So it's been a grip since I posted here. I've moved on to an SV-S, but I've still got the work horse, my 96 GS. It needs a touch of work (handlebars, gasket refresh, battery, tires) and I figured that, since it's no longer my daily, and I wouldn't really get that much cash out of it, I'd love to mess around and chop it.

Any suggestions? My roommates are begging me for a sidecar. Has anyone ever done that before? What other awesome things do you /wish/ you could do to your GS? I'm certainly up for suggestions... especially inexpensive ones!

Welcome back!

I think I saw a GS with a sidecar on ebay once...

I'd either rat it out and paint every last bit flat black, or just strip/chop/cut/grind every last bit off that doesn't look important.  Or a combination of the two

Examples of unimportant stuff that should be removed: plastic, most of the rear subframe, back half of the seat (or just make a simple seat cushion), fenders, reflectors, turn signals, gauges, chain guard, mirror(s), as much of the electric and vacuum crap as possible, exhaust can, ignition and locking gascap (ie. no keys... mount a hidden kill switch), side or centerstand: your choice

OOOOooo this is going to be good!  Have fun!

I'm currently building the GS of my dreams.But what manofthefeild said is kool too.Side car I aint fond of but to each his own.I like to throw it around in the twisties.

Side car ... side car ... SIDE CAR ...
OK here is my suggestion -
Get new room mates.
Cool.
Srinath.

i'm pretty sure the sidecar only needs to be able to withstand 25mph or so. It would definitely be removable.

I do like the idea of ripping off everything w/o importance. I was thinking about that on my ride down to a meeting this morning. I need new handlebars, and I'm going to get a cheap set at cycle-recycle this weekend (indianapolis is a surprising hub of bike gear. b/w that and indysuperbikes.com). I was thinking of getting some drag bars. that'd be a good first step to a gs-cafe bike.

hmm. i'll pull the plastics off this weekend and see what all can go. might be a good reason to get one of those uber-expensive sawzall/drill/saw/flashlight kits at lowes.

I saw a sawzall for $50 at china-wal-mart. It looked good and was big and heavy.
Cool.
Srinath.

so i started tearing stuff off last night. freakin 110° heat index didn't have me out there too long, but i put on some new bars (off a 71 Yamaha that I bought Monday night for $20 ). It's pretty obvious what the first things are that can go. I've been sort of searching out a Hawk GT SSSA, cause I think that'd be fun. The carbs are gunked up (I hate carbs. Love FI on my new bike), so I need to be pulling the tank off anyways. I think I'm going to sand it down and have a buddy of mine paint it black. It leaves the frame as the gray tho, which I don't really know what to do with. The idea isn't to spend money, so I'm probably not going to pull everything and have it coated black.

Oh well. I might be out of town this weekend, but if not I'll work on it some and get pictures of progress. I'd like to cut the whole back out of it, from the seat back. Time will tell.