78 GS750, Build 2, Chop?

[HenryinVa]

LOL, drove past and thru Richmond just yesterday! My son lives over by VA Beach and the wife and I visited him over the weekend.

Dust that GS off man, get busy sawin it or something!

[mfergel]

You'll have to let me know if you ever drive one of those through Richmond. Would love to see them in person.

......as for mine, I think part of the problem is that when you have one working bike, it tend to be less motivated to work on the one that isn't, although there are a few things I need to do on my main bike as well (Buell XB9R).

[HenryinVa]

LOL, my problem is, I build one, then want to build another one better!

Winter time dude, theres no better time to build!

[HenryinVa]

Cut and fit the top rails. Welded the rails in place and made the seat post crossbar. Nailed that in there too. still have to make the rear motor mounts, 2 crossbars and finish welding all the stuff up. But, heres how she sits.

[HenryinVa]

Built the two upper rear motor mounts today and welded them on. Welded the ends of the hardtail and closed the tubing up. Got out my trusty grinder and started grinding welds. (Its a personal thing, I like smooth radiused fillets). Screwed my back up yesterday and Im a little gimpy right now. Last time I did this I walked crooked for three weeks. Hope that isnt going to be the case this time. Sitting isnt a problem, its the getting up part!

Scored a brand new 140/90-18 tire for 15 bucks and a tank for 30 bucks on Ebay that will really (I hope) look good on this long backbone. Seat is in transit too, so I should be good to go there.

[HenryinVa]

Had the day off so played in the garage for a while. Welded in the two hardtail crossbars and my lower backbone tube. Cleaned most of the welds up and called it a day. Wish my tank was here, but wont have it till Thursday.

[HenryinVa]

Have the day off so I fabbed up the front gas tank mount and welded it in place. Ill get the rear later this evening IF the wife doesnt have me running all over the place!

[mfergel]

Really excited to see how this one turns out. Love what you've done on the frame.

As for me getting working on mine, part of my problem is a lack of welding skills/equipment. I'm going to turn mine into a cafe style so I plan on cutting it from the rear shock mounts back and then creating a new U-shaped portion for the seat and rear cowl. I've got a GS1000 aluminum swing arm but I'm not sure if I'm going to use it or not, partially because my front is already raked out (didn't realize that when I bought it) so I'm worried that the bike will be a bit long as a cafe racer. I'd consider making it a bobber style but I'm not crazy about forward control style seating (been riding sport bikes most of my life) and again, lack of welding equipment means turning it into a hardtail becomes even more difficult.

[HenryinVa]

Well, they're putting 250-300 tires on extended swingarm sportbikes now a days and they're a mile long. Little more rake on your neck, dont see that as a real problem as you didnt notice it when you picked up your bike, so it cant be too extreme. Go for it, ya got nothing to loose but the time ya got in it.

This guy did a bunch of stuff to his ride . kinda cafe bobb thing. Food for thought.

Id polish the hell out of that aluminum swingarm and go that route. Ive got a GS1000 sitttin in the driveway with one and Ive been giving that some thought for it.

[HenryinVa]

Got the tank mounted the other day. Made me realize just how long I made the backbone! Tank is 24 inches long, 5 gallon and the backbone just dwarfs it! (A good thing as I wanted the neck exposed!)