GL 1100 Cut, weld, wrench then ride

[AstroWing]

I picked up some 1 1/8" heavy wall chrome molly tubing today. Had it bent as far as the bender would go... It started to kink and still not enough. I'll have to go with plan B, a long straight set of tubes from the front neck to over the rear shock mounts. Then another straight tube up from near the swing arm pivot to the upper shock mounts. At this time, I'm planning twin shocks in approximately the stock position.

[AstroWing]

After a 13 hour day at work the SawZall felt good in my hand. Then I tack welded 2 tubes together at the width the H1 tank requires, 6 1/2" outside, making the tubes too narrow at the rear shock mounts. I don't have a good plan to solve this problem. So I quit for the night. I ordered a seat that I think will work well with this tank when I get it, I'll send some more pictures. I welcome comments.

[fish]

nice work.
I.m looking forward to following this thread, thanks for taking the time to take photos and tell the story

[robin1731]

Looking good so far. You're going to add bracing between those two rails right?

[AstroWing]

Yes, planning to weld in braces. Will send pictures as I go. Still haven't ruled out bending some tubes like I tried earlier but couldn't get enough angle. The main thing I wanted to accomplish last night was a mockup of straight tubes to think about for a few days.

[wingrider]

How much wider do you need to catch the rear shocks? Being you have a pipe bender, couldn't you bend out for a bit, then straighten back out to get the proper width?

[Hamminahammina]

Cool!...subscribed. I was riding to work the other day thinking about how cool a GL with a relocated gas tank with dual webers would look. You could load up the visual mass to the front of the bike, kinda like this

well, that's what I was thinking about. Excited to see your progress

[AstroWing]

Yes, I agree with the tank, radiator and heads so far forward, that rear tire may seem pretty far back when I'm finished. I may be able to do something with the seat, pipes and mufflers to help.
For the rear upper shock mounts, I'm thinking of terminatinating the long upper tubes right at the upper shock brackets, with the shocks leaned a little forward and inward. I really like the idea of getting everything on the bike as narrow as I can to accent the wide motor and give it an "All Motor" look.

For those following this thread, you'll soon realize I do a lot of "thinking out loud"

I'll try to mockup some of these thoughts this weekend.

[Red2trike]

For the shock mounts....maybe cut holes from one side to the other in the rails and put a solid steel rod thru both rails (eye diameter of shock) and weld in place??? Can use spacers to get shocks aligned?? Might also be able to use this rod for other mounting tabs??

If you need to make that rail wider...just slash cut/s (45deg) on rails and add a piece that widens them by about 2-3 inch back near the end of the tank area OR further back??

Just thinking out loud.

RT2

[AstroWing]

Got my tank and seat today. What do you all think? Seat back and fill the gap or seat forward?

[Rat]

1/2 way in between.

Gord

[sunnbobb]

Forward.. but as Rat said, 1/2 way..

[Fred Camper]

Still lots of directions possible. Take your time just now as the next steps really set the tone.

[fish]

"Got my tank and seat today. What do you all think? Seat back and fill the gap or seat forward?"

Are you going to have passenger pegs?

[CYBORG]

i would position the seat based on where my hands and feet were the most comfortable. unless you never plan to ride the bike, only show it