81 *Sigh*zuki

[*sigh*]

It all started in a land called to much overtime. I had just worked and 85 hour week and was staring down the barrel of some spending cash (I gotta spend it or the wife will) I was cruising Craigslist looking for a a 79 something or other (I forget shit a lot) that I had seen the day before, when low and behold I see 81 Suzuki gs 450 L & helmet $600 bucks <- "gotta sell before wife has it melted for scrap" I'm like Not what I'm looking for; but what the hell. long story short Bike great condition, 8990 original miles, fired rite up at 40* F so I talked him down to $500 (nice helmet; but WAY to small for my big ass head) and I threw in @% for meetin me half way. Here's how it looked (Before I layed it doe 30 minutes after getting it and fracturing my knee and spraining my ankle. This dumb ass almost ran me over, it was the ground or the bumper....... ground looked softer..... wasn't.)



So after a few weeks of gimping (opposite legs, walking was a bitch) I brought it over to a bud's shop and started cutting and grinding (did a number on myself to, I'm a klutz) I had initially started building a "soft tail; BUT it looked like shit! and spent a week cutting it off...... I took pictures; but was to embarrassed to keep them, no way I was taking credit for that atrocity.
So here it is with a hard tail.



Before anyone say's anything. I know should have gone lower and YES I know I'm a slob and if I cleaned up more often I prolly wouldn't get hurt near as much.


Tank had a huge dent in it which I puttied and painted. I'm using the stock tank for now while I redo a vintage coffin tak that's older than I am and will look much cooler so here's the tank I'm using for now.



Went with metallic blue and metallic green racing stripes cause I don't see that combo often. Should I keep it satin or go for the gloss?

I'm headed to the shop now, will post more later. Any advise will be greatly appreciated.

[mutant]

For the paint job, how about leaving the blue satin and going gloss on the green stripes? Great start so keep us updated on the progress.

[*sigh*]

Satin seems to be the choice of most, which kinda surprises me; but I'm diggin it to. I think I might try glossin the green. might look pretty cool. It looks alright for rattle can paint job.

So I got the seat set and the exhaust done today, pictures look kinda crappy cause I used my phone to take 'em. But here's what I did.

I took the seat off a exercise bike that was in the metal recycle bin at work.



I stripped off the vinyl cover to expose the seat pan.



I had thought about using hairpin springs; but I wanted something original. So I took the original shocks to make a mono-shock. I pressed out the rubber bushing and cut a piece of 1/2 in ID pipe I had laying around using the swingarm axle for a place to mount shock. I welded a hinge to a piece of 3/8 flat steal and the made a bracket out of 1" sqr tubing.



Ok so the pick of it all assembled looked like crap, I'll post a better one tomorrow.

I also made the exhaust, I thought about shorty's; but I always like long pipes running the length of the frame. So this is what it looks like right now. Thought it was missing something...... A sissy bar, so that got done today to.



All in all pretty productive. Only mild blood loss and one single burn! I'm getting better at this. So tomorrow 1. Battery box 2. mid/forward control brackets (hopefully make the controls too)

Oh yeah, any suggestions on the rear fender. Keep it chrome or paint it to match? I'm leaning towards paint it (later, cause I'm dying to ride)

[mutant]

Paint it!

[gr8paradox]

I like satin finish. I like limited chrome. Paint the fender. But.... This is what I like. What do you like ? If you are building the bike for you, then build what you like and screw everybody else. I saw a guy yesterday on a newer softail that was painted white and red. Almost every thing that could be anodized was red. I kind of thought it was stupid. However he was quite proud of his bike and I hand it to him. He didn't care what other people thought. He was riding and happy. It's too bad that we worry what others think. Life is too short. Your project is looking good. The shock mounted seat is very cool.

[*sigh*]

I like satin finish. I like limited chrome. Paint the fender. But.... This is what I like. What do you like ? If you are building the bike for you, then build what you like and screw everybody else. I saw a guy yesterday on a newer softail that was painted white and red. Almost every thing that could be anodized was red. I kind of thought it was stupid. However he was quite proud of his bike and I hand it to him. He didn't care what other people thought. He was riding and happy. It's too bad that we worry what others think. Life is too short. Your project is looking good. The shock mounted seat is very cool.

Thanks man, the shock makes the seat wicked comfortable. I'm a big guy and I flatten springs. Anyway I ask for suggestions/opinions cause I don't want to make the rookie mistake of overdion it. I want keep it simple and not be a cliche'.

[*sigh*]

Oh yeah, this is how she looks right now. I am working on the wiring right now. Can I ask a stupid question? Or rather another one (I think I may be retarded today) But why the fuck do bikes have so damn many wires? Seriously. my old Ford has like 6 total wires(slight exaggeration) and this damn bike has shit tons of 'em. OK done bitchin. this is how the ol' girl is looking.



gotta put some skin on the seat, putty a little, paint the frame/fender/sissy bar and *grumble,grumble* the damn wiring. Oh and clean my mess.

[gr8paradox]

It's not a stupid question.. And the answer is really quite simple. They need that many wires to work. The question is do you need all that they have wired into the stock bike ? Some things you need others you dont. They also run alot of ground wires along with the hots. You can run a frame ground and cut out a lot of wires that way.Indicator lights,safety switches,horns,parking lights,the list goes on. Safety Safety Safety... That's your simple answer.

[toreadorranger]

My last bike was a 82 yamaha xj650. I know when I sat down and went through the harness I ended up with less then half of the stock harness left. I didnt have a horn, signals or anything. I managed to find a "bobber" schematic for my bike, so it was pretty easy to figure out what to cut out.

[gr8paradox]

This one shouldn't be too hard to do either. Do you have the basic OEM diagram ? Check out these bare bones diagrams.
viewtopic.php?f=22&t=763
Should be easy to adapt. You will also find some links in the vault to on line manuals.