'82 Cafe Racer Build - GL1100 born naked and will be again

[dogman]

I Like that look with the motogadget miniswitches and the throttle setup. Is that the randek MC for the brake setup?

[sunnbobb]

I agree on lowering the headlights. I'm enjoying watching you figure out mounting stuff. Keep on keeping on

[GW Hobo]

I Like that look with the motogadget miniswitches and the throttle setup. Is that the randek MC for the brake setup?

Actually that's the MC off the Yamaha R1. Wish the reservoir was a little more high-speed looking. I know I saw an interesting threat on here somewhere where someone did a turbo and they also used a small, tube-like brake reservoir that i recall is used in racing... Dogman, where's your build thread buddy? Or shoot me some pics on IM! Hope all's well.

[wingrider]

I Like that look with the motogadget miniswitches and the throttle setup. Is that the randek MC for the brake setup?

Actually that's the MC off the Yamaha R1. Wish the reservoir was a little more high-speed looking. I know I saw an interesting threat on here somewhere where someone did a turbo and they also used a small, tube-like brake reservoir that i recall is used in racing... Dogman, where's your build thread buddy? Or shoot me some pics on IM! Hope all's well.

That tube reservoir was courtesy of Irishcarbomb....

[GW Hobo]

I Like that look with the motogadget miniswitches and the throttle setup. Is that the randek MC for the brake setup?

Actually that's the MC off the Yamaha R1. Wish the reservoir was a little more high-speed looking. I know I saw an interesting threat on here somewhere where someone did a turbo and they also used a small, tube-like brake reservoir that i recall is used in racing... Dogman, where's your build thread buddy? Or shoot me some pics on IM! Hope all's well.

That tube reservoir was courtesy of Irishcarbomb....

Perfect! Thanks wingrider.

[Mudstain1]

Looks good!!

[cdwillis]

Great looking bike! Makes me feel a little inspired on my own build

[GW Hobo]

Nothing derails a good GL1100 build like uprooting your wife and 4 kids, taking a work transfer halfway across the country, and moving into temporary quarters. These past two weeks I found (I think) the last of the GL1100 parts boxes that were taped up in July and shipped across the country. And with the weather in this part of South Carolina hitting 70 today, my "build" season is greatly extended. No more subzero garages with propane heaters, wearing 4 layers, and standing on layers of cardboard to keep out the chill. And lower taxes.

Before I left, I shopped around to find a welder to help me finish out the muffler work. Then I planned to wrap the pipes myself and attach the mufflers. I had all the materials, but after I couldn’t find quite the right welder who did motorcycle muffler work with any regularity, I decided I needed to go to a bike builder for this work and just pay the man.

So I got with Federal Moto in Chicago and had them do some custom muffler work. You may recall they did some powder coating for me on this build a ways back. The Slash Cut Shorty mufflers are from Dime City Cycles. I shaved the headers down and gave them to FM with a length of straight muffler pipe and the Dime City mufflers. I’m getting older so I had Federal Moto also put some decibel killers down into the ends of the pipes, just past the headers, where the old mufflers had literally rusted off. Here’s a pic of the work in progress and after. They did a great job. (ignore the shocks, they're just on for trailering).

[GW Hobo]

Thanks to Sunnbob for the clutch assembly. I wish I could have done the total transformation but lifting the engine was not going to happen before I moved. If I ever build my man-garage, I’ll break down this GL1100, pull the engine, and do a full swap. Thanks Sunnbobb for all the advice during the switch out. I’m a little slow and he was more than patient with my dumb questions.

Wingrider reminded me that we saw Irishcarbomb do this slick thing with his brake reservoir and I thought, I need that. I mentioned this to Federal Moto and they slapped it on there for me. Really appreciate that – they do a few of these types of reservoirs so they knocked it out when they did the muffler work. Not really much to it, so now that I’ve seen one up close, I’m going to do it myself for the next build.

That blue square cell phone holder/charger is hard-wired to the m-unit.

[GW Hobo]

This was the old reservoir. It wasn't secured and looked out of place to boot.

[GW Hobo]

So horns matter. And the old GL1100 one wasn’t doing it for me. This one is so loud that I hated testing it while wiring it. Literally gives me a headache. Easy to wire and mount.

[GW Hobo]

And speaking of horns, I needed a new Reg/Rec, which I noticed when my motogadget m-unit told me. Literally. When I started the bike, it was fine idling, but then when I revved the motor off idle and really cracked the throttle, the annoyingly loud horn went off and my phone went off: both indicators by the m-unit that I had a voltage spike. In fact, my phone told me how high the spike was – 17.3 volts. So to dissipate all that voltage, the m-unit starts kicking off horns and lights and sends a message to your bike’s logbook in the app. I went to Revival Cycles and got a MOSFET R/R from Rick’s Motorsports Electronics. They’re great with both acid and lithium batteries. Little different size but there’s room in the faux tank thankfully, especially since Dogman had the idea to mount the m-unit on the left side. I liked that idea better and it worked for the wiring, so I jumped it over to the left side – good call Dogman. Sorry for the vertical pic - forgot to take this landscape.

Wiring is largely finished. The harness was pretty straight forward with the m-unit. Almost idiot proof, so you know I struggled at times. But things are tucked away, everything works, and I just have the rear brake and light assembly to tackle and I'll put it to bed for good.

[GW Hobo]

The tank is back in. And going back in was slightly easier than taking it out, but not by much. Back in the day (2017?) when I took the tank out, I bought a ton of sandwich bags and still today label the crap outta stuff so I know where it goes when it’s time to put it back. And sure enough, there’s single screw that secures the tank to the frame (like it needs it). And thank Joe Boo I still had that screw in my pile of crap. I literally have some bags of screws (like from the fairings for example) that I don’t know what they go to but I know I gotta save them. Sandwich bags. Definitely getting a nomination for mvp on this build. (Course NGW is probably a lock for the award, just beating Goldwing Docs).

New soienoid.

The key in the picture is for the helmet lock and shelter/false tank. For you non-m-unit types, the key fob starts the bike (or I can start it using my cell phone when the phone gets within 3 feet and just need to push start once I see the parking lights blink.) Double tap the starter button and that kills the engine. Then walk away from the bike and it turns off the ignition and sets the alarm - indicated by another blink of parking lights. If it tips over or gets moved while I'm out of range, my phone notifies me. And it shows me a map where the bike is located with a ping. Other cool stuff on the m-unit is tells you when certain maintenance is due based on your mileage. Not sure I'll live and die with any of this extra stuff, but it comes free on a great bike wiring solution that greatly increased the available power allowing one to add accessories easily now or later.

Some before and after on some paint work I did on the rear brake.

I'm considering a solution for the gas tank gauge, because my Koso meter doesn't have a gas tank indicator. But do I need one? I guess it depends how far I'll be riding, which on a bike like this, is a few hours here and there. But it'd be nice to know, right?

[GW Hobo]

Possible considerations for the shelter. I'd love a paint job like the one in the Harley road king photo, but with designs like the one my daughter drew up of the black and blue American flag. Not sure what to do about the side panels. Maybe just straight blue...?

[BikeMaine]

I like the flag.