpeeded area to have air flow across.