Thickness of steel?

Darkbane

New Member
I just purchased a set of '04 Kawa Ninja rearsets off of Ebay to retro fit onto my GS.
PurchaseRearSets.jpg

PurchaseRearSets.jpg

I was thinking about having aluminum adapter plates machined, but I think it'll be too expensive and take too much time.

My question is: If I just make the adapter plates out of steel, what thickness would I need to get to insure that these will be safe and sturdy for the long term?

Any other suggestions or alternative solutions are welcome.

DB
 
Seek out Dardoonk for that. He's done this very thing with Bandit rearsets. Too bad you didnt get the rear master and res with em, would have made for a much easier swap.
 
I'll check out Dardoonk's threads. As for the Master Cylinder, it's right there behind the ankle guard. At least I thought that was the rear Master. As far as making the rear res link up to the Master, I can't see that being too difficult. As lot as the Banjo Bolts and Resevoir hose are the same size, I should be fine.

Does anybody know a good way of testing the rear Master cyclinder for compression before doing a full install?
 
Ah! So it is. my bad :-\ Should be able to prime the master, and then see if it will push thru a brake line. If I were you, however, depending on where it came from (ie wrecker yard) i would rebuild the MC anyway.
 
I was planning on doing that, I'm currently figuring out how to dismantle it with the lack of tools at my disposal.
 
Id hafta see it to know, but i bet its held together like most with a circlip, or snapring, whatever you call them, under the rubber cover. you'll need a pair of snapring pliars (autozone has em cheap) or be really dexterious with a couple of dental picks. lol
 
Its funny, most people think automatically that you need to have machine tools to work with aluminum. I suggest getting a piece of 3/8" aluminum plate, trace out the shape you want your adapter plates, and just use a simple angle grinder with a cutoff wheel to cut out the shape. With a strong grinder and a good cutoff wheel it cuts through nicely. Sure, it takes a little while, and it makes a hell of a mess, but it'll still work.
Clean up the edges with a file and your in business!
I did just this to make the rearset plates for my Katana, drilled a couple of holes in the frame, welded connecting nuts in those holes, and bolted the rearset plate to the connecting nuts.
EZE PZE
 
I managed to get it apart. The C-rings (or whatever you call them) were a pain, but a pair of needle nosed pliers did the trick. I don't know if they'll do the trick getting them back in though. I'll have to pick up a pair of the C-Ring Pliers.

Dismantled Layout:
IMG_1774.JPG


Now if I could only get the rearsets apart. The main Allen Bolts are on WAAYY too tied (at least for me). I even went so far as to use my impact driver on it with no luck. I'm gonna try and find some penetration fluid and let them sit for a while.
 
tobiism, would you happen to have pictures of the plates you made for the Katana. These rear sets are for my Suzuki GS650G. which is in the Katana family and are probably pretty similar. I'd be interested to see what those plates look like.
 
Blast em with some PB and you should be golden. Yup..snaprings, circlips crings whatever...lol You should be able to find a rebuild kit pretty easy, but to tell the truth that doesnt look bad at all. No scale or anything in the Master cylinder?? Scoring? If not you may get away with reusing, but since you have it apart id just buy the simple spring/piston/cup rebuild kit to be safe.
 
I'm sorry, I'm not sure what PB is. However, I am a big fan of PBR. Hooray!!! for Beer!!!!!

All the parts to the Master Cylinder seem like they're in great condition. Everything is clean except for a little gunk in the chamber, but nothing that can't come off. All the rubber seals look good as well, so I think I'm gonna save few bucks and leave it as is.
 
Here ya go. Don't rely too much on these photos though, as its all custom stuff.
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This is how I make them, I just clamp the aluminum down to the table, draw the pattern and use my angle grinder and my sawzall
These are my Nissin 4 piston caliper adapters
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Darkbane,
Here's some pics of my Bandit sets I did for my GS750..  Pretty simple, really.  I used 3/16" steel if I remember correctly and it is plenty.
Cut the shape I wanted and drilled holes for the stock mounting locations and for the three holes to bolt the rearsets on.

My rear M/C is behind the wing on the rearset & I mounted the remote resivoir on the side of the battery box.

rear3a-1.jpg

rear202a-1.jpg

rearbrake2002.jpg
 
Thanks for the pics guys. It's very helpful. I'm looking into the prices of aluminum and steel. I'm most likely going to paint these black, so the finish of aluminum isn't that important, although it would be nice to use the lighter weight metal, but I have a feeling I'll settle with steel.

I'll defintely post my progress.
 
If you're going to bolt on rearsets like those in the pics above, I would use thin steel just like dardoonk did. It blends into the frame and looks right.

But, if you're making plates to hold footpegs/levers, and don't have a complete setup off a sportbike, then you might want to go with thicker aluminum and make it look a little more decorative.

The rearset plates provided by Omars for XS650's are 3/8" aluminum.
 
TinTin you make a good point. If I'm just going to paint them black to blend into the frame then I don't really need to spend the extra $$$ on the aluminum. Plus my buddy probably has some steel plate laying around already, vs having to go out and buy some.

Thanks
 
FWIW

One more on the aluminum cutting. I had some 3/8" aluminum plate (horrible utility grade) that I cut out with a jigsaw then cleaned up with a file. If your careful and spend the time people would be hard pressed to be able to tell it wasn't machined.
 
True say! You can make some pretty damn good looking parts with some pretty simple tools. The reason why most people don't use these tools is because of the time involved. I just spent the whole night cutting out my brake light and shaping it right. It's not even finished let alone polished. I already have about 4 hours into it, likely another 10 more to finish it including wiring and cutting a place in the seat. But it's all good fun. Who wants to build a bike with parts you didnt make yourself? Thats just as bad as ordering all your parts out of a catalog and assembling. Then you're an assembler, not a builder. Props to the guys who build their own shit!!!
 
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