1980 GL1100 Custom - The Dirt Bagger

From basic novice to the hard core cutomizing. Sharing tips, tricks and knowledge. Feel
free to ask question or give us your "2 cents".

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DUGG
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Re: 1980 GL1100 Custom - The Dirt Bagger

#31

Post by DUGG »

dancr I’ve never cared for the look of radiator wings but I really like yours. Curious how you did the holes?
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CYBORG
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Re: 1980 GL1100 Custom - The Dirt Bagger

#32

Post by CYBORG »

My understanding was that the wings were there to help direct air into the radiator. Not sure the holes help that function. But they look good. Form over function I guess.
1978 custom GL1000
1977 custom with 1200 engine
1985 gl1200
DUGG
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Re: 1980 GL1100 Custom - The Dirt Bagger

#33

Post by DUGG »

I’m function over form guy too. And I’m thinking the holes cut down on the function of the wings.
But they probably still help direct the air through the radiator just not as well.
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NotSoLilCrippseys
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Re: 1980 GL1100 Custom - The Dirt Bagger

#34

Post by NotSoLilCrippseys »

Our '82 doesn't have the wings and seems to run just fine without them. They weren't on the bike when I bought it. The fan kicks in when needed, pulling down the temps quite effectively.

Our '83 has 'em and does tend to run a bit hotter, I think - at least based on the admittedly "rough estimate" temp gauge.

I don't ride in south Texas in August, though, and spend almost no time in stop-and-go Florida traffic on melting asphalt. My problem is getting the engine to get up near operating temp during my commute on 20-degree January days. (Hmm. cardboard, anyone?)

I'd guess the scoops do little below 10-15 mph, and much above that speed the breeze + fan help draw in the air needed to bring temps down even without the scoops.

And then I also mostly trust the Honda engineers' decisions, so I will put wings on the '82 if I nab cheap, clean ones somewhere.

Maybe holy (or hole-y?) wings are a kind of happy medium that also look nice.
Avatar is a summer '21 photo of the Blue Phoenix, our 1983 GL1100I rescue gone naked.

In the Stable and Ridable
1992 ST1100 - my longer haul tourer
1992 XJ600S - son's streetfighter
1987 VFR700 - son's latest, in blue/silver
1983 - GL1100I - naked Blue Phoenix (son's, really)
1982 GL1100I - naked bagger Cabernet
1979 GL1000 - Ginger Lynn, but not that Ginger Lynn (Wing and a Prayer)
1978 CB550K - son's cafe (carb issues still vex)

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1979 GL1000 - Confirmed one owner, with original paperwork. Vetter fairing and bags, off the road in dry, heated storage for 35 years.

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WesleyJ
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Re: 1980 GL1100 Custom - The Dirt Bagger

#35

Post by WesleyJ »

Its interesting that the majority of the traffic on this thread is about the function of 2 little wings directing air into a radiator. I wouldn't have guessed that.

I apologize but I'm an Engineer so math/physics is my happy place:
- Radiator - ~120 sq inches
- Wings - add ~30 sq inches of frontal area - "most" of which is directed into the radiator
- Awesome speed holes of controversy - reduce wing frontal area by ~7 sq inches (much less as speed due to turbulence in the holes causing a pressure differential and hence less flow)
- *Rad guard - reduces the flow area across the rad by about 20 sq inches

So, if I remove the rad guard, I'll have a huge upgrade to my cooling that offsets my holes by a factor of 3. lol.

In all seriousness, this mod will have a negligible effect on cooling and like I said above, this bike will never see heavy engine loads in hot temperatures, and in hot city driving will rely on the fan 10x more than the little wings.

Regardless, I'm having a riot building this thing and am really looking forward to the warmer weather coming. I hope to be riding this thing regularly in a couple of weeks!

Cheers,

Wes
WesleyJ
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Re: 1980 GL1100 Custom - The Dirt Bagger

#36

Post by WesleyJ »

DUGG wrote: Sat Mar 12, 2022 8:28 pm dancr I’ve never cared for the look of radiator wings but I really like yours. Curious how you did the holes?
I started but flattening the wings in my english wheel (pic above) then covered them in painters tape (so not to mar the surface) then drilled holes with my carbide hole saws, then squished them in my press between my dimple dies.

https://youtu.be/PpVyXxFyVfc[/Video]
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dontwantapickle
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Re: 1980 GL1100 Custom - The Dirt Bagger

#37

Post by dontwantapickle »

Those radiator wings look great.
The rugged off road look.
I'd consider making a matching skid plate.
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Re: 1980 GL1100 Custom - The Dirt Bagger

#38

Post by WesleyJ »

Well, she's mostly done now so I thought I'd follow up with a few more details.

I built myself a front fender. I left the fender raw aluminum but powder coated the support/mount black to make it dissapear a bit. Not sure I like this. I may cerakote it to match the other light colored stuff.

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Mash mash mash!

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My wee home built english wheel

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Some shrinking

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And out comes a fender

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I finish welded up the rear fender and hit it with the hammer and dolly

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Then on to the signal lights. I had to make some wedge shaped spacers for the tiny little motogadget signals.

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Turned out nice and clean and those tiny little signals are wicked bright!

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Because the MER rally was fast approaching, I rushed through a crappy rear brake/signal assembly with an old stop light from a bin

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Tiny little fender necessitated a separate license plate mount

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It seems I was not taking a ton of pics so I'll jump ahead a bit. Here you can see the "final" cockpit. The garmin is just on here for the trip as we're doing a lot of navigating through the mountain trials and backroads.

The speedo is a GPS driven unit. Although I like the appearance, its a chinese piece of crap and works about 50% of the time. I'm going to replace it with a Speedhut unit in the future as I've had good success with them.

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And here she is ready for the trail!

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And here's my main competition, my buddy's sportster, aka the Dirtster. Fortunately for me, he had a rear wheel failure on day 2 so I ended up winning the rally. The Dirt Bagger performed flawlessly for the entire trip.

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Now she's my daily rider, but she sure needs a bath!

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Cheers,

Wes
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Rat
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Re: 1980 GL1100 Custom - The Dirt Bagger

#39

Post by Rat »

Very neat … awesome fab skills …

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Jonesz
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Re: 1980 GL1100 Custom - The Dirt Bagger

#40

Post by Jonesz »

+1 on Rat's comment. You have done some nice work on your custom.
Jonesz

1983 GL1100 Aspencade named "Freki" currently undergoing change to a standard. Sold
1999 Valkyrie CT 1500 goes by the moniker "Valerie"
1978 Gl1000 "Loki" new project going to be a Cafe Convertible
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Re: 1980 GL1100 Custom - The Dirt Bagger

#41

Post by sunnbobb »

I don't know how I missed this build. Very nice work. As for the discussion regarding the cooling fins. Since you chopped the front fender, a lot more air can get to that radiator, shouldn't be an issue, in my opinion. Hat*s off to ya.
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---- Bradshaw Bikes custom polishing for your wing. Visit us on facebook!

1978 Learning Experience
1980 County Road Hauler "Brain Damage"
1978 Cafe Custom Gl1000 "Vyper"
1977 Bulldog Inspired "Vaincre"
1981 Street Fighter GL1100 "No Quarter"
1983 Supercharged Street Drag "Anubis" (in worx)
1983 gl1100 mint restoration "Kristen"
1985 Aspencade..pondering.
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dontwantapickle
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Re: 1980 GL1100 Custom - The Dirt Bagger

#42

Post by dontwantapickle »

The stock front fender does a really good job of keeping crap from being kicked up into the radiator.

Bar end mirrors on a dirt bike would last me approximately 1 ride (maybe 2 if I take it easy).
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Brant
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Re: 1980 GL1100 Custom - The Dirt Bagger

#43

Post by Brant »

Awesome fab skills. If I had a shop it would be called "Hammer and Hacksaw". :) Beautiful work.
83 GL 1100 bagger Ugly Betty
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Re: 1980 GL1100 Custom - The Dirt Bagger

#44

Post by Brandon Erickson »

Very nice build! Have an 81 I'm looking to do something similar. What handlebars specifically did you use? Really like and appreciate the pictures of inverting the headlight mounts as I knew it could be done just hadn't tracked down how yet. The front turn signals are choice. Very well done! Have a seat from the same outfit on ebay that I like but yours looks a little better so you may have cost me some money but I forgive you! lol
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Re: 1980 GL1100 Custom - The Dirt Bagger

#45

Post by Fred Camper »

toomanybikes wrote: Sat Mar 12, 2022 9:48 am looks like a future "Bike of the Month"
toomanybikes has good prediction skills. When he says buy a lottery ticket...


Congratulations on May 2023 Bike of the Month at NGWClub.com. Your fabrication skills and great documentation on the build are terrific and nice to see that recognized. Glad she is a daily rider and not a trailer queen. Great bike.

One question, what headlight did you pick and how does it work in the dark?
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1977 GL1000 BADDOG (April 2012 BOTM)
1976 LTD - '993 LTD...and so it begins'

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