noob needs a quickie

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bugspit57

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yeah I know, I could do a search and probably will in time BUT, someone I'm sure can shoot me down the right path.

This site appears to be THE source for Airhead GS's...

I'm turning a 86R80RT into a GS, I got a 1990 front end on the way. The rear swing arm or shock needs to be changed but I'm not sure which or which would be best.

What might turn into a surprise during this adventure?

This will be a rat bike, it's pretty rough now so there's no need dumping a lot of cash into it.

Suggestions???

Thanks in advance, cool site BTW. :thumb2


 
Moved it to the airhead section for you.... and welcome to the site :thumb

Bryn :beerjug:
 
to begin

go to http://www.bmbikes.co.uk/bmwmodels.htm and check the differences between the RT and the G/S.
A longer rear shock, a G/S exhaust system, wire wheels might be the start, after losing the RT fairing. If you short in the leg, leave the shock as standard. A bash plate is always a good idea. Some enduro style headlight and mounts for the speedo and rev counter.
 
If you want to fit wire wheels The final drive is the main problem. The G/s or St had three wheel bolts and the Mono 80/100 had four so you will need to fit a g/s or ST final drive, if you are doing this you may as well fit a swinging arm and shock as well. Obviously this is getting away from your cheap option. By the time you have bought a front wheel to go with the Paralever front end your probably along way towards buying a cheap GS.
 
Fitting a paralever swingarm would make it cheaper and easier to find spoked wheels but I don't know what the work required is.

Agree with rob though, there was an airhead g/s on here not so long back for £1650 that was well sorted (needed a decent spray job though).

I got mine for around £1700.
 
Rob Farmer said:
If you want to fit wire wheels The final drive is the main problem. The G/s or St had three wheel bolts and the Mono 80/100 had four so you will need to fit a g/s or ST final drive, if you are doing this you may as well fit a swinging arm and shock as well. Obviously this is getting away from your cheap option. By the time you have bought a front wheel to go with the Paralever front end your probably along way towards buying a cheap GS.
Click to expand...


Rob,

Will the 'four stud' rear wheel from a 100GS fit the 80RT bevel box (I have now sold my 80RT so can't try this out) ?

I know that the 100GS has 60mm wheel bolts whereas the 80RT uses 50mm length so I guess there are other differences as well such as rim size and possibly the offset.

100GS were only 'Paralever' (originally) but someone may have modded an '80 to take the later wheel.

Bob.
 
I don't know Bob. They both have 200mm rear drums but I think the depth of the shoes is different.. not sure though but I think theres a boss inside the wheel that stops it seating properly. Hopefully somebody can shed some light on this.

I think you are right when you say about the wheel rim causing a problem.

I bought an 86 RT with the same thing in mind. Even picking the parts up cheap ran up a huge estimate. I sold the RT and picked up a scruffy 80GS Paralever from Steptoe for £100 more.
 
Rob Farmer said:
I don't know Bob. They both have 200mm rear drums but I think the depth of the shoes is different.. not sure though but I think theres a boss inside the wheel that stops it seating properly. Hopefully somebody can shed some light on this.

I think you are right when you say about the wheel rim causing a problem.

I bought an 86 RT with the same thing in mind. Even picking the parts up cheap ran up a huge estimate. I sold the RT and picked up a scruffy 80GS Paralever from Steptoe for £100 more.
Click to expand...

I would guess it's not scruffy anymore:thumb
 
Hey guys thanks for the replys.:clap

The bike in the pic was only $1000.00, the GS front end is $500.00, it's a good running rat bike, the Daytona hides alot. :augie

The front end that's coming includes a front wheel, with rotor and caliper, triple tree, fender and handlebars. I'll need to dig up a brake line, preferably a SS one and of course I've got spare calipers. ;)

The headlite will be something off the wall and was thinking of using the RT fairing brace, sawing the top ears off and welding tabs on the lower ones for aux-lights...??? Maybe something else, undecided.
The speedo, I'm not sure about, don't know if the triple tree that's coming will accomodate the stock RT cluster or not or whether I'll really use one. :gringo

On the swingarm, I could extend the rear shock length pretty cheaply and I could even relocate the rear shock mount more forward (which I'm assuming would allow using the stock shock?), I do have welding skills and some fabrication talent, engineering skills will be somewhat shadetree. :blast
Just assuming all this would work out OK.

My other thought was to find and compare prices on a GS swingarm or even a paralever provided the paralever would mount up to my tranny OK. I also like the idea of a spoke rear wheel like what belongs on the GS, so I might spring for something orignal....now I'm getting close to the $2K mark.

Not bad for a GS rat bike??

Still dreaming. :bounce1
 
HPN do all sort of swaps with para and monos etc and have the adaptors and bits to make it work - it isnt all a straight swap.
 
It is pretty difficult to install a paralever in a monolever frame, the other way is easier.
 
Yanks? Far too much money for their own good :D

It sounds like a great project Bugspit. Theres far too few bikes getting chopped up and changed around for my liking. Keep us posted and don't forget the photos :thumb
 
OOOOOO thats Beautiful :clap:bow
Great job you have done there, and kept it a monolever:thumb2:thumb2
don't worry about a wire on the back, suits it as it is.
Now get out and enjoy it, and please post more pics :thumb2

I loike my Airheads oi do ooooo arrrrrrr :rob
 
Thank you for the comments :clap I'm getting more here than the US ADVrider site....

The bike went from this



to this over the winter. I spent less than $1000.00 during the transistion. :thumb2



I didn't do a photo build because what I kept seeing on the ADV site was major cleanups and high dollar builds, this one is cheap and dirty, I only cleaned something if I was going to paint it. I basically swapped the front end, swapped the tank out and remounted the rear shock to give me some ground clearance without too much stress on the drive train.

The speedo if stock BMW, I made a bracket so it could mount to the GS triple tree. I thinking now about trashing it and just using a GPS.

The pipes are "custom/high performance" JC Whitney specials, sound tuff and not real loud, almost a perfect fit. (Just couldn't see using those Luftmiester mufflers.) No offense to Ducati owners but it kinda sounds like one without the valve chatter.

The seat is homemade from a XR250 Honda (gel)foam pad, sheetmetal base pan and a sheepskin cover. The rear fender is stock with 2" cutoff the edges and the turn signals stalks were shorten, the front signals are Lockhart's one size fits all. Headlite bracket if from an RT.

The thing behind the rear seat in the first picture is a backpak bolted the rear frame, gotta have someplace to put a tool kit in without using a tankbag all the time.

I think that's pretty much it, the horn bracket is also from an RT, horn on the right side and I have since added a small fog lamp to the left side. Rear tire is a Kenda K270.

I'll be adding a six piston front caliper next.

And the color is camouflage brown, not primer btw :bow

Thanks again for the comments, my life is now complete :yelrotflm :steptoe :wave
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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