Took an '81 R80G/S around the world: mods, spares, tools, problems, etc.

[roadsacallin]

Originally Posted by TLTom

Martin, did you install progressive springs along with the emulators?

No, I kept the stock springs.

Marcus

[bmwloco]

Originally Posted by roadsacallin

That might be a possible solution, but can you leave these on and expect them to last and perform like a permanent heated grip? It seems like it would be a hassle to attach them only when needed. And I get spoiled by my heated grips and turn them on even when it's not that cold.

I leave the dongle for the electrical connection between the and behind the faring (RS primarily), but I can easily switch them or put more dongles on other bikes.

It takes maybe 20 seconds to plug them in and install. Same to remove them. On Das Beast, I have a tupperware black locking box on top of my Acerbis (6mm bolts hold it to the tank, 4 of 'em). The grips fit perfectly in there, along with my tool kit and LED flashlight.

[PeterW]

Just a comment on the stainless spokes.

I only ever used them on small dirt bikes - they were wonderful things compared to the stock spokes. Didn't stretch and come loose, lasted forever.

I'm guessing in your case your loads excessed the fail limit of the metal and they just snapped - and yeah, normal steel spokes will just stretch instead, but that can cause problems of it's own - I had punctures with normal steel spokes because the spokes had been wound in so far the inner end of the spoke wore through the tube.

Whatever you do, you need something stronger than you had. I'm guessing that the Ural spokes were quite a bit beefier than stock ?.

Pete

[roadsacallin]

Originally Posted by PeterW

I'm guessing that the Ural spokes were quite a bit beefier than stock ?.

Pete

Yes, they were much thicker than stock and thicker than the "heavy duty" SS spokes.

[gsjam]

What sort of issues did you have fitting the forks. I want to do the same

[SOLO LOBO]

Originally Posted by gsjam

What sort of issues did you have fitting the forks. I want to do the same

Look here

[Dustdevill]

Great seeing you're back home Marcus. Billy is also a big fan of the G/S Workshop and we became good friends over the time he spend fiddling on is bike there.
I have moved shop to the small Karoo town of Middelburg and love it here.
Thanks for taking the time to tell us more about your bike and your journey.

[jimbee]

Thanks much for documenting all this - v useful!

Not asking this to be cute (just curious as someone who has had an introductory taste of the emotional and financial highs and lows of diagnosing and solving airhead problems on the road while travelling, and as someone who is always dreaming of the next trip):

If you were to start over and had all of the $$$ that you've put into Jessie to put into the bike of your choise to do the same trip again, what bike would you choose?

[ontic]

Thanks for the thread,
I've got a couple of questions that are pertinent to my evolving plans at building up a G/S.
How did you find the WP front end to perform ON road? With definite gains on the dirt, was there any loss on road?
Reason is, I am leaning towards the WP 50mm mod. I am prepared for a bit of a trade-off, but not too much.

Also, how do you like the K75C fairing? Did it work well (as a fairing) and were you happy with it? It is one of the few fairings on a G/S that I actually like the look of. I've started reading through your bike prep thread and it seems that the fairing took a lot of work. I'd probably be more interested in keeping the mechanical speedo and such..

anyway,
thanks again,

[roadsacallin]

Originally Posted by gsjam

What sort of issues did you have fitting the forks. I want to do the same

My main concern when converting to the 50mm fork was that I would sacrifice the exceptional road handling of the G/S, so I wanted to maintain the same geometry if possible. It was difficult to find a triple clamp with similar offset as stock (something like 38mm). Most stock clamps for the WP Extreme (KTM, Husaberg) were had maximum offsets of 22mm, not even close. RDubb (ADVrider member) had the triple clamp I wanted made from scratch, and I got one of them from him. This larger offset had the added advantage of avoiding the PD tank at full turn. By the way, the HPN bikes I have seen all have the smaller offset, in the 20mm range, but HPN cuts off the steering stem and reattaches it with a 1/2 degree steeper angle.

After the clamp issue was solved, the rest was relatively easy. I used a standard KTM brake setup. I recommend a larger rotor than I have, so that mod would take some work. Shortening the extremes to stock length is just a matter of adding a spacer- you don't have to alter the internals permanently.

[roadsacallin]

Originally Posted by Dustdevill

Altus,

I am so glad to hear that you are continuing with the G/S Workshop in South Africa and that you are enjoying Karoo. I learned a lot and had a great experience with you and the workshop in Cape Town- Thank You.

[roadsacallin]

Originally Posted by jimbee

If you were to start over and had all of the $$$ that you've put into Jessie to put into the bike of your choise to do the same trip again, what bike would you choose?

Yes, I could probably have bought a brand new Yawazuki or a KTM with what I have spent on my airhead, but what would be the fun in that? I think that knowing your bike inside and out is a big part to the success of such a trip. Or if there's a problem you can't figure out, the ingenious, creative people around you in whatever country you're in should be able to solve that problem. Most modern bikes are too complex (for me), so they're out of the conversation. Also factors come into play like the ability of an engine to use bad fuel, chain/sprocket management, , etc.

My experience is mainly with airheads (I also have a 1975 R90S), so the G/S was my first choice, but I would consider an '88 Honda Africa Twin. It's reputation for world travel is almost up there with the G/S. For a more localized trip, like a tour of Sub-Sahara Africa, I think it would be ideal to buy a very popular local bike and drive that around, like a Honda 250. You can find parts in every town, and any problem you would have has already been solved a thousand times. 10 years ago the honda was the bike of choice, but unfortunately Africa has now been flooded with Chinese moto crap.

For me, the G/S was really the only choice.

[roadsacallin]

Originally Posted by ontic

Thanks for the thread,

How did you find the WP front end to perform ON road? With definite gains on the dirt, was there any loss on road?


Also, how do you like the K75C fairing? I'd probably be more interested in keeping the mechanical speedo and such..

I was worried about the tradeoff also. But I was also considering my intentions to stay on the dirt whenever possible on my trip. There was definitely a sacrifice of some road performance, though maybe not as much as you might think. The stock G/S is a joy to ride on twisty mountain roads, and I lost some of that nimbleness and zip in the turns with the WP mod. It feels slightly more sluggish in the turns, more stable, just takes more work to initiate. It's very stable on straightaways.

Overall, I think the modified K75C fairing performed really well. Attachment was an issue. I tried using the plastic brackets for the K75 at first, which you see in the preparation thread. Those didn't last long. I later made brackets to attach to the handlebars and steering stop bolts on the lower triple clamp, and that works great. The fairing is fairly thick and heavy (even the windscreen is very heavy plastic), but is also durable and solid, so there's no vibration or movement of the fairing or windscreen at higher speeds. I like the larger light, and you can make a bracket that allows for tilting of the whole fairing to adjust beam height. One drawback is that the windscreen is not adjustable. I wear a helmet with a visor and I don't drive very fast, so wind noise is not much of an issue. I just wanted to get the wind off of my chest, and the fairing does that well- buffetting hits around my chin. I definitely think it's worth the trouble to remove the blinkers and go to rubber stems. I also looked a long time for a fairing and this was the best I could come up with. I've seen the HPN fairing i person, and the windscreen is adjustable which I like and it's much lighter, but very expensive. I think there would be space in the dash for stock instruments, and I would've kept mine also, but they broke. Another option would be the ICO rally computer, which I plan on adding later on.

[Lornce]

Looking forward to reading this one.

[igormortis]

Originally Posted by roadsacallin

...the HPN bikes I have seen all have the smaller offset, in the 20mm range, but HPN cuts off the steering stem and reattaches it with a 1/2 degree steeper angle.

So now that you have an HPN frame, has this changed the geometry further? ie. I presume you’re still using the R-dubb clamps?