GR650 anybody?

[peteGS]

Nicely done Rich! And that calculator looks extremely handy!

[Big Rich]

Thanks Pete!

Got the exhaust powder coated black and mounted back up:



Also painted the exhaust clamps black so they don't stick out like a sore thumb....

[peteGS]

Looks the goods Rich! Did you say you were doing something different with the muffler end as well?

[Big Rich]

Yep. I wanted to put together the mid section so I can see what pipes I need to finish up the tail end. Ended up ordering a 45° up swept pipe, along with an 18° pipe. So the muffler will sit at a a 27° angle.

If it all works out as planned, I should be able to give it a test ride in about 8 days.....raw fiberglass seat and all.

[ShowBizWolf]

Great work as always Rich!!! And as always, thank you for sharing 

[peteGS]

That's great Rich! Need to see that on video!!! 

[yamahonkawazuki]

damn i miss my tempter lol.

[Big Rich]

Aaron, I have 3 spare engines and a titled frame. And a ton of spare parts....

Years ago while browsing around on Craigslist for spare GR stuff I found something pretty interesting. Somebody took a GR650 engine and fitted it to an adult sized go kart frame with those "all terrain" golf cart tires. The ad said something along the lines of "You have no idea how fast this kart can go!!!"

Yes...yes I do.

[Big Rich]

Small picture-less update: the last 2 pipes I needed for the exhaust came in today. Really wasn't expecting them until tuesday.... but I'm not complaining! Hopefully I can get the time this weekend to finish off the exhaust.

And I think I need to get a new battery.... my current Shorai isn't holding a charge well at all. If the bike doesn't fire up right away, the battery drops down under 11 volts.... bastard. Not exactly what I want to spend $150 on right now.

[Big Rich]

Gettin there....:



Obviously that's just a test fitment. The muffler will be slid down the pipe a little ways so it's not sticking out the rear of the bike.....

Have a safe & fun holiday weekend folks!

[peteGS]

That angle looks spot on Rich! I can imagine it slid further down and it should be good!

PS... just gotta say I just purchased the real start of my next project... an import 750 Kat frame 

[Big Rich]

What?! The Kat project begins?! That's awesome Pete. Are you going to have a thread on the GSR, DTT, etc?

But yeah, the exhaust is turning out pretty well. I have some soft bags that have a very similar angle, so it should be pretty slick when it's all said and done.

[peteGS]

It does indeed Rich! Still a long way to go... that's a sum total of 2 parts towards it... haha

Dunno about DTT (haven't logged in there for a very long time) but GSR and the Kat forums for sure 

I remember seeing the soft bags somewhere so yes that should all work out very well indeed.

[Big Rich]

Well Pete, I'm excited for ya. I know you've wanted a Kat for a long time now. You do some great work, can't wait to see it!

In regards to the shorter muffler, this looks much better:



Shortened the pipe and slid the muffler down, and welded some exhaust supports on. Still needs some finish welding / grinding done..... but I got to take it for a little ride today! Just a few 1.5 mile loops around the neighborhoodto check the speedo settings, but it felt good to twist the throttle on this again. My butt however, reminded me how iI need some padding on the seat.....

[yamahonkawazuki]

all part of the process lol, all part of the process

[Big Rich]

Congrats on the promotion Yama! But yeah, I left out the part about the fender falling off and me driving around for 20 minutes trying to find it.....

updates tomorrow, I swear!

[peteGS]

I'm excited too Rich! Will let you know when I have threads up.

That's awesome you got to take her for a short run! The pipe is spot on now, looks good and suits the lines just right.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Big Rich]

"Tomorrow" took longer than I thought......



So let's see.... finished powder coating the exhaust, and added a little bit of exhaust wrap (only near the brake lever to prevent boot burning). Took the seat frame completely off, sandblasted, and painted it for now. It will get a proper powder coated finish once everything is done, but for now I just need to prevent rust. And I made a gasket for the taillight lens so water can't get in there. If you look real close around the carbs, there's a black hose connected to the cylinder head. That's a GR650 thing.... originally there is a hose between the cylinder head and carbs that sucks a small amount of filtered air into the intake. Because the air comes in at an angle, it "swirls" the intake mixture for some type of performance gain. Since I don't have stock carbs, I would use rubber vacuum plugs to block the holes. They always get too hot and leak, so I finally got a silicone hose on ebay to do away with those rotting plugs.

[peteGS]

OH very nice Rich, very nice indeed!!! The pipe looks good and the seat is taking shape nicely too! I'm gettin' excited!!!

[Big Rich]

So I've put about 30 miles on the bike so far and here is what I've found out:

My suspension is pretty much crap at the moment. The Ducati rear shock w/ stock Suzuki spring might work for the GS750ES, but the GR650 is just too light. Same can be said about the Bandit forks - I was hoping the springs would work but they are too stiff. Right now the plan is getting hold of Rich Desmond about some "ultralight" springs (his Bandit springs go down to .85, and I need .75). I'll also be looking at a Hagon rear shock to replace the stock GR650 shock, but that's another $450 or so.

Brakes? Oh yeah, there's some issues there too. One or both of the front rotors are warped badly (haven't measured which yet obviously). I really don't want to go with Chinese rotors, so I need to browse around on ebay for hopefully slightly used replacements. The rear rotor is good, but the pads aren't gripping hardly at all. Maybe they are glazed over? Have to look into that as well....

Between the stiff suspension, non padded seat, and low / long riding position, the bike is more of a torture device at the moment. A loaded tank bag really does help to take some pressure off my wrists, but I need to get some tank grip pads before it's all done. My death grip on the tank digs my knees into the steel...

All that being said.... it's a blast to ride and I can't wait to ride it again!