Hello everyone,
I thought I’d share my project with all of you since I’ve learned so much from this forum. I’m about 9 months into this project, but have really ramped it up over the past couple of months.
It all started when I picked up someone else’s half assed project K100. It had some nice components, but nearly everything done on it
was pretty hack / unsafe / and just plain wrong. I had a pretty clear vision for what I wanted out of my K100 build, and thought I might be
able to fix what was wrong with the bike and still meet that goal. As I got into the bike a bit, I realized that it just wasn’t going to happen and
that I’d need a new donor bike.
The stem on the golden GSXR front end was too long, resulting in the entire front end rocking back and forth if you applied the front brakes (death trap unsafe). The rear of the frame had been left open to the elements after it was chopped. The seat is laughable. The exhaust was nice, but in rough shape. The wheels and tires were good. It actually ran pretty strong despite all this. However, after some investigation I realized the bike had way more miles on it than I was comfortable with, so I set out to find a lower mile K100 donor. I found just what I was looking for in a paperwork free K100, and set about merging the bikes. I was planning to keep the wheels, exhaust, and titled frame. Almost everything else would be sold off to help fund the build.
I found a good deal on a newer GSXR 1000 front end, and ordered up some custom triple trees and stem from Cognito Moto along with new tapered bearings to mount it onto the K100 frame (and a bunch of other parts). I also picked up some rearsets from BSK Speedworks.
Here it is mocked up:
I wanted to re-work the rear of the frame, but it took a while for me to gain access to my friend’s shop so I could use his fabrication tools due to scheduling. We both had some time around the holidays, and set to work. I’d be cutting off the rear of the frame, as well as all the other tabs and mounts that I didn’t need. Because I was removing so much of the frame, including the shock mount, I needed to build a frame jig to make sure the frame didn’t get twisted up during welding. It also helped me locate the new shock mounts into exactly the same place. Here’s some pics of the frame fabrication:
My good friend Phil broke out his 35mm film camera and took some photos of me working on it:
I wanted to integrate my LED Taillight/Turns strip into the frame, so I cut a channel out of a piece of rectangular tubing and welded it into the rear part of the frame:
Frame Fab done. I reused the fuel tank mounts, as well as the mounts for the relay box.
Mocked up:
Now to work out a design for the rear cowl. My plan is to hide the L Jetronic ECU under the cowl, so it was made to fit that size. I also wanted to retain some squareness and angularity of the engine and stock fuel tank:
I got in touch with Cliff Meyer at Meyerbuilt Metal Works, who builds the cowls and LED integrated frame tails for Cognito Moto, and convinced him to make my cowl for me. I sent him my cardboard templates, and he whipped this badboy out for me:
It didn’t fit perfectly, but I didn’t expect it to considering I sent him a jigsaw puzzle of cardboard. Dimensionally it was perfect though, and it just needed a little massaging to fit perfectly. There’s an awesome DIY moto garage here in LA called Lucky Wheels that’s opened up, and they have a nice fab shop setup that I have been able to take advantage of. I’ve done the rest of my fab work and anything else I can’t do at home there.
Cowl fitted up perfectly:
Part of utilizing the old Triumph front wheel I had with the new ’13 GSXR 1000 front end required machining the hub down on each side to accommodate the wider Speed Triple rotors I was using. I also needed caliper spacers made, and axle spacers. I was able to get help from an old friend from my off-road racing days to help out with that. Here’s the front end all buttoned up:
Now time to tab the frame for the new seat/cowl:
Speed nuts just prior to being riveted in place:
ECU support plate:
Everything bolted in place:
Here’s the actual seat pan that will get upholstered and then riveted to the cowl/seat:
Seat upholstered, and mocked up, other progress:
Time to relax for now with my favorite Bourbon:
Getting into the fun part, wiring up the electronics. I’ll make another post here when I have some more time detailing the electronics and wiring portion that I have done so far.
