New look for 1981 GL110I

Since I must carry hand tools with me to work at different job sites, I decided to put bags back onto my 81 GL1100. Of coarse the stock setup would not do, so I took the original paniers and buzzed them on the band saw, thereby reducing their height by about 2 inches, and giving me an excuse to paint them. While I was at it, I took the original pipes and lightly blasted them so they would take paint . The end result is a new interpretation of the old thing.

If you cut them roughly in two, the bottom should slip into the upper half and wedge in there pretty well. Clean the paint off, where they mate, apply ABS adhesive, insert, clamp or temporarily screw together, let cure for a couple of days and you now have chopped bags.

Here is how it looks with modified bags and hardware, painted and installed.

Compare the stock look and the new look. Hey, it was in fair shape when I got it. But was, way too, top heavy for me to handle comfortably, besides, it looked like everybody elses. Had to change that.

 This view you can see the difference in the hardware, took the nerf bars off and lowered the mounting bar for the inside mounts.

 In the lower picture you see the pipes with fresh paint.

Overall, I am satisfied with the end result. Still rides great, and has the quiet of the original pipes, and the added capacity of the modified bags.

About pipes, it has been my experience that loud pipes make you deaf and pisses off everybody else. Going on the beleif that loud pipes will save your life, relies on the belief that someone else is lookng out for you. Other than the Savior, I do not accept that belief.  As a rider of motorcycles, I do beleive that others will run you over whilst they are staring you right in the eye, and they are more than likely not able to hear you as well. Even though you have a fog horn and no mufflers.
Suffice to say, if you take the initiative tobe aware of your surroundings and not let your guard down particularly while on your bike, you do stand a better chance of survival, than those who rely on others to look out for them. Just saying.

It has been several months since I last updated this blog, but to those who are interested; I have completed the "Yellow Jacket", my '77 GL1000. During testing phase discovered an anomally with ignition. Was not sure of the cause. so I installed a rebuilt set of carbs to determine the culprit . Turned out not to be FI related, so somewhere down the road I will be reinstalling the FI, once I have made a few tweaks to the system. In the mean time this is how it looks.

More to be done !

Paint, what a novel idea! I can sympathize, with anyone who has painted a motorcycle frame and found it a challenge. It is bad enough when it is in black. Try it in yellow. Thought I was going blind! So anyway, I did the filler with weld and grinding and a small amount of plastic filler to make smooth. All the prep time pays off when you want it to look nice.

At first I painted the frame black, then decided to make it yellow. Why? because stock is black, and this bike is not stock, so yellow it is. I also put ghost flames on the faux tank, just 'cause. They are very subtle, and just what I wanted. Not real hard to do either.

As luck would have it, I have a hard time with this software, is difficult to layout the way I want it. Must be a generational thing. Although the pictures are in reverse order, they get the point across. First the frame was black, now it is yellow.

Phase 2

The tank lid originally had a fuel gauge in the

recess.

I slit the metal with a cut off wheel at the base of the ridge, then removed some material to lower the height.

Then radial slits at the front to help shrink it.

I welded a piece of metal into the whole and welded up the rest of it. Plastic filler was applied to clean it up. Not being a master welder I resorted to the "bondo" in as little as needed.

The tank sides got the treatment too. For these I made a template that was appealing to me and then used a cutoff wheel to make the cut. Then I took the cutout from the left side and held it in place in the right side with a couple of fender washers and small nut and bolts as needed. Then using fiberglass "hair" bonded it together.

Here it is with filler, ready for sanding.

Bondo on the mid joint of frame.

More filler at horns on rear.

And the head with filler.

The plan of attack

This is a 1976 GL1000, as I found it, not running and the object of neglect for many years. Everything is mucked up at this point. This one was free for the taking. It will be the object of my next project.

This one is the '77 Gl1000 that I am currently working on, like the '76, it too was the victim of too much love, it too had a plethora of bags, fairing, lights, and other do-dads stuck to it. So first thing was to break it down to its components and sandblast away 34 years of paint,rust, grime and other crud. This to facilitate close inspection of the frame and all components, as to servicability. That accomplished I began changing things.

Since one of my objectives was to mount the rear fender on the swing arm, I devised a front mount for the rear fender

Next I bobbed the "horns" on the rear section of the frame, since the fender was no longer going to be mounted here, it was no longer needed

Another objective was to smooth out the frame in a couple of areas. The main frame tubes come together in the mid section of the bike, and there is a gap that is rather ugly, so I welded up the gaps, almost 3/8" wide, and ground it smooth.

Another area that I felt was unduly ugly was at the head. This shot is of the left side pointing up ward. I added sheet metal to this area to clean up the utilitarian look of this joint. There are a number of other smoothing treatments on the front frame drops, where the factory has a tube in tube joint with a couple of welds, it was crude but effective. So I welded that up and smoothed it out as well.

Here we have an 81 CB650, after I tore it down and repainted. This bike had 1768 original miles on it when I got it, from the 2nd owner. It was all there, but it was froze up and the fuel system was "toast". So I stripped it down, cleaned it up, poured ATF into the top end. let it sit for a bit. Then started to work on the motor. The brake system was all fouled as well. The nice thing was that it was essentially in perfect condition other than having been in the weather, albeit under a tarp.

This picture shows how it looked when I got it. It had been run into a tree or something similar and had the down tubes bent, so off with them and a good set from Bent Bike. This was my first bike in over 30 years and was a good size project to start on. Most of the work was done in my studio during the winter,the rest on the back porch or at the auto restoration shop where I work part time.

Thanks to Al Murray for his assistance in this and my other projects. The first good drive I took on this bike was around the Olympic Pennensula in 12 hours, one sunny summer day. That's about 390 miles of butt numbing on this bike, but a lot of good riding none the less. I wound up putting a cafe fairing on it for the ride and that helped break up some of the buffeting.

Latest Naked Wing

Above is the GL1100I after some mods and paint, my daily rider for the past year. 10,000 troublefree miles, so far.

To the right is my '81 GL1100I, after losing the bags et al, and before new paint and seat, and wheels etc.

My latest project involves a 1977 GL1000, I picked up for less than $500, and have since spent many hours and $ building a custom bike. The idea was to create a naked wing, with the rear fender mounted on the swingarm, some custom bodywork and a nice paint job. Something that would be differentfrom other 'wings and still be a good ride on summer day.

This is a sneak preview of the "Yellow Jacket". Currently I am working on the engine and fuel injection system. More on this later. As can be seen, there are a number of mods on this bike, that I have not seen on a GoldWing. My objective is to have it up and running by this June.