Johnnay - Intro & need advice

[Johnnay]

http://www.streetfighters.com.au/forum/upload/104374807487919.JPG

Johnnay here - thought I'd join up and ask some advice...

Well, whaddja think? Yeah, I could buy a new bike, but this one's more unique. Could use some advice from you lot on headlight and seat/tail - should I put on a bandit unit, or just shorten the seat and angle the stock tail unit upwards?

Love the site.. have to check regularly for the bikes and the jokes! Keep it up!

[Johnnay]

P.S. here's my idea of a wicked modern fighter...
http://www.streetfighters.com.au/forum/upload/104374814188667.jpg

[Iceman]

Welcome aboard Johnnay,

Nice set of twin spot head lights would look good on your bike.

As for the tail you might be limited as to what you an do if you want to retain the twin shock rear end.

[Large]

Welcome Johnnay

That Bandit (?) is fucking stellar.

As for your GS...A new rear wheel and Busa/GSXR swinger to match the front would be a good start imho.

[Tone]

Welcome Johnnay,Is that another forward facing exhaust on that 2nd pic?Great lookin bike.Got any more info on it?
The shortened GS/GSX seat and tail looked ace on that old Robby Nitroz slabbie from OSS,might suit yours too!A ZX9 unit might look good with the rounder tank on yours as well.

[Slingblade]

quote:Originally posted by Johnnay

P.S. here's my idea of a wicked modern fighter...
http://www.streetfighters.com.au/forum/upload/104374814188667.jpg


Shit there have been pics of some badass bandits on here lately. very tidy.

Welcome mate, are those rear shocks off a zrx?

[Slingblade]

a cheap option if your not worried about carrying pillions would be to chop the subframe and seat and move the rear body work down to meet the sidecover. Give you a manx norton cafe racer look.

Is that the 19 litre tank you got there?

[gibbo]

G'day Johnnay, that front end looks shit hot on your bike, well done.
I rckon a later swigarm & wheel with a cafe racer style seat would look great,with a different colour too.

[WATEVR]

hey there johnnay welcome. mate i like the headlight you got on it already it looks choice as for the tail i dunno....
the second bike looks shit hot mate checkout the discs and all the other little bits great..does anyone know any more about this beast??

[Benz]

Welcome Johnnay. Mate, I'd be puttin a front guard on first!! A later model swinger and wider rim [all heaps lighter] would really be a great next move, to mate up to the usd's. The katana frame has an interesting set of mounts for the mainstand . I don't know if yours is the same, but they can be modified to accept a monoshock setup.....if you can find somewhere for the battery to go......otherwise you could get the twin shock mounts welded on easily enough.

[alfiestorm]

Welcome Johnnay.
I would go with Benz on the back end Mono shock it you will be pleased you did

[Johnnay]

Thanks for the suggestions, Guys -

Iceman - I tend to agree with you - thought the FZ6n (europe only) was going to do the trick, but I'm not so sure now..

Tone - got a pic of the Robbie Nitroz bike? did a search over on the OSS board but got nothing.

Benz & others - I have a gixxer rear swingarm & wheel, but it's a 600, and might be too short. ZRX shocks are on there as a temporary improvement over the stockers, but monoshock is definitely in the future, using the centrestand mounts as suggested. Was also looking at CBR600RR swingarms with the upper shock mount right on the swinger - looks pretty trick, I figure.

Does anyone know of a listing of different swingarm dimensions?

And yes, I'll put a front fender on & paint it (loved the custom crystal paint thread!)& tidy it up..

:D

[Johnnay]

Oh, and I just chanced across the bandit on bikepics - the username is pleasureparts and it appears to be out of Karlsruhe - another fine example of German Engineering..

[Tone]

Yeah Johnnay,I had a quick look on OSS to but no good.I may have the pic I meant on my kids computer I'll check it out when i can.

[Gix11]

Hey Johnnay, welcome aboard mate. If that Bandit is you're idea of a fighter, you're at the right place mate. Great find.

I'm a great believer in making the old school bikes look ratty, i.e. the matt black finish would suit it down to the ground. You know the drill.......

http://www.streetfighters.com.au/forum/upload/1043748971125804.jpg

Definitely the mono shock and in the interim, just piss off the whole tail end and make up a bracket to hold the rego plate and tail light and get a thinner seat that finishes where the tail plastics start now. The old school ratt look will keep you happy until the funds come for the major overhaul.

[Johnnay]

Wow, I always liked the matte black, but you never know until you see it - that pic's a persuasive argument right there...!

Nephew's finishing off the new garage this week, hopefully will have power next week so I can get back to work on it - flash up the grinder boys!![:p]

[Jockney Rebel]

welcome johnnay def matt black everything ..that bandit looks well stealthy

[geesexar]

welcome johnmay..like the front end man..arse end definatly came outta the 80's hey..yeah chop it off

[BillyWhizz888]

Wide slabs... as wide as you dare :D
4" overs, hardtail, Turbo

Aim... Fire.. hold the fk on!

[Johnnay]

mucked around with gix's photoshop - as you can see, I'm no wizard with the paint program..

checked my GSXR swingarm, and it should work fine as long as I slim down the pivot by 4mm per side. The pivot bolts are different diameters, so I'll have to see if I can safely enlarge the holes on the frame. otherwise I'll have to make up some bushings and keep the stock skinny bolt.

http://www.streetfighters.com.au/forum/upload/38810099079419.JPG

[Gix11]

Mate, you're almost there! The rear wheel and swinger will finish the job.

[Tone]

http://www.streetfighters.com.au/forum/upload/99973345763117.jpg
Sorry bout delay...this is the GSX tail I was on about from OSS.

[Johnnay]

Thanks for remembering about this, Tone - it's perfect! I really like how it looks with more of an upwards angle[:p]

I'm hoping to get out to the shed this week sometime to muck about with it. I'll post pics of progress..

[WATEVR]

good luck with getting the arse end to look like that it looks pretty cool. dont forget the progress pics.

[Johnnay]

Here's my other idea for the bike - bandit arse end:
http://www.streetfighters.com.au/forum/upload/55285879694247.JPG

[Johnnay]

And here's the start of my shortened seat - didn't know cutting foam was so tricky, and hard on exacto blades. The seat pan was rusted out crap anyway...
http://www.streetfighters.com.au/forum/upload/55285879685835.JPG

[Tone]

Looks better already dunnit!

[Gix11]

That's the way mate. Then as soon as you get a new modern back end in there with the smaller fatter wheel, it will look much higher as well.

Standard rear wheel on the GSX was 17" Gix.

[Gix11]

Oh, ok, it must be that massive profile then. It'll bring it down to a 55 on a new wheel.

Actually now that I think about it, that's why it looks so strange to me, the fron wheel is too small (19" originally).

Should drop the front end, it'll close up the gap, and give it a more aggressive look.

[BOHEMION]

look shit loads better already mate !

But for god's sake get some lower bars for it

Almost expect to see highway pegs, sissy bar and some fat unwashed thug with a patch on his back on top of it.

[WATEVR]

starting to look the goods johnnay, well done mate

[shift1313]

hey johnny, try using a hack saw blade to cut your foam. electric turkey knives are the way to go but the hack saw blade leaves a nice cut. If it were my bike i would probably throw some clip ons up front, in the rear i think id keep the stocker rear end but loose the chain guard and rear wheel, fit a 5" gsxr wheel from the early 90s and a 160-170 section tire, should fit okay with a 160 i would imagine. Loose the stock rearsets as well. as far as the tail goes. I would have lost the side panels, relocated the battery and electrics to the tail section (gel cell battery) and probably left the rest, recover the stock seat though. maybe throw some number plates on there and paint it black/blue. let me dig up some pics.

[shift1313]

here is a gs thou.
http://www.sentex.net/~abiggs/kawasaki/dcp_0294.jpg

id probably walk around the bike for a few hours before commiting to anything :D

oh and if you do 100% decide to move the tail forward dont tilt it up like that. id say leave it at the same angle just forward, goes with the tank better that way, my opinion of course.

Here ya go mate, build your own hot wire foam cutter

http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/gadgets/gadgets.htm

[BOHEMION]

these always look great on old skool bikes

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Kawasaki-Z1-Z1900-900-Z-Tailpiece-ducktail_W0QQitemZ140066688110QQihZ004QQcategoryZ4 3810QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[shift1313]

agreed.
http://www.streetfighters.com.au/forum/upload/ZED1.jpg

http://www.streetfighters.com.au/forum/upload/yellowz1.jpg

[Johnnay]

Ok, after processing all the comments (except the unwashed thug one as it hits too close to home), I am reassured that my ideas won't result in me riding around on some pansy-assed poser bike.

I already have another set of Renthals that are lower, and will introduce my colour scheme, so I won't reveal them yet... plus I have some nice pazzo levers (in black, of course) to go with.

I'll not be building a hot wire knife, as I have a hard enough time getting out to the garage to work on the bike - actually got 4 hours today, only to spend 3 of them cleaning shiat out so I could move around.:(

At any rate, enough blathering - I'll post pics after the next outing.

Keep the suggestions coming, this site rocks.

[Johnnay]

Ok, just a quick update - the frame has been shortened, and I'm working on the rear swingarm & monoshock conversion. Slow going with a 3week old baby now in the family! Anyways, here's a pic:
http://www.streetfighters.com.au/forum/upload/55967785689833.JPG

[Johnnay]

And another, with new bars showing what will be the accent colour:
http://www.streetfighters.com.au/forum/upload/55967785681144.JPG

[puppet]

That headlight looks terrible, put something else on it, I don't care what. Then sell it to me (the headlight).