Another suzuki gs1000 chop

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It appears I'm long overdue for an update. Good news is some progress is being made again.
Final handle bars installed, speedo mounted, jocky shift nearly completed, forward controls partially completed. So here it goes:
Let's start off with a fun photo op I stumbled across during a "clean shop" night
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Buddy bought a lift, so I'm using it for now. I'll tell you I'll be visiting HF to pick one of these bad boys up the moment this one goes home!

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Right side forward control. I'm utilizing the factory engine guards as they are triangulated to the frame which provides plenty of support. Don't have this one mounted quite yet.

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Left side forward control mount. You can see 3 chrome bars which were the engine guards. The center bar I drilled and inserted 3/4" bar stock, threaded 2" deep. This is the main support for the forward. The bar stock is welded to a plate, and the plate is welded to the two other bars. The chrome forward is then bolted to the plate.

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Here you can see the plate. The center hole is the threaded hole into the engine guard tube. Bottom hole is just a through bolt, then the top hole is a through hole for the foot peg. The top ear will also have another bolt with a decorative washer to clean it up since this giant hole won't be used. It was obviously for a bushing for the foot shifter but that's not used.

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Here's a shot of the bars and speedo mount.
For the speedo mount, I'm using the factory mount on the top tripple tree. Just two 1/4" holes, but the mount is solid enough to prevent vibration while riding.
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A shot from under the speedo mount.
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The two small gauges left and right are for the seats air bags. Two bags, so two gauges. The compressor will be mounted under the swingarm. Compressor system is off a goldwing. Each bag has a dedicated switch and gauge because if they were both off one air line, when you turn, you'd loose pressure out of one bag and that air would transfer to the other bag. Being a bike that leans, this is exacerbated. But you guys already know that :)
 
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This is the front mount for the rear fender. Utilizing the seat bag bracket. The rear will have more rolled tubing as fender struts, then that same rolled tubing will extend over the rear fender as a short sissy bar, ending in a point similar to the bars.

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Couple days worth of polishing here. Two covers done, one to go. You can see what we started with on the left. This is the last one to hit before their all done. Polishing SUCKS!
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Crazy headlight. Low beam is the top light, high beam is all three, and it's FREAKIN BRIGHT!

Moving on to the suicide shifter. I've had my head worn thin from scratching trying to figure out how to do this stupid thing. Finally got the idea and it came together rather nicely today.
Click picture for video of its operation.

There is a bracket that will be welded to the frame (just tacked now). This had a piece of bar stock bolted to it which acts as the main support. There are two other bungs with hex heads bolted to this bracket too. There will be webbing to connect all three pieces together to make for a solid mounting point, again, triangulated since it will see quite a bit of force.
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Here's the other side.
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Clutch will be on the lever with the shifter.
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I've never ridden a bike with a suicide shifter before, so this should be entertaining. My hopes is that my setup would have near zero slop in it. There's a ton of weight with the 1" Dom so I was concerned with it jumping out of gear. But it feels solid. The shifter pivot has a spring washer and shoulder bolt to allow the assembly to be tightened, but provide tension on it. I also will be installing two helper springs
I've temped up these helper springs and they really help center the assembly to provide a very nice positive feel.
I REALLY don't like the looks of them, but they serve a purpose. If anyone has any ideas to accomplish the same end result without the ugly springs, I'm all ears.
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Click picture to see in action.
 
I built a Shovelhead with a shifter like the one you made. The only difference is that I installed a gate top on my tranny that shifts like a car transmission. First, was all the way forward, pull back once neutral, and the rest of the gears. But it stays in that position. If I were you , I would install heavier springs on both sides of your ratchet style shifter, to make it harder for it to jump to a lower gear. That is why I installed the gate top cover on my tranny. Looking good!
 
I built a Shovelhead with a shifter like the one you made. The only difference is that I installed a gate top on my tranny that shifts like a car transmission. First, was all the way forward, pull back once neutral, and the rest of the gears. But it stays in that position. If I were you , I would install heavier springs on both sides of your ratchet style shifter, to make it harder for it to jump to a lower gear. That is why I installed the gate top cover on my tranny. Looking good!

Do you have pictures? I'd be interested to see how you worked that.
 
Do you have pictures? I'd be interested to see how you worked that.

This is the only photo I have of the bike. It is very fuzzy. But, Harley Davidson made the gate top shifter assembly for the older bikes with suicide shift. I used that in place of the ratchet style top I had on it. I used a piece of 1" aluminum tubing for the shifter handle. Had it mandrel bent to conform to the shape of the fuel tank. I attached it to the original shifter lever down by the foot peg. The only thing I did, was turn it 90* up and drilled a few more holes in it to mount the tubing to. Then, I had to shorten my clutch cable . I used the Shovelhead clutch lever clamped to the 1" tubing. Wallah! I built a similar set up for a friend who had limited use of his legs . Now he rides his trike all over the US.
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Do you have pictures? I'd be interested to see how you worked that.

But, on your bike I think I would just use two heavy springs opposite each other to offset the weight of the shifter handle. It really won't affect how hard you have to pull or push on it, but may very well keep that sucker from snapping into another gear.
 
This is the only photo I have of the bike. It is very fuzzy. But, Harley Davidson made the gate top shifter assembly for the older bikes with suicide shift. I used that in place of the ratchet style top I had on it. I used a piece of 1" aluminum tubing for the shifter handle. Had it mandrel bent to conform to the shape of the fuel tank. I attached it to the original shifter lever down by the foot peg. The only thing I did, was turn it 90* up and drilled a few more holes in it to mount the tubing to. Then, I had to shorten my clutch cable . I used the Shovelhead clutch lever clamped to the 1" tubing. Wallah! I built a similar set up for a friend who had limited use of his legs . Now he rides his trike all over the US.
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But, on your bike I think I would just use two heavy springs opposite each other to offset the weight of the shifter handle. It really won't affect how hard you have to pull or push on it, but may very well keep that sucker from snapping into another gear.



Thanks for the insight!
This one feels pretty solid, the springs I added on the bottom certainly helped, but I think I will follow your advice and install heavier springs.
 
Did you make the show in August that was your deadline?
-Chaz

Fail!
It's down to the small stuff that's just mind numbing to do. Kinda lost motivation a bit on it. Guy keeps having ideas which requires changes to things here and there too, which slow the process a bit.
It coming along, just very slowly.
Guess I need to update the thread a bit.
 

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