Heavy ol Barsteward

[bowser]

Forget I asked, its not worth it!

go on then, have a look at this thread http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69015 this was a guy who was trying to build a lightweight 1100, however at the end of the day he spent a whole hell of a lot of money for not a great deal of difference.
Looks quite nice though, apart from the fairing which I dont like.

the bike pics are here http://gaspipe.smugmug.com/Other/SmugShots/9670444_Je7m6/1/669369316_vGY4W#669369316_vGY4W-A-LB

 

[steve case]

Cheers Bowser, I think he took that a bit far!

I was just putting it out there and seeing about ideas, the GS11 is getting tatty and old now and I guess I'm looking for reasons to keep hold of it. Y'know the everlasting project so to speak.

 

[Uncle Crumpet]

drill holes in your toothbrush handle!

 

[Littledumptruck]

Steve. Know where you're coming from. Mines an 850 so even more affected by the weight.

So, first of all, do you go offroad? If not start by ditching the sump guard, 2 bloody heavy lumps of metal. Do the same with any crash bars if fitted.

Next is swap the spoked wheels for a pair of old style 3 spoke alloys off an r or rs model. Added advantage of having the choice of decent road tyres, although the rear is a bit limited by being an 18" size.

Next is ditch the exhaust, get a link pipe and light titanium or carbon can.

Not sure how much diference this all makes, I have all the bits to do mine, but not had the time to assemble it all yet, hopefully soon. Was hoping to start by getting the beastie on a weigh bridge first, so I can get it weighed again after to suss the diference.

Hugh

Just noticed where you are, which bit of the old dump are you in? I escaped over 20 years ago

 

[B4ndit]

As was said earlier. Get another bike if you want light.

 

[Littledumptruck]

As was said earlier. Get another bike if you want light.

Perfectly ok for you are others like you to ask about, taller screens, seats, tyres, shocks, dustbins for panniers, extra length racks, tool box's, tank bags, sat navs, extra lights, and there mounts and switches to name but a few other mods.

I don't think changing the bike was given as an option in the question.

 

[steve case]

Hi Littledumptruck

850, Hmm ever thought about making it an 1100 I've got spare barrels and pistons and the engines look tha same to me just a different bore.

The Gs should be the ultimate B road bike, its ultra stable and never affected by bumps or ripples and the big bars mean turning its a doddle, used to like riding the Lilley road on it but hauling it up for the corners needs quite a bit of lever pressure.

Its a great tourer used it for that a few times good mpg and space to move about on.

Should be good round town as well but the injection needs to be cock on or its a pain in the arse, not helped by BMW setting the tickover to 1000rpm becoz zat it vat it sayz in der book! I've had to raise my tickover a couple of time because of that to deal with cold weather!

Parts are plentiful and not too expensive (try Triumph if you like surprises) and the bike seems to take a beating well though had the bevel box swivel bearings go (dad helped me fix that one -cheers dad) and the annoying ticky throttle bodies.

 

[Littledumptruck]

850, Hmm ever thought about making it an 1100 I've got spare barrels and pistons and the engines look tha same to me just a different bore.

Its a great tourer used it for that a few times good mpg and space to move about on.

Should be good round town as well but the injection needs to be cock on or its a pain in the arse, not helped by BMW setting the tickover to 1000rpm becoz zat it vat it sayz in der book! I've had to raise my tickover a couple of time because of that to deal with cold weather!

Parts are plentiful and not too expensive (try Triumph if you like surprises)

1100....Oh yes, in fact I asked on here some time back what was needed, but only got offered barrels, pistons and heads from an 1100S which has different exhaust ports and mountings so would need a custom exhaust system. Think it would need heads and maybe an ecu as well. WE NEED TO TALK (oh it would really need the final drive gearing altered as well, or else it'll just wheely everywhere )

I have a Blackbird for touring, so the GS is just a workhorse, do most of my observing with MKAM on it. Helps keep the miles off the Bird.

Know what you mean about the surging, the 850 seems a lot better than both my 11RS and 1150GS used to be. Balderstons just said 'thats character sir'. Service this one myself now Its the only one I've owned with no warranty, and the only one thats never needed it!!

Too many horror stories about Trumpet warranty issues which nearly always end with them blaming the owner for this or that. Don't see me owning one, certainly not new enough to have warranty anyway.

 

[steve case]

Not sure how much difference there is in the engine but wouldn't be hard to check. Not sure about gearing whats the top speed of the 850 and at what revs?

 

[MattW]

Not sure how much difference there is in the engine but wouldn't be hard to check. Not sure about gearing whats the top speed of the 850 and at what revs?

I believe the 850 final drive is lower geared.

 

[Pip_UK]

I was considering moving to a 1200 but all that tech? WTF is all that about?

It's mainly about shedding weight - about 30 kilos compared to the 1150.

A significant part of the weight loss was from switching from an oldskool copper spaghetti wiring loom to the digital CANBUS system (and the resultant 'computer says no' issues experienced by some here)

And just look at the waffer-thin clocks compared to the clockwork ones on the 1100/50

 

[steve case]

The 1200 is a nice looking bike and the extra oomph would be useful, I reckon a late sorted pushrod model would be a usable tool....But I believe they had servo assisted brakes?!?!? and then theres the transducer ring for the key signal (these are a problem on cars so why do we want them on bikes?).

The Canbus doesn't bother me that network has been around in different forms for 15 years so Bosch should have sorted it by now, and I guess the CPU now has OBD on it which will work with my car software (had an MiL on my Triumph and it took 5 mins to diagnose the fault, loverly).

Unless the tech can be removed from the 1200 I'll stick with what I have, cos its done 70K+ and so far its used a clutch, a starter motor, a throttle body and some disks which ain't bad (apart from the Valeo starter motor was replaced with a Mitsubishi Electric one).

 

[steve case]

1100....Oh yes, in fact I asked on here some time back what was needed, but only got offered barrels, pistons and heads from an 1100S which has different exhaust ports and mountings so would need a custom exhaust system. Think it would need heads and maybe an ecu as well. WE NEED TO TALK (oh it would really need the final drive gearing altered as well, or else it'll just wheely everywhere )

---------------
Do you ever go to the Pack Horse on the A5 for the Wednesday meeting, could meet there if you wish - I'll be on the Daytona though not the GS11

 

[Littledumptruck]

It's mainly about shedding weight - about 30 kilos compared to the 1150.

I was led to believe most of it was due to the wheels, hence the roughly 30kg difference between the dryweight of the the standard 1200GS to the 1200GSA.

 

[Littledumptruck]

Not sure how much difference there is in the engine but wouldn't be hard to check. Not sure about gearing whats the top speed of the 850 and at what revs?

Barely gets into 3 figures Redline is a little higher for the 850 I believe as well.

The gearing is such that up to about 70 it's just about as quick as an 1100, although you do need to work it to get it to do it, where the extra torque of the 11 probably makes it easier.

I'll have a look around and see if the heads are diferent.

 

[steve case]

I take a guess the heads are the same except the machining for the combustion chamber may be different, I have a couple of RT11 heads that are loose and they look similar to the GS 11. Cams different though!

 

[STUBBS]

never had a problem with my 850 keeping up with 1100 / 1150 when touring fully loaded

 

[Littledumptruck]

I take a guess the heads are the same except the machining for the combustion chamber may be different, I have a couple of RT11 heads that are loose and they look similar to the GS 11. Cams different though!

I had a look around and all I can find out about the heads is the 850's seem to have smaller valves. The only other options are the S heads, it seems all other 1100 heads are all the same.
But it does seem to indicate that I will need heads as well.
I'll search again for the cams.

 

[D6]

A significant part of the weight loss was from switching from an oldskool copper spaghetti wiring loom to the digital CANBUS system (and the resultant 'computer says no' issues experienced by some here)

not really,
iv handled both seperatly from the bikes, how much do u think a wiring loom weighs? bugger all, the canbus saves nothing really,
designed for less wires on long vehicles,not weight saving,,and not for bikes,marketing crap,,,,,
the 12 is lighter materials all round, and a much lighter engine,

 

[ahutcheon]

Back when I worked on CAN network layer software for cars the claim was that the multiplex bus saved around 30kg compared to point-to-point copper in a high-ish end car. Enough for the manufacturer to see it as worthwhile.

Dunno what the saving is on a bike, not sure if it's marketing or commonality with other ECU manufacture that drives it: since pretty much all the car black boxes are CAN, it probably makes sense to align with the high-volume technology?