R80ST gets the GS Treatment

[Airhead Wrangler]

Back in action after a brief hiatus. Just a few farkles added, but hopefully next week I’ll have something of substance to add when the remaining parts for my GS front end arrive from Deutschland. Jaaaaa! Anyway, here we go.


Happy trails bags installed slightly off kilter: Check
(notice the GS front end on the left just WAITING for parts to get installed )
For the money I'm pretty happy with these after getting rid of my jesses. The inside face (where the mounts are) is not as stiff as I'd like resulting in a little bit of bag wobble when you push them around a bit. I'm planning to cut some 1/8" stainless to the size of the inside face, epoxy it on, and run all my fasteners through it. That should stiffen things up a bit.






Cheapo Chinese HID conversion kit: Check
Thanks StephenB for the recommendation on these. These guys are bright as hell. $90 for a car kit off of ebay that does two lights. Split it with a buddy and you're looking at $45 to your door. The ballast and ignitor are housed in the shell so no more precious under-tank electrical real estate is taken up. Does anyone know what the starting current on these guys is? Hopefully it's nothing that the stock headlight relay can't handle. I'm just a little worried about how many tickets I'll get with this thing. I considered getting the 55 watt instead of the 35 that I got, but I'm glad I didn't. This thing is plenty. When tilted up and aimed down a long straight dark road reflective road signs light up WAAAAAY out in the distance seemingly 1/2 mile or more away.


Before:



After:





Pieces of ADV and ABC Bling: Check






Touratech Speedo Cable Plug: Check





New German Rubber: Check

[Gimmeslack]

HID... wow Is it as dramatic in use and on the road?

Are those Mefo's?

Looking good

[baldwithglasses]

Can you include a close-up of how you mounted the tail light?

[Airhead Wrangler]

Originally Posted by baldwithglasses

Can you include a close-up of how you mounted the tail light?

This KIND OF shows it. It's super ghetto, but effective. One zip tie through each hole on the ends of the light wrapped around the rubber turn signal stalks. That's it. 1 minute mod.

[bmwblake]

that looks so familiar.



i've been meaning to make a bracket to hold the light, but the zip ties have worked for about 2yrs just fine.

Originally Posted by Airhead Wrangler

This KIND OF shows it. It's super ghetto, but effective. One zip tie through each hole on the ends of the light wrapped around the rubber turn signal stalks. That's it. 1 minute mod.

[Airhead Wrangler]

Originally Posted by Gimmeslack

HID... wow Is it as dramatic in use and on the road?

Are those Mefo's?

Looking good

Yeah I'd say it is just as dramatic in actual use. I put my camera in manual mode to make sure to have an accurate comparison. Same shutter speed, same aperture, same white balance, so I'd say this is about as objective of a visual comparison as you can get with out actually being there. The best part is that it only uses 35 watts. You can see mileposts coming WAY out there. The only down side is when you pull up behind someone at a stoplight the reflection off their license plate blinds you.

Yep those ARE Mefos. Good eye.

[Airhead Wrangler]

Originally Posted by bmwblake

that looks so familiar.

It should...I stole the idea from you.

[bmwblake]

nah, consider it an open source idea.
i saw it on someone's 1150gs cases.

Originally Posted by Airhead Wrangler

It should...I stole the idea from you.

[bgoodsoil]

I stole it from Airhead Wrangler. Couldn't fit the big one though. This one's really getting around. The $6 I payed for this is a lot better than $50 for the boards that fit in the stock tail light. I'm thinking of putting one on a modulator.

Man, that black gas tank looks plain mean. Transformed the look of that bike.

[Airhead Wrangler]

Originally Posted by bgoodsoil

Man, that black gas tank looks plain mean.

It IS mean...and it's watching you.

[bikecat]

A request for a side profile of the bike now, please ....

cheers

[Stagehand]

I'm gonna steal that brake idea from you guys


Did you say you were doing something to that GS front end, before putting it on?


Oh, hey also- I just recently had the opportunity to heft an ST rear muffler, and is mine just full of rocks, or do they actually weight 2 stone?

[a1fa]

oh my god.. beautiful bike :)

[RecycledRS]

That light is very impressive. Can you give any more info on where you purchased it? Thanks.

[Airhead Wrangler]

Originally Posted by Stagehand

I'm gonna steal that brake idea from you guys

Did you say you were doing something to that GS front end, before putting it on?

Oh, hey also- I just recently had the opportunity to heft an ST rear muffler, and is mine just full of rocks, or do they actually weight 2 stone?

Stage-

I'm telling you, that break light is the best $10 you can spend on a safety mod.

No, I'm planning on leaving the GS forks stock - maybe adding a gold valve down the road, but first I just want to make my bike rideable because the weather's getting better by the day up here.

I've never actually 'hefted' one myself. I managed to leave mine connected to the collector when I swapped my subframe out, so I've never actually felt how heavy it is. I believe it's the same muffler that went on the factory G/S PD bikes - the so-called "stainless" one. Though it says "Zeuna Stainless" on it, I'm pretty sure it's actually just the G/S muffler with THICK chrome plating cuz mine's definitely rusting a little in a few spots, that and the extra mounts for the heat shield which also looks identical to the ST heatshield. As far as internals go I'm pretty sure it's identical to the G/S muffler.



Bikecat-
I'll see what I can do about a side profile when I get home from work today.