Another Aussie GS rebuild - GS1100G

[JimmyR]

Hey Redneck - is that you on the bike? Your bike must be huge! And you are so cute... Yeah I tried with the indicators on the side of the headlight. Well I looked at it anyway, didn't get around to actually mounting them permanently. Here in Australia we have quite draconian laws so we must have blinkers unless we want hassle and they must be at least 30cm (12") apart. So I looked at mounting them from other places and this is my favourite spot so far. I think that by the time the mounts and bolts are black they will be quite unobtrusive but very visible when they need to be. As it is I am pushing it because they are probably smaller than they are supposed to be.

Hey John - yes the splitter is stock but I got the wire brush onto it because it was covered in a thick layer of NSW dust. I thought about getting it powdercoated to match the triples but there is a lot of thread in there to get clogged and I quite like it matching the lines. The sender is a brake light switch. It replaces the switch on the lever. It's one of those hydraulic switches and goes into the headlight shell with all the other wiring. I made sure to use Goodridge lines because they are deemed ok by the powers that be. Actually the system seem pretty cool and it's nice to install.

Hopefully my brake pads turn up tomorrow and I can bleed the front brakes. I have just found a smaller master cylinder for the rear brake so I'm hoping it will be easy enough to install and be much less noticeable than the steampunk stocker!

[JimmyR]

Still waiting for brake pads... But today I get more wiring done, so all the lights work, the starter cranks, everything works except the ignition. Well the ignition would work except I need to get it timed and get the engine running - want to check valves and carbs before I do that. It ran before I pulled it apart but it was a bit rough.

So it should be running this week!

[pete]

I hope you're gonna get some video when she fires up! I wanna hear how those pipes sound

Good progress Jimmy, are you getting antsy yet?

[JimmyR]

Big time! But getting her running and registered is not the end of it. Once it has rego I need to strip it all down and get the frame powder coated - and there will be some de-tabbing to do beforehand.

I also need to tidy up the rear wheel, sort out the side stand and modify the tank mounting so my new seat will fit. I hope to get my bike dude to help this week with valves, carbs, ignition timing, replacing and tensioning the cam chain and anything else that crops up!

I'm really looking forward to riding this bike.

BTW Pete every time I try to read your rebuild thread all I get is a blank page. Is your link broken?

[cowboyup3371]

Jimmy, check your settings and make sure you have it set as Linear - oldest posts first to view the larger threads like Pete's. Also a good idea to set it to 40 posts per page so it doesn't take as many pages to get through a thread.

[pete]

Weird... I know my rebuild thread's a tad long but I use that link all the time when I want to update it... try Scott's suggestion for forum settings and see if that helps... would love to get your opinion on my end result

I had a look through the Modern Motorcycle Company eBay store too because I love the look of your speedo and tacho and I really need to do something about mine... but I think with the price of them I'll stick with trying to get my hands on an Acewell given I'll be able to program the front wheel diameter so I know it's accurate...

[JimmyR]

Accurate? near enough is fine for me! Although I do have a fatter front tyre now and the cops here are getting very finicky.

[pete]

Accurate? near enough is fine for me! Although I do have a fatter front tyre now and the cops here are getting very finicky.

Yeah same here... my problem was to get a dual sport on the front I had to go from the stock 3.00-18 (had a 90/90-18 on there instead) to a 100/90-18 which has a larger circumference and is therefore affecting the stock speedo ratio.

That's why I figure the Acewell will be a good choice, however I'd love clocks like what you got from MMC... they look the goods

[JimmyR]

Well I have a fatter tyre on the front now - Wonder if it will really affect things?

Today I got a few things done, but no pics as yet. Sorry. Washed the rear wheel and masked it up, painted it. The fresh satin black enamel looks so good against the alloy. The rear disc is all cleaned up and actually looks pretty good. The bolts are all metallic again and I have new black 1/2 moon washers so it all looks like a new bike. I also bolted the drive hub back on and it looks amazingly different now that I've wire wheeled and brushed it with scotchbrite. Now that it's on I will go over it again with scotchbrite to even things out. I can't wait to see it with the "new" wheel.

After rego I will be getting the whole frame texture black powder coated so I think that is when it will really pop. And tomorrow I will take some pics I promise. If I am extremely lucky my rear brake will have been powdercoated so I can reassemble that too.

[pete]

Mate she sounds great! Can't wait to see pic's!

With your front tyre, given the speedo drive runs off the front axle you need to be a little careful... a larger diameter tyre will make your speedo under read, and they changed the ADR's to say that under reading at all is illegal. No +-10% any more... just straight out illegal. You can over read up to 10%, but that's it.

The fallback for us on bikes is that they typically over read by around 10% from the factory, so going up slightly in diameter is probably ok. I've survived so far with mine but I'm not confident it's right and haven't got access to an accurate GPS or whatever to confirm either...

Errr, that was too much of a lecture... sheeesh... sorry 'bout that...

[JimmyR]

No not really - I don't know a lot of this stuff. I definitely will take pics tomorrow. Still thinking about colours of the tank and fenders. I'm starting to think about texture black, at least for the fenders. Although raw alloy fenders could look cool with a texture black tank. Actually I still quite like the reddish brown tank I have already...

[pete]

Actually you're right, that tank looks good as is, and those handgrips work well with it also.

I reckon raw alloy would look just as good with that tank how it is...

[psyguy]

Hi, just read the whole thread, nice build, watching with interest !

[JimmyR]

Hey Psyguy - I was in Auckland very briefly last year. Loved it! Very friendly place. I'd really like to see more of NZ.

I'm leaning towards raw alloy right now and have a really good rear fender. But the front I have I'm not so sure about. I'll take some pics...

[JimmyR]

Ok, as promised - pics! Here is the repainted rear wheel and cleaned hub. It will look so much better when the frame is powdercoated, but that will have to wait for a little while:





I am really liking the reverse cone mufflers too. I discovered when reinstalling the wheel that I didn't paint the centre section on the brake side. I didn't realise that it would be visible - oops!



And here is one of the new indicators with newly powdercoated home-made mount: