Spring GS Project w/ Pictures

[The Buddha]

Usually aluminum stems are huge OD and these super light bikes are pretty thin wall. You turn the stem down it will not be strong enough. I'd prolly cut the stem at the top of bottom triple up, insert a aluminum thick walled tube or solid rod that is turned to the specs of the GS, weld it to bottom triple or machine a clip groove and use a clip and use GS bearings.
Kat FE's have the same bearings as GS and they are thicker too, just are longer ~3/4 inch.
Cool.
Srinath.

[dgyver]

Have you even ever turned an aluminum stem? There is plenty of material to remove, at least on the 96-99 Gixxers. I have done it for myself and for Ken.

[gstwizzle]

No I have never turned an aluminum stem but I have machine shop experience....along with access to the machines on campus so I could handle it....When you say "stem" what exactly are you talking about.....?  not to sound like a noob.

[dgyver]

I was commenting on Srinath's BS statement.

The stem is the part that fits inside the steering head of the frame. If you do turn one, make sure you can cut metric threads. It has been awhile but I believe mine required 25x1.0 threads.

[ben2go]

The stem is the bolt like part that runs from the lower triple clamp to the top triple clamp and has nuts to hold it all in the head tube.

[gstwizzle]

thanks.....So look for 96-99 Gixxer forks or....

[gstwizzle]

So the weather is shaping up around here in NY.... fresh picture before I take it back apart to finally start the rest of the stuff I didn't get to.

[ben2go]

Kool.

[gstwizzle]

Thanks

[bucks1605]

Very nice! I like it, what else do you have to do?

[gstwizzle]

Spring To Do List

- Sprockets and chain
- new headlight bulb
- swap out the rear shock (already have an sv650 shock)
- paint and mount the side covers I made....which will hide the battery and wiring harness.
- re-paint the swing arm (brake fluid leak took a lot of paint off)
- swap brake lines with steel braided
- run new gas lines
- paint and mount a cover I made which hides the spec tag on the upper front part of the frame.
- some random parts need to be repainted

[bucks1605]

I'm going to be painting my swing arm soon. What kind of prep work did you do?

[ohgood]

So the weather is shaping up around here in NY.... fresh picture before I take it back apart to finally start the rest of the stuff I didn't get to.

It looks great ! Er, uhm, will the undertail survive a bottoming of the suspension ?

[ben2go]

I'm going to be painting my swing arm soon. What kind of prep work did you do?

I cleaned mine thourghly with a degreaser and wiped it down with denatured alcohol.Sanded with 320 grit sand paper,wiped down again with denatured alcohol.Prime.Next,I sanded again with 800 grit,wiped down with denatured alcohol,and paint.If the paint isn't to bad and there's no rust you maybe able to sand and paint.You can always have a body shop or machine shop media blast it,wipe down,prime,sand,and paint.Prices I received for blasting was between $25 and $75.Blasting is only going to save you a few hours of work.

[gstwizzle]

When I did mine I just sand blasted the entire swingarm.  It some rust near the suspension linkage mounts that I didn't want to see come through fresh paint.  Sand blasting is the best way to go if you have rust because it eliminates it. After blasting I used a self etching primer.  I have a sand blaster so it makes it easy to say this...

[gstwizzle]

I made the undertail out of lexan...which is suppose to be indestructable.  I have bottomed out already, on it multiple occassions and it did scuff the lexan a little.  I painted  the side that faces up into the "under seat compartment" so the paint would never chip.  So.... so far so good.  But in the event that it does "die" I post it up on here.

[Jay_wolf]

Thats what my drum stick tips are made out of , and my Axis sonic hammers *Bass pedel beaters* are made out of , and they take a beating , and not a chip

[gstwizzle]

There is a few things I would like to do still besides the list of semi-easy stuff to do.....that will get done at some point in the future...

- bandit 1200 swingarm with a 180 tire....
- gsxr forks
- Paint the tank and front fender.... White w/ pearl gold flakes?!?!?

But will see when that gets done... I may be buying a house this summer which will put a damper on spending money on toys.

[gstwizzle]

O and if you decide to make stuff out of lexan....DON'T get the cheaper Acrylic counter part.... Acrylic will snap and it is a pain to work with.  Just spend the money up front....it will be worth it in the end

[Jim Knopf]

servus,

i have the original undertray from the buell x1 here in my worldlogisticcenter!


when you need it, PN me.