The Black Bomber, My GS450.

[Big Rich]

Rusty, you are still planning on putting tubes in them, correct? IIRC, your wheels aren't made to be run without inner tubes.

[Nessism]

How did those handlebar weights work out? Did they make a difference?

[RustyStuff]

Rusty, you are still planning on putting tubes in them, correct? IIRC, your wheels aren't made to be run without inner tubes.

I'm going to try and run them tubeless, if it doesn't work I'll stick some tubes back in. I've read enough threads on here to make me believe it will work.

How did those handlebar weights work out? Did they make a difference?

Mostly shifted the resonance around. Not really sure about it being better in any way.

[RustyStuff]

Today was the day. Spooned on a set of new rubber. It's been 7 hours now, no leaks and the pressure is staying steady. I think running tubeless may work out.

Bought 2 of these,

http://www.motionpro.com/motorcycle/partno/08-0007/

Greatest-Tire-Iron in the history of the earth! It was painless and quick with these things. I'll never go back to the Old style straight irons.

[RustyStuff]

Tires are holding air beautifully! Not a single PSI lost in the last 24 hours.

Today I finished up my fairing lowers project.









They work great, though they get kinda hot in the afternoon's( 92* today).



I love this bike! Aside from the speedo reading 15mph low with larger than stock tires, everything is groovy. That also means that I am getting much better millage than I suspected, and that I have much more than 19K miles on it.

[Big Rich]

15mph low? The stock speedo and tire size is normally 10% slower, so a larger front tire size should put you pretty close to accurate.

[RustyStuff]

15mph low? The stock speedo and tire size is normally 10% slower, so a larger front tire size should put you pretty close to accurate.

Running with traffic on the highway(60mph limit), speedo is registering 45~. Bring it up to indicated 50mph and I'm passing people.

I'm going to try a GPS just to see what it's really at.

[RustyStuff]

My T seat arrived today. In pretty decent shape.

Old L Seat, not in bad condition, aside form a 5" tear in the cover.








Direct comparison, the T seat has thicker foam, is flatter, slightly wider and it's lower, due to the pan not being elevated 2" off the frame.





T seat on the bike.






All I need to do get some vinyl restorer to try and turn the vinyl black again.

[RustyStuff]

Yesterday's projects-

Windshield extensions, 4.5" and 6.5". I now have a nice quiet and non turbulent place to pilot the bike from. The stock windshield hight had the unfortuante effect of directing all of the air right at my face shield. Very Loud and turbulent.




Due to the extra surface area, the windshield flopped around a bit at speeds over 60.

Aluminum to the rescue!





Fixes the problem to a tested 95mph. Kinda wild to be running along that quickly, in comfort and mostly quiet.

I'm now running a set of turn signals from a early 70's Kawa enduro. My right rear one went missing.



They kinda bend up at a funny angle, but I'm fine with that.

and a picture that has nothing to do with anything. My ride sitting next to my sisters new bike, a 1980 Peugeot 102SP moped( fun a hell to ride around on, a 25mph bicycle!)

[

[RustyStuff]

We'll I decided that I'd take it in a different direction right now.Hung the fairing on the wall for the moment.

The birth of a desert sled....








The plan-
Braced motocross bars-Done
Hand guards and deflectors
High fender mod-Done
Crash bars and skid plate
Gear down( currently 15/41), 15/43
Small fly-screen type fairing.

For tires i'm looking at Bridgestone trail wings Tw39/tw40, about the only thing that will fit. I'd like to run something like Kenda big blocks, but I would have to buy a new rear rim. Not sure I want to do that yet.

[Gorminrider]

ha ha! interesting stuff you are doing here! I'm interested in how the gearing change will work for this iteration. I see your shocks are- what-12"? - mine are 13" and if you can find a set in a scrap yard or whatever it might keep those nice progressives from getting dinged or salted....

[RustyStuff]

ha ha! interesting stuff you are doing here! I'm interested in how the gearing change will work for this iteration. I see your shocks are- what-12"? - mine are 13" and if you can find a set in a scrap yard or whatever it might keep those nice progressives from getting dinged or salted....

They're 13, iirc. I've still got my stock shocks, but I'm spoiled by the way the progressives ride. Before I ride off-road I might wrap some tape on the chrome to keep it safe.

The bike and I are going to the Desert 100 in april! Going to run in one of the poker runs.

[

I forgot the sensation of speed you get on a naked bike. With the fairing you felt the same whether you were going 20 or 100.

[RustyStuff]

Wow it's fun to ride this way.

Updates to "The plan"

Braced Handlebars- Done.
Headlight rock Shield -Done.
High Fender Mod- Done.

Hand guards- Ordered, was going to make some, but I can't buy the parts as cheap as a Ebay set.

Folding Shift lever( going to go to the Suzi dealer and see if I can measure one from a DR.)

Skid Plate/Crash bars- This weekends project.
Fairing-Might work on this weekend. It's not going to be big, mainly just to clean up the area around the headlight, and give me somewhere to put my parking pass sticker.

Metal "motocrosser" pegs( searching for ones that I can make fit)

These tires-




Need to order the tires, but not in any hurry. Still debating buying a 18" rim and running that with some "Proper" tires. I'm also fighting the urge to buy some "peashooter" style mufflers and some mandrel bends, and make a set of high pipes. Keep thinking that I should just go all the way with the rim and exhaust, but my inner cheap ass keeps reigning me in.

It's an addiction I tell ya.

[Grimly]

My new H4 headlight came today. Came with a 55w/60w bulb. Going to run it for a while and see how I like it before I order a 35w HID kit. I'll take some pictures tonight to show the beam. It's so much brighter than the old Sealed beam.



It seems to be charging well. This is at ~3500 rpm.


Also played around with some Surplus Aluminum "mermite" food cans.
I gutted the insulation out, they weight about 5lbs a piece and can hold 39L ( 1.4cuft) per side. Going to make up a rack for them. they look bigger than they are. Only a few inches wider than the bars.

Light weight, free, Water tight and lockable camping gear storage.

Your use of the Mermite cases spurred me into having a look at what is available this side of the pond - some Mermites, but not cheap, and the same applies to the other forces' ex-military food containers (too much camping and re-encactors demand) but the penny dropped - countless thousands of sturdy, weatherproof aluminium flight cases were sold from the 70s onwards for cameras, and other gear. A lot of that stuff is now knocking around for peanuts and it's a trivial matter to adapt it for pannier and topbox use.

[RustyStuff]

Spent my day out building the skid plate. Only half done, but It's going to be fantastic.

Going to add a second layer on the lower half to better protect the sump. The steel tubeing is going to spread the load right onto the frame, and it will protect the oil filter cover from direct hits. The crash bar's are going to tie into the steel tubing at the front.


CAD Design-


The Best alloy of aluminum- OldRoadSigninum.



This stuff is TOUGH, Bending it was a job. Took multiple heat's with a torch, a pipe/sawhorse and a ratchet strap to get it bend to the right shape.




Top mounting bracket-


Was going to use U bolt's to clamp it, but i'm not sure if the nut's will catch and hang up on object's.If I decide it will be a problem i'll use more flat machine screw's.





There is going to be a 2nd smaller skid bolted to the "triangle" of the center stand, to keep it from getting hung up on anything.