Anyone remember previous builds with tail swaps??

[tt_four]

How many people do we have left on the forum who have done tail swaps to their GS?? When I searched I found someone who had some pictures of an F4i tail and someone who used a gsxr tail. I can't check out the pictures until I get home from work anyway, but I wanted to see who else had something similar that could post some more pictures.

I have a 98 R1 solo tail on mine, so I never had to mess with the passenger seat/cowl, but I've decided I'd like to put that massive trunk to good use. I'd like to see what some other people have come up with before I just start chopping away at my tail. I remember seeing 2 different people who put R6 tails on their bikes and had a removable seat/cowl, but I can't find their threads for the life of me. I'd love to see what they did.

I still have the seat latch from my stock seat, so I'll probably use that and just put a hinge or some kind of hook on the other end. since I would just be cutting a square out it would sit flush and probably look similar to how the cover on the RC51 just sits flat on the top of the tail. Let me know if you guys remember who did any of other tail swaps, or if they're yours, let me know what the thread was called so I can find it!

[O.C.D.]

There are two on the first page right now?!

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=50448.0 - sorry it is mine, but...........
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=34784.0
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=42398.0
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=42183.0

That is just a few I found.

[tt_four]

Well of course I remember your and psyber's bikes! I've been following those in detail. It appears we really like our Ducati tail swaps here too!

I'm looking more specifically for bikes with rear fairings. It's the setup that'll let me cleanly attach the cowl/hatch to get inside my trunk I'm looking for. I'm hoping to find some with tails like these..... http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=46897.0 although I very specifically remember two threads with people installing the R6 tails, and showing how they set up the passenger seat, and it's killing me that I can't find them.

I wish I had a mill, and the skill to go with it so I could just go crazy like this guy...
http://www.gsxr.com/showthread.php?t=60119

[tt_four]

Alright, I've made a little bit of progress with a lot of searching, neither one is a build of someone putting the passenger seat on a stock subframe, but it's at least a start, and at least by the time I'm done with this there will be one whole thread with "tail swap" in the title that has links to a ton of different tail swaps so someone doesn't have to go through this again. I can only assume the 2 that I've been searching for don't mention any words dealing with a tail swap in the title.

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=50542.0  2nd gen sv650 tail with a custom made subframe
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=48253.msg542430#msg542430  tail swap, but only shows the front seat arrangement

[tt_four]

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=50363.0 K6-k9 gsxr tail swap with slight subframe modifications (this project would be much easier if I knew how to weld already!)

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=47496.0 R6 tail swap from Finland. I thought this was gonna be the link I was looking for, but unfortunately no detailed pictures of inside the tail. Great/clean fighter project though

Edit: That last one WAS the bike I was thinking about.... the pictures I was thinking of were just in a link buried in the thread...... http://img294.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=26072009503.jpg

Ok, so my searching is done. I just need to look through most of those better and see what I can come up with this weekend.

[CZOKO]

xxx

[The Buddha]

Pics from the side on tail swaps are worthless IMHO.
From top, or rear or front are much more telling. The tail off most sport bikes are too fat to look right on a GS. A monster may look fine, but from up above it or behind it is much more telling.
Cool.
Buddha.

[tt_four]

In general I agree that most are too wide, but when you're riding it no one can tell from above, behind, or in front if it's too wide for the tank. They only see how sweet you look cruising on by from the side. 

[Paulcet]

They only see how sweet you look ....

Umm, yeah.

[The Buddha]

Bwaaahahahahahah ... sadly "people looking" does not mean its good. Have you ever seen a super fat chick in a thong. People cannot help staring at that either. People cant stop looking at sheite that is unusual. The compliment to a heavily modded bike is when people almost miss it in a gaggle of stock bikes. I put a fairing on the 89 for cheesy/se7enty7/Tarzanboy. I rode it to a parking lot of a bike shop @ their close when they used to have a meetup before a ride on wednesdays.
It got ignored generally, and when it got noticed, it was from GS500 owners who said, man how do you have clip on's on this bike.
I said it came stock with them, its an 89. They just went ... 

2 years ago I put that kat FE on the 94. That bike I put pics of it on CL to sell it, the calls I got were all about why my price is so high for a GS500. I had to point out that 2 disk FE, and the wider rear tire. It wasn't just factory looking in pics, it was that way in person, so much so, the guy who came to buy it wanted to see a stock GS and compare it.

The idea of a small mod is to get attention. Like paint jobs, neon kits, colored tars, fender eliminator kit etc.
The idea of a big mod like FE, tail, etc is to make it look stock.
You build a chopper that looks like you hammered it in your garage you have lost the plot.
You build a chopper that looks like it came from the factory that way you have something to talk about.

Your paint job looks like its a factory stock job, you have lost.
your paint job looks like "wow that's cool paint" that is a winner.

What if a bike has both ... then the big mod should get missed, and the small mod gets all the attention. My savage chopper bobber gets comments for the fact that its rear tire is exposed, and that limp duck tail light looks cool on that cut off rear fender. That extended FE and 9 degree rake with a foot of extra length gets missed till I point it out. Its still not as proper looking IMHO, its triples are a bit boxy IMHO, but it does look factory original to a less critical eye.

Cool.
Buddha.

[utgunslinger13]

Different strokes for different folks.  lol I've always wanted to say that.

Check my signature for a link to my build with a buell lightning tail on the GS.

[tt_four]

The compliment to a heavily modded bike is when people almost miss it in a gaggle of stock bikes.

I think it really depends what kind of mods you're getting into. I agree that custom work should be clean and not just zipties and spray paint, but why should a new tail not get noticed when  paint job should? I don't even see any difference between a paint job or a new tail. They're both 100% cosmetic mods made to make a bike look how you want it to look. I'll agree that it shouldn't matter what people think about it if you're the one who likes it. I'm sure most people aren't going to notice if you put on a wider rear wheel or change out the rear shock, but if you took the time to mount a gsxr tail and fairing on your bike, and put so much effort into it to make it look stock, then you're just making your bike into a fake gsxr. If you're changing a bunch of parts on a bike and no body notices anything I would only be willing to consider it "lightly modified". Everyone who buys a sportbike automatically starts looking at exhausts, tinted windscreens, rearsets, some shiny chrome parts. None of that makes a bike "custom" any more than replacing the cheap screwdriver and wrench under your seat out for some nice more functional tools. Any bike will look stock to any random person in a parking lot, but anything you've actually modified will usually stick out to people in a parking lot full of people who ride bikes since anything that's not a gsxr/zxr/r6/cbr will usually attract some attention.

[tt_four]

Update:

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=54096.0;topicseen

here's a link to someone with an earlier generation GS with a current(09-10ish) R6 tail.

[007brendan]

Whatever you do, don't use an SV tail, it looks ridiculous.  Actually, nearly everything I've seen people try to fit to the GS is far too big.  The ducati's generally look pretty proportional.  That r6 one you posted didn't look too bad, but I only saw a side view.  The cafe tails look the best IMHO.

[tt_four]

the old R1 tail I put on mine was huge. It looked ok from the side, but from the back/top it was clearly too big for the tank. It looked fine when you were riding it because you wouldn't really compare the tank to the tail. I ended up swapping the old style tank for a new one and it made a world of difference. 

I think an ideal tail would be aon 03-04 gsxr tail. Someone was selling a whole tail with the tail light on craigslist for about $50 but I hesitated when I should've jumped on it. Either way I'm gonna clean mine up nicely for winter so I can sell it in spring, so I should get some nice detailed pictures of what how to mount the one I have. The trickiest part is the undertail. My seat rests flat across the top subframe rails, and the undertail actually sticks up above those rails. Gonna try to cut it down and fiberglass it a little.