1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive hard tail

Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

ticrazy05 said:
My bike is a 1982 GS850GLZ

I got the second tank of eBay and its off a 79 SUZUKI GS550.

Please give feedback and help us move forward with our project.

Thanks

are you replying to me?
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

haha i was just sharing some thoughts with "redahtamn" and any members who visit this thread.

I have been confused on trying to decide what to do with the bike.

If you have some ideas, you can share it with us.
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

honestly the angle is very slight. It also only affects the rear shaft drive portion of the bike. I dont see any issues with the way it currently sits. The wheel spins just as easily as it did while in its stock form. In fact, the original stock bike had a steeper angle, just down instead of up. check it out http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=gs850+shaft&FORM=HDRSC2&adlt=strict#view=detail&id=8E08DAF27444AA507E83FF057AA6905CDF73BDA6&selectedIndex=21

As for the tank, I am keeping it large

As for the seat, I am going to be building a solo seat for the bike out of 1/8 steel and some herman oak leather. I am using a shock mount instead of springs for the seat. The angle of my downtube was too extreme for a solo seat to look proper if I just used regular springs.

I should have the bike fully mocked up within the next few weeks.

I am working on polishing up and reworking the front forks at the moment..
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

I agree.

Keep us posted on your progress.

looking at the pictures that i posted for you, which tank would you suggest that i go with?

Thanks
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

both tanks have a positive effect from where I am sitting.

The smaller tank really lets the engine show itself. I have seen them done using sportster tanks and its almost too much engine. but then again, engine is a bit like cleavage to me ;) I also really like the gas cap being round and centered on the tank. I am not a big fan of the rectangle gas cap of the original tank. One other positive aspect of the smaller tank is the placement of the seat. with the tanks physical size being smaller than that of the original tank you have more room to manuever and properly place the solo seat.

I am planning on keeping the original tank because the tank matches the lines of my bike. it really does flow right into the backbone of the bike. I am going to be going with a more sleek/technical/modern paint scheme with the bike and the rectangle gas cap actually fits with the scheme and design.

Ultimately its up to what you want to build. Pick a color scheme and take a step back, do some drinking, do some thinking or just dont do anything and it will come to you.

i like em both, cant go wrong with either in my opinion
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

redahtamn said:
both tanks have a positive effect from where I am sitting.

The smaller tank really lets the engine show itself. I have seen them done using sportster tanks and its almost too much engine. but then again, engine is a bit like cleavage to me ;) I also really like the gas cap being round and centered on the tank. I am not a big fan of the rectangle gas cap of the original tank. One other positive aspect of the smaller tank is the placement of the seat. with the tanks physical size being smaller than that of the original tank you have more room to manuever and properly place the solo seat.

I am planning on keeping the original tank because the tank matches the lines of my bike. it really does flow right into the backbone of the bike. I am going to be going with a more sleek/technical/modern paint scheme with the bike and the rectangle gas cap actually fits with the scheme and design.

Ultimately its up to what you want to build. Pick a color scheme and take a step back, do some drinking, do some thinking or just dont do anything and it will come to you.

i like em both, cant go wrong with either in my opinion

I like the look of the tank with the offset cap. You will appreciate it when your filling up... Sportster tanks, in my opinion are over done. look for the other tank that came on some sportsters. it was a little wider and rounder.....
 
Re: 1983 Suzuki GS850 Shaft Drive Bobber!

ive actually got quite a bit more comleted but all the steps are about 75% complete and dependent on each other to get finished. ill post pics when i actually get something done thats worth showing :-\
 
Finally getting around to getting some stuff done here

First things first, foot pegs

They were too wide and too long to properly fit in the slot..... angle grinder time
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After I got them to fit inside the bracket I noticed that the shift lever was going to hit if i didnt shim the bracket, just had to add an extra washer is all


Easy peasy nice and easy.... DONE!
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they may not be a fabricators idea of awesome, but I think theyre great and thats all that matters

With those out of the way I went after the rear fender. I Drilled and tapped some holes into the mounts that were welded on but had to get rid of the mount built into the fender.


Angle grinder to the rescue!!!
1. Ground off the inner portion of the rivets
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2. popped them out
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3. removed bracket
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Next thing you know... BAM! fender was in place

So now that the fender was mounted and the pegs were going I set my sights to the location of my turn signals......... I really didnt want any but the law and my safety state otherwise. So I got to thinking.

Heres what I came up with.
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I plan on making these integrated by using a pair of led smd rings. The current signals are designed to be stop/run so adding the extra ring will give me my turn signals or stop signals depending which is brighter.

Heres what I am going to use-
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Red-2x-50MM-15leds-3528-SMD-Led-Car-Angel-Eyes-Halo-Ring-Light-Bright-AR1-/310760705024?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item485ac80c00&vxp=mtr
 
Coming along nicely. Love the foot pegs. I ripped the rubber off my stock ones and called it a day... The LED ring is nice, and cheap! WOW great idea there too!
 
Finally got around to making my integrated turn signals

1. Broke open the shells and cut the black (ground) coming from the original light
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2. I placed a butt splice on the outgoing negative lead
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3. Installed a new wire that will provide the +12V to the LED Ring
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4. Epoxy glued the SMD LED Ring into the face of the light housing
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5. Pulled the led ring wires into the housing
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6. Spliced the three negative leads together
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7. spliced the new +12V wire for the led together
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It ended up looking like this
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Then this
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I then ran a few tests

Run lights
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Turn Lights
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Stop
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Run+Stop
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Run+Turn
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Its hard to tell the difference between the stop+run and stop+turn in the pics, i will have to do a video to fully illustrate what they do. They work really well in the real world. not so much as static pictures on the interweb. I am pretty damned happy with em in the end thought.
 
Started on getting the brake calipers cleaned up today

Got my tools ready (forgot the pick in the pic)
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Got out the old gasket (glad I did :eek:)
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Got my dremel with brass brush on
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Cleaned it up with some steel wool and pick action and BAM! ready to install rebuild kits
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Anyone have tips or ideas for what else I should do while they are apart and ready to rebuild?
 
totally dropped off the radar with this one. its actually almost complete. I will have to get all my pics uploaded and share some build progress when ive got time
 
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