Couldn't help tweaking it some more.

I made a bare polished steel tank, and got it powder coated clear.  I like how it plays off of the stainless exhaust.

Then cobbled up a different seat from a Ducati Monster 695.  Kind of balances out the fat gas tank, and continues the top visual line of the bike.  Not quite as comfy as the original cafe racer banana seat though.

What do you you guys think?  Any votes for one combination of gas tank / seat vs another?

oooOOOOoooo that tank looks shiiiiiiiinnyyy in the sun 

The seat looks really sporty too... I liked the first one, don't get me wrong but this one looks sharp

Love this tank over the stock one! Got any pics of the original seat with the new tank?

This seat speaks to the Fighter, in Cafe Fighter! Either way, I like both seats.

With all of the custom work on your build, have you considered glassing your own seat?

The tank looks fab. Love the stripes.

IMHO the Duc seat doesn't look as good as the other one. But I am the wrong guy to ask since the "cafe" seat look plus chopped/removed mudguard/fender etc. is not really my cosmetic cup of tea so my opinion is probably wrong.

Here you go Biggz!

Think I'm kinda partial to the Ducati seat for looks.  But the cafe banana seat wins for comfort, with its gel pad.  And when I'm speeding along at Mach 5, the seat is long enough for me to scooch my butt back to stretch out my long monkey arms and really tuck down low.

The sleek look of the Ducati seat does it for me! I think the hump on the cafe seat throws off the lines of the bike.

I like seeing all the changes on your build. For some reason, I feel you're already working on something else...

Is that a real genuine made stainless tank and not a wrapped stock one. If it is , it is stunning. The stock GS tank is pretty good so most will admire but not consider havinh one, but my other bike have a stupidly small tank and a bigger stainless tank would be exactly the thing. Would require a full design though as it is an in tank fuel pump type.
Did you make it ?
BTW a 2007 motor doesn't need the ignition trigger plate carved up much at all. Just the locator screw holes arced 3mm. and you can always just rotate it back if desired.

Thanks Greg.  Yup, I did it all myself.
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=71108.0

But not quite as impressive as it sounds.  I just used a stock tank, stripped off the paint.  Then a gazillion hours of sanding and polishing, finished off with a clear powder coat.  I'm guessing it'd be the same fairly easy process for any other bike with a metal tank.

I'll have to read up on that trigger plate.  I think Biggz knows me too well...
But maybe I should stop while I'm ahead, with a bike that runs just fine currently.

Quote from: Endopotential on December 11, 2016, 04:33:13 PM

I'll have to read up on that trigger plate.  I think Biggz knows me too well...
But maybe I should stop while I'm ahead, with a bike that runs just fine currently.

I'll keep an eye out on your write up for the trigger plate! 

The new tank and seat look rad! Seat is really sleek, and really sporty. Much closer to a "cafe fighter" vibe than the old version, I think. Not that it looked bad before (thought it also looked great lol), I just think it looked more like a straight cafe racer deal with the old seat. Now, it definitely looks more like a cross between a streetfighter and a cafe.

polished and lacquered tank, not stainless  i got so confused when i first read stainless but yeah getting a tank made out of stainless would've been totally unique. love the look of the tank, its something I've wanted to do for ages but the swirl marks from the sanding (and as much as i love the unfinished look) make it look relatively unfinished in comparison to the quality of everything else with the build. theres 2 pics where its really shows and to me it just doesn't add up. fox stickers and stripe are a tasteful touch though.

the ducati seat looks sweet, brings a really nice shape to the bike but the gap between the seat and the tank is pretty heinous, i also get that you wouldnt want to go hacking up the seat base to make it work if you weren't 100% on using it and that sometimes theres just no way of cleanly joining two shapes. either way the shape contrasts the tank very well. the cafe seat looks slightly too large in comparison.

when i'm at a point in my build where i actually have time to start caring about how it looks, yours is so close with the ducati seat to where i see mines going, raw/polished/lacquered tank as well, rearsets, similar exhaust. its to the point where its almost painfully going to be an imitation of yours but with a few key differences been planning it for years haha something to be said about you having good taste and all 

Hey Endo, what did you use for your triple clamp?

I may have posted this before - but I never tire of repeating myself. And you have got the closest IMHO of any one ever to build a café.
The thing that screams "hammered together in my garage" to me is the lack of airbox and lack of side covers, as well as exposed fasteners and wires.
The gauge cluster is all that yours has wires I can see.
Now on a GS side covers don't bolt/connect to the airbox. You inherently have the advantage of making grommet carriers, and fitting grommets and fitting side covers on from something else suitable or even making your own with heat and form plastics.
Just IMHO.

Yea Duc seat all the way, one other way to make it look like a factory custom is to use parts from other makes and models and form your bike to that and leave those transplanted parts un touched.

Cool.
Buddha.

It's been a while since I've tweaked the bike.  Decided to change out my SV650 shock for an R6.  What an amazing difference!  Such a smoother ride, with the availability of compression and rebound damping.

Buddha rolls his eyes at my lack of an airbox, but sure does make swapping out shocks a whole lot easier 

Still it turned out to be a more difficult project than I imagined. 

At least for me, it was necessary to place the rear wheels on a stand, and also jack up the engine block to fiddle all the links in place.  This makes for a very tippy setup.  I didn't trust my front stand, so relied on my trick of hanging the front end from the rafters.  This saved the bike from tipping over at least a couple times.




I also needed to grind out a few mm from the front of the swingarm.  The angle grinder didn't fit well in the tight recess, so this tool worked much better.  Action shot!


New shiny bits!!! 



Then for a test ride down the coast.  It's the best thing I've done for the bike since nailing the carb jetting.
I'd highly recommend it for all of you out there.  2006+ R6 shocks are only $50 or so on eBay these days.

bad azz,...!  Love your work!

Thanks man!

In case anyone else is interested, the R6 shock conversion is pretty much a drop in.  There's more details on other threads, but just make sure you get an '06-08 with the clevis type linkage on the bottom end, and with all the bolts and spacers intact.  The R6 uses a wider bolt than the stock GS.

The SV650 shock that I previously had raised the rear end, so I lengthened my kickstand to match.  The R6 drops it back to stock height, and went back to the stock kickstand.

It's a fairly straightforward conversion, though it does take some fiddling to get all the bolt holes to line up.  I don't have the centerstand on mine, so I had to use a small jack to raise up the engine block to take the weight off the rear end.  It also helps to have some sturdy drift punches to tap the bolts out, and also to lever things back in place.  You'll also likely need to grind out 2-3mm off the front of the swingarm to allow clearance for the fatter spring coils.  Just make sure to primer that area over - definitely don't want that place to get weak from rusting out!

Totally worth all the work though.   It's one of the best upgrades I've done to the bike.

Can you show under the seat? I am interested to see how you hid the wiring and where the battery is located. Great looking bike.

Check out the first page, first post... 'bout half way through it there are pics of under the seat and battery... very nice!!

Thanks ShowBizWolf, I am not sure how I overlooked those pictures. Very well done

I see you are back to the Ducati seat.

Can you give me some details on that seat? How did you attach it?

I may seriously consider finding one for my GS.