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mr72's '92 project - "Renegade"

Started by mr72, October 04, 2016, 08:04:27 AM

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mr72

Replaced the clutch cable and went for a spin with the 14t sprocket.

First of all, I discovered that if I am not riding this thing regularly, it really is cranky when it's cold. I think the float bowls get empty and it has a hard time filling them on startup and it takes a while before there's vacuum long enough to get the petcock to flow. Going to have to figure this out. I'm guessing the trick will be putting it on PRI for a couple of minutes prior to starting when it's been sitting. Also I get the impression everything is gummed up. I think I'll put a dose of B-12 in the tank.

Anyway...

So the clutch cable is miraculously better. OMG I can't believe how much better that is. If you have spongy and crummy clutch feel CHECK THE CABLE under the cover.

The 14t sprocket. Well, the bike doesn't wheelie all the time. But it does seem to love revving a lot more. It definitely feels more energetic all the time. But it's screaming down the road at 65mph, turning over 6K in 6th gear. The biggest thing for me is getting used to not accelerating at 3K rpm like I do on the Triumph. After I ride it about 10 minutes then it suddenly feels quite quick but it's mostly because I'm used to the power band and not upshifting at 6K rpm all the time like I do on the Bonnie. After a few minutes on it, the bike begins to feel very high strung and hooliganish.

So in all, I am not 100% sure I love the 14t. I am sure I like it better than the 16, but I'm glad the 41t rear didn't work out because I think it would be nearly unusable on the highway with any shorter gearing. A 15t might be perfect. But for the time being, the 14t will stay and make that bike interesting.

Mostly I just need to be riding this more.

Jim Knopf

Servus, 
Try the 16er in Front with the 41er in the Rear :D

mr72

I don't have a 41t that fits the rear. The one I ordered didn't fit so I sent it back.


cbrfxr67

"Its something you take apart in 2-3 days and takes 10 years to go back together."
-buddha

mr72

well, you can't see the new sprocket :)


mr72

So, rode it a lot more today. Once it's warmed up and I get my GS senses back, it's kind of a hoot and definitely more high strung. And it does wheelie pretty readily off the line with just a hint of leaning back.

mr72

sorry no pics yet but I'm deep in the middle of a footpeg-lowering project.

I'll take some pictures once I have more to go on.

I used 1" steel box section about 8" long to create basically an extension for each side that mounts to the spot where the "rearset" mounts on each side. I'm fitting up a hunk of L-angle steel on the front edge of this box section where I will re-mount the "rearset" on each side. This will result in the pegs being about 3" lower and about 1" forward of the stock location.

I'm using a KTM replacement shift lever with a pivot and mounting it to a plate that I'm sticking on the left "rearset" (I keep using quotes because that term really doesn't apply...). The handy thing about this particular lever, and why I picked it, is that unlike most the lever that drives the shifter via a rod and heim joint is above the lever rather than below. This allows me to easily reverse the direction of the shifter, and also accommodates mounting it below the stock shifter plane. I guess it'll all make more sense once there's a picture.

Hardest part of the project will likely be mounting the brake light switch.  But the whole thing has been more involved than I expected but I decided I want to use the GS more as a gravel road and bad surface adventurey bike so I need to be able to stand on the pegs. Lowering them 3" is just what the Dr. ordered.

cbrfxr67

good stuff,..cant wait to see it
"Its something you take apart in 2-3 days and takes 10 years to go back together."
-buddha

mr72

OK, here we go.

I got both footpeg lowering brackets built and mounted.

I actually started over this morning and threw away the work I already did on this. I started with a 3ft length of 1"x1"x1/8" steel angle. I cut the brackets down using a miter saw with an abrasive metal cutting blade, which worked pretty well and was way faster and cleaner than using the angle grinder. Then I did some shaping using my bench grinder.



Next up I drilled the holes to mount them. Basically each side has two pieces that bolt together, then this all bolts to the bike. I tapped the holes where the original "rearset" mounts with an M8 tap so I can use the original bolt.



Right side all mounted up. Still have to figure out how to attach the rear brake MC and brake light switch but I have ideas.



Things get more interesting on the left side due to the shifter.

Bracket mounted:


Test fitting the peg assy:



Now, I needed a way to mount the shifter. Originally I was going to just attach it to the "rearset" plate just ahead of the foot peg but the peg would interfere with the linkage if I did that, so I needed to mount it higher than the peg. I made up a little aluminum plate and bolted it to the peg mounting plate, and then drilled a hole, tapped to M8 and mounted a bicycle cantilever brake post to it. The shifter will ride on the brake post.



Then I chopped off the original shifter to make a linkage part, and drilled a hole, tapped with M6. Put on a M6 heim joint for the linkage. Mounted up the shifter, and here it is test fit:



I still need to get a M6 threaded rod or screw I can cut off that's about 110-115mm long, then the left side will be good to go.

Still remaining is working out the rear brake MC mounting and brake light switch mounting, which should be easy enough. I will need a longer brake reservoir hose and lengthen the wire running to the brake light switch. No sweat. I just got tired of working on it today.

The issues are about the left side. The center stand is probably going to have to go. With the peg in this position, my heel presses down on the center stand foot pedal. The bigger problem is the side stand, which basically when raised runs right into the bottom of my extended peg assembly. I don't think it's likely that it will fall down on its own so it may really not matter that much, but it wouldn't hurt to have a dogleg-shaped side stand and I need one an inch longer anyway. So I might see if my dad wants to fire up the welder and maybe we fab something up.

In this position the pegs are about 1.5" or so forward from the stock position and most importantly about 4" lower. They are also 1" further out from the centerline of the bike. It's WAY more comfortable for me, and this accomplishes the goal of making pegs that I can stand on, which is part of the "adventurizing" of this bike.

It looks a bit Mad Max right now but once I get everything fabbed up I'll take it back off and sand and paint it to match the frame and my guess is it won't look so nutty. Probably will repaint the whole original rearset plates as well. Remember I raised the rear of the bike about 1.5" or so by virtue of the Katana600 shock, and the front is raised about 3/4" in the triples, so I am not worried about ground clearance or cornering clearance. Also I am using my knock-off handlebar "risers" to set the bars back about 2" from their stock position, since it's quite a reach across that long tank if you adjust the riding position to be more upright. Sitting on the bike with the KX-bend handlebars sitting 2" back from stock and the low-forward pegs, it really does have a similar position to an adventure-type bike, maybe a long version of a dual sport bike.

I'm actually very anxious to get it back together and go ride it. I rode yesterday on the Triumph and again got kind of beat up on some rough roads. There are a TON of these dodgy Texas county roads with occasional gravel sections and extremely poor pavement conditions and the GS with the current suspension just floats over this while the Triumph is punishing. Actually I think my slightly modified GS will be a pretty decent adventure type bike.

For whatever reason it's been raining most of the time in CenTX since August last year, particularly on the weekends. So that means I have plenty of time tomorrow to figure out the rear brake stuff. I'll probably have to wait for Monday to go to Fastenal to get a long M6 bolt to make the shift linkage complete. Then I'll have to wait for it to not be raining to paint all this, but I'm going to wait until after I can ride it some to paint it.

cbrfxr67

Looks good!  I mean if you were typing 'angle with bolts holding it together' I mightve  :dunno_black: but it looks like a great start sir.
"Its something you take apart in 2-3 days and takes 10 years to go back together."
-buddha

mr72

Thanks. It'll look better once I finish the proof of concept and take it all back off to paint it. I might grind on the parts some more to slick them up a bit. In fact, once I get all of the erector-set type design done and verify it works, I might actually have a set of brackets made up or completely rework the pegs anyway to swap for more dual-sport peg assemblies. In that case I might opt to move the pegs forward even further. This is a work in progress for sure, just finding a peg position that works and getting the mechanical feasibility sorted. I doubt I will ride a whole lot of miles on the bolt-together version of this project.

I need to do a little more work to the shift linkage and reduce flex in the pivot point among other things. That's a head-scratcher of a problem in a couple of ways but I'll get it worked out. I might just pull the center stand and use a torch to heat the arm that the foot pedal is on to bend it so it's lower and not right under my heel. And I still have to figure what to modify about the side stand to make it work better; might just add some spacers and simply move the whole peg mounting assy out about another 1/2" from the center line of the bike just to make the side stand clear. And I am on the hunt for the brake master cylinder relocation. That's just a simple steel plate and a couple of spacers, easy. I'll probably get all of this stuff sorted out by the end of next weekend.

Right now the pegs are 21" below the seat measured from the seat/tank junction. That's exactly the same dimension as my Triumph. And it feels just the same sitting on it. BTW that's nearly 4" lower than stock. That's a really big difference.

mr72

I had hoped to get this mostly done this weekend but the reality is I am too busy with other things, especially preparing to leave on a trip tomorrow so I just won't have time to fool with it.

However, I did do some tinkering and make some decisions.

Firstly, I got the shifter side to work, shift gears, and it's close to being able to ride it. But it flexes way too much and that's due to the inherent flexibility of the steel angle, which is just not torsionally rigid. I have considered many ways of doing this and I think my final solution is going to be welding in a brace across the diagonal of the angle section making it sort of a triangle rather than L cross section. While I'm at it, I think I am going to just weld together the two bolted pieces and do so on both sides, and I'm going to weld in a corner brace to match on the right side too making mirror image brackets. Why half-do it?

That means I have to learn to weld :) But that's alright. My dad has a brand new wire-feed welder so when I get back from my trip in a couple of weeks I'm going to take a bunch of scrap and learn to weld, then weld up my brackets.

Which also brings up the point, I can probably also modify my side stand while I'm at it. For that matter I might as well lengthen it too.

And since I'm going to be welding a bunch of stuff, I think I'll fab up a much cleaner and more ideal bracket for the brake master cylinder. I think I've proof-of-concept'd this enough and it's time to just tear it all apart, do the welding, grinding, and paint the whole mess and put it back together. I'll make a weekend project of it. I really want to get out and ride the GS but I want this project to be done with no looking back.

mr72

talking to myself here ...

Just got back from Alaska. Will work on this project over the weekend and with any luck get it done.

Decided to braze, not weld. Way easier for a beginner like me and there's plenty of overlap area on this project to make it strong.

Got some 90-degree inside angle gussets to beef up the shifter side mount.

Going to remove the aluminum shifter mount and replace it with a brazed-on 3/16" thick steel plate. That should be a lot more rigid.

And going to fab up a brake MC mount from that same 3/16" steel plate.

Pics when it's done.

mr72

#153
Here's an update:



TL;D..W? Welded up peg mounts are a success, will fit the final two or three little things and begin test riding tomorrow.

EDIT:  test ride today was a success. still a couple of adjustments and modifications that need to be made, biggest is I need to get the center stand out of my way and shorten the throw of the shift lever.

Was pretty interesting to be back n the GS today. That's just a whole different animal. And far more comfortable with the lowered pegs. I could seriously ride all day on it.

cbrfxr67

sweet,...that was almost a motovlog!
"Its something you take apart in 2-3 days and takes 10 years to go back together."
-buddha

mr72

#155
Funny how the tiniest of things can turn into the biggest pains.

I went to relocate the pivot on the shift knuckle (what's left of the original shifter) to reduce the shift throw and broke an M6 tap off in the hole. This turns out to be a far bigger problem than you might expect. So for the past two weeks it seems I've been trying to drill out that tap. The tap is HSS, same material as typical drill bit so a normal drill bit doesn't work. I tried to crack it with a center punch, tiny cold chisel. No dice. Tried a cobalt drill, absolutely nothing. Today I got a $10 unfluted tungsten carbide "glass, tile and stone" bit to try, which acted like it was going to work but only drilled about 1mm before giving up. I REALLY wanted to reuse this hole! But it appears that's not likely to happen. I'll give it one more try then I will give up, fill the hole and drill another one nearby.

I think with that and remove the center stand it will be rideable.

I was really hoping to make it rideable in time to take it down to Port Aransas this weekend (about a 4 hr drive each way). Just figured the salt air and sand, I'd rather take the GS vs. the Triumph. But the Triumph may wind up being a lot more comfortable on the freeway. And the GS may still be without a shifter.


EDIT: Well the tungsten-carbide bit wouldn't do the deed so I drilled a new hole and tapped it, all is well. Still need to take it all apart again and fill the errant holes with JB Weld, paint, etc, but that can wait until I paint the whole thing.

Next up, center-stand removal and then RIDE!! But I won't be taking it to Port A, nor the Triumph, because I've been elected to drive the Jeep this weekend. Still can't wait to get back on the GS. I miss that old girl.

cbrfxr67

Argony!  :2guns:  I was going to suggest a tap remover


i hope you used left handed bits?  They've 'caught' broke taps for me and got them out that way.

anyways you got through it so that's cool.  Can't wait to see more pics of your work :icon_mrgreen:
"Its something you take apart in 2-3 days and takes 10 years to go back together."
-buddha

mr72

Removed the center stand and rode it a bit yesterday. Gotta do a little more adjusting of the shifter position because I tend to wind up in neutral rather than 2nd most of the time but otherwise it rides fine. Would be happier of the left side was stiffer. I'm going to have to think about how to beef it up but it's completely rideable as is.

Today I hope to go on a longer ride just for fun, get used to the handling again. I'll pick some roads that I avoid on the Triumph because they are too rough. Nice to have the old gs back in action. Maybe I'll make some more video.

mr72

Got to ride the GS a bunch yesterday with the newly positioned foot pegs and "adventure" ergos.

I am going to have to lower the shifter pivot a half inch or so an do some other linkage mods. This is a work in progress. But the bike is quite rideable with a nutty character.

It is a hoot to ride it. It feels you're going fast when you're going 45. It's loud and rumbles a lot and is dying to rev. With the 14t sprocket it basically turns into full on hooligan above 50 mph because any move of the throttle makes it jump and it's screaming along at 6-7K rpm in that range. Not docile at all. I may put the fork back up in the triples, currently have it lowered about 12mm. With the different ergos and hard springs (0.90kg/mm) and raised fork the front end is very light which makes it feel very slippy and unstable in tight corners.

Turns out Suzuki engineers knew what they were doing with chassis design. But this is a fun project and so different from the Triumph! I found myself exploring little rough roads to nowhere and having a blast roaring along at 30 mph. I dig this a lot. Just have to do a couple more little mods to the shift linkage and mount to get it dialed in and sort the side stand.

mr72

#159
Alright. Three things were getting me down about my lowered pegs modification.

1. the shifter flexed too much. I couldn't figure any really good way to solve this.
2. the side stand interferes with the lower edge of my bracket.
3. the rear brake was at the end of its adjustment range ... although this would have been totally solvable.

So while I was at the Harvest Classic rally last weekend I found a set of BMW adventure pegs complete with mounting plates on a swap meet table for $10. Now I'm going to redo this whole footpeg thing again. This time around I'll just make up one simple 1/4" thick plate and mount the BMW peg straight to the plate, mount the plate to the original "rearset" mounting holes. I can put the shifter on the left side plate directly and it should be way stiffer since there's no big bracket hanging in the breeze. On the other side, I can just transfer the brake lever to the plate and mount the brake light switch and master cylinder to the alu plate.

This should be a lot stiffer, solve my brake clearance issue, and get rid of the side stand interference.

Stay tuned, I'll be working on this in the coming days.


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