smaeda's build thread

[smaeda]

Well I figured I would start a build thread of my bike. Not very exciting but it would be a good place to keep track of my progress.

The day I brought it home


Few min. later




New turn signals vs stock


much better

[smaeda]

chopped rear fender. Still not sure what I want to do with the tail so this will do for now


bar-end mirrors


Still waiting on headlights to arrive.

[smaeda]

This is what I want to try out for the paint scheme. I found a local pin-striper that could hand-paint it for me so hopefully it will turn out

[tt_four]

I like it. It kinda has a pirate feel to it. Do you have any experience with fiberglass to make yourself a seat cowl? I picked up some stuff from home depot to learn, but i haven't gotten around to it yet.

[gregvhen]

ahhhh how i love build threads, so many pictures to look at. cool tail btw, what is that?

EDIT: as in, is a whole new tail made specifcally for the gs that you photoshoped on, or a cover that you plan to make/buy?

[rexo240sx]

nice mock up. that will have a real classic cafe/naked look . sooo seeing as you are going naked..do you want to sell your plastics?

[utgunslinger13]

I believe he has a post in the for sale section with his parts for sale.

[smaeda]

So I paid more for these brackets that were supposed to fit up to 38 forks from flyincycle......yeah right.  I should have went with the ebay ones because they are the same cheap piece of poo but for half the price.  Busted out the pliers and hammer to make it fit.

[smaeda]

Used rubber bushings as spacers to make the bucket sit more flush.


end result:

[tt_four]

Looking good. Mine has the same headlight brackets, and they got the same hammer treatment yours did. They've held up perfectly fine for 400 miles so far. This weekend I replaced the screw driver head bolts with a normal bolt just to make sure I had them on tight, but they seem to work pretty well.

The bar end mirrors look good too. I wouldn't mind going back to those again someday, but I'll have to wait until I feel like putting out the money for the folding ones so I can still squeeze the bike in the basement door.

[GSXR Tony]

Why did you use such a tiny Headlight? Looks bad-

Have you seen the Headlight and Bucket on the regular Non-F model GS500??

it's WAY bigger than what you put on there sir,-

[tt_four]

I think the size looks alright. I did notice the gap between the headlight and gauges, which is easily fixed by moving the headlight up, but eh.

[smaeda]

hmm. I actually think the headlight is a little big.  I bought the 7 inch headlight housing which should be the same size as stock. It probably looks small because I mounted them as low as I can put them. I hate it when the headlight is mounted higher than the tank. I like it flush.  Plus its to compensate for the new bars I'm going to be installing next.

[rexo240sx]

man that's nice and clean! kinda making me wanna go the naked look my self. i might bite your style. i laid mine down a few months ago and have been slowly re building. well if i do ill be getting rid of a bunch of stuff. lol guess i should have looked at all the options before i started buying

[Clancy]

where did you get the turn signals from? i like em....

[tt_four]

I was having the same situation with my front end looking out of proportion when I replaced my headlight brackets, not to mention then you have to see all of those cables in there. The other problem is that the GS gauges are huge and stick up, so when I put the clip ons on, the gauges were the tallest thing on the bike and they bothered me. I fixed it with some longer bolts for my gauges, and some plastic spacers, and I moved the gauges from being on top of that top triple, to just under it with the spacers between. It dropped my gauges a good inch and a half and evened things out a bit.

[nascarkeith]

Looks cool so far.  That stripping is going to looks sweet if it looks like the pic.  Will kind of have an old school feel to it.

[smaeda]

where did you get the turn signals from? i like em....

I got them from egay. it was only 17 shipped for all 4.

[scroggins5000]

hmm. I actually think the headlight is a little big.  I bought the 7 inch headlight housing which should be the same size as stock. It probably looks small because I mounted them as low as I can put them. I hate it when the headlight is mounted higher than the tank. I like it flush.  Plus its to compensate for the new bars I'm going to be installing next.

I did the same thing with the headlight on a cafe'd Honda 750 I have. I would suggest moving the gauges down too, so they are not hanging out up there all by themselves.

[harrypotter]

where did you get the turn signals from? i like em....

I got them from eghey. it was only 17 shipped for all 4.

more info please

seller name or item name...all the ones i have found are different and more expensive