GR650 anybody?

[peteGS]

Niggly bits aside that sounds like success to me Rich!!! Hopefully you can get those sorted fairly simply/cheaply and get on the road sooner rather than later 

[Big Rich]

Cheers Pete! I'm really going to try and avoid the Chinese rotors.... I've found a few OEM ones on ebay (used of course) but need to wait for payday. Besides, I still need to measure and find out if just one is warped or both.

Update! Took the screen off and painted the lower edge of the inside of it. This will help to hide some of the dash wiring, and it doesn't block my line of sight at all either:

[Big Rich]

Took these sections of the exhaust off and sprayed the wrap with some black header paint :

[Big Rich]

Last for tonight - started making a seat pan using fiberglass and wood paint stirring sticks. The wood is for stapling the vinyl later on:

[peteGS]

Excellent Rich, it is coming together nicely... The finish line is in sight!!!


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[The fink]

It's looking good Rich, keep up the good work 

[Big Rich]

Well, I've been working a ton of OT at work, and have only had brief chances to get in the garage. But I found this little gem on ebay recently:



Some NOS case savers! As much as don't generally like the look of case savers, they do have some appeal considering the alternatives....

[Big Rich]

And I started putting some padding on the seat. There's more than what this picture shows, but I was in a rush working in the garage. The soft saddlebags are weighted down to help the adhesive stick to the fiberglass pan:



Once the padding was down and shaped, I started fitting a cover over everything. There's only 6 staples or so in it right now, hence the loose fitment. Tomorrow morning I'll finish up my 12 night stretch at work and can get some more garage time.....

[peteGS]

 Excellent Rich! And great score on the case savers! Would love a set on the 450 if I could get them to work around the pipes...

Are you going to be ok doing the fibreglass finishing and paint with the seat on there already?


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[Big Rich]

Cheers Pete! Have you looked into case savers for the GS500 or maybe some frame sliders? Surely something would work with your pipes....

But yeah, the seat shouldn't be a problem. The foam & vinyl rest on top of a separate fiberglass pan that will only be attached with velcro. I want to do the seat pad before the fiberglass tail, only because the way the fabric sits will effect how I do a "finish trim" on the leading edge (by the gas tank).

[peteGS]

I thought about making some up at one point but the prices of the raw materials were a bit 

Still something sitting in the back of my mind though for sure... it would still be cheaper than the end result of going over...

I had forgotten you had a separate seat pan despite the fact it was only a few posts up in the thread 

You'll be just fine in that case 

Good idea to do it this way, it will definitely fit in better with the tank!

[Big Rich]

Just took the old GR for a 70 mile run.... and WOW this bike wants to go fast! It is pretty brisk outside right now (a whopping 45°) but the fairing definitely kept a good bit of wind off me. Years ago when the bike was stock, I really had to push to get it to 100mph, today I hit that with some revs to go. Now for some things to add to my "to do" list:

The fairing mounted mirrors are pretty worthless. Looks like bar ends will be the way to go.
Which means new front signals will be needed as well.
Electrical: with the 1157 led taillights, my system is almost "over charging" at high rpms. With standard bulbs, it is dropping down to 13.1-13.4 volts at idle. Gotta pick the rock or the hard spot I suppose....
The kick stand needs a peg welded back onto it - it is tucked away behind the shifter and exhaust, and I'm no contortionist....
Throttle grip is sliding off the tube, so that needs attention.
The seat is rock hard! Probably just get an Airhawk pad and see how that works out.
Aside from the seat being rough, the suspension needs some work too. The Bandit springs are way too stiff, so I need to email Rich Desmond about some ultra light springs. The whole front end may have been beefed up when it was actually on the Bandit, so some 10w oil is going in too.

[peteGS]

That's awesome to hear Rich! All those things should be relatively easy to sort out, the fact that she's running well is great news!

It's definitely good to have usable mirrors... even on mine I find the stems are probably an inch too short and I get a little too much shoulder than I like, but I can see enough behind me it's not a major drama. I'm not too sure about 'bar ends for filtering though... extra width is something I don't need for that! Haha

[Big Rich]

I hear ya Pete - it seems like cycle mirrors are always a compromise. I think the only standard mirrors that allow a good FOV have stalks that are so long to allow vibration. I put some small CRG bar ends on the GR and they seem to work out so far..... but being on clip on bars, I might get a great view of my future saddlebags instead of traffic. Time will tell.

Some good news though - I emailed Rich Desmond about some lighter springs, and he said he actually has some in stock - they just weren't listed as in stock on the site.

One other thing.... I don't know if I mentioned it but my front rotors are pulsating pretty bad. I tried soaking the buttons / rivets / whatever they are called with brake cleaner and unsticking them. That helped a little but I think I'll need to find the exact high & low spots on the rotors. Always something....

[peteGS]

Yep, mirrors are hard to get right! I've seen a few guys (mainly Harleys) with mirrors that run from the 'bars but hang underneath, so you're looking out under your arms... may or may not work, I'd have to see for myself.

Good news on the springs and yes I remember the pulsing discs, definitely need to get that sorted! Don't wanna have to grab a handful of brake just to find the pistons have been pushed back in and you have to pump them up again first 

[Big Rich]

Not much to update since I'm working a bunch of overtime again. I got the seat fabric to look somewhat presentable, s iI've been riding the GR more often. The bushing in the clutch handle on my GS450 is causing some notchiness, so all the more reason to park the GS and ride the GR anyways.

And a neat pic I took the other day:

[ShowBizWolf]

Haha nice!!! I love it... and that seat is really coming along nice!!

[peteGS]

That's a nice angle Rich, she's looking great already!!!

[Big Rich]

Thanks fellas!

My time has been rather tied up lately.... between working overtime, tinkering with that little blue electric bike, and the yellow dirt bike, I haven't gotten too much done on the old GR. Last night was my "garage night" and I only took one picture...... boo......



I did open up the headlight hole on the fairing, along with the first couple coats of metallic primer. Needs a light wet sanding and a couple more coats though before I can lay out the rest of the paint scheme. I had to swap out my ADVMonster fog light (that was in front of the engine) with another one. Let's just say it didn't agree with me messing with the lens..... But I swapped the ADVMonster lights from the GS450 & GR650 too. The light on the GS is a different model, and MUCH brighter than what was mounted on the GR.

That's it for now!

[peteGS]

Well one pic is better than none 

Can't wait to see the paint!