4

<-- Rebuilt the forks, and while I was at it, polished this aluminum piece of the fender. This is actually my favorite part of styling on this bike.

This is what the stock front sprocket looks like off the countershaft.

Here are all of the stock drive parts lined up.

The whole reason for this modification is to move the counter (drive) sprocket out away from the motor so it lines up with the rear sprocket which is now out further because of the wider rear wheel and swingarm. The welded part is not a structural weld, but more to keep the new sprocket securely attached to the splines of the countershaft. Since we're moving everything out, the normal lock tabs won't work. This is a matter of taking what you have, knowing an end goal, and playing around with the parts until you're satisfied with the results. They have to be robust, secure, and able to handle whatever is thrown at them.

The only potential problem with this setup is that it puts extra strain on the countershaft because we're giving the chain extra "arm" or leverage on the countershaft by moving it out further away from the motor.

I lined up one of the holes on the new sprocket with the old one, drilled a hole in the inside spacer so I could safety wire the nut in place.

I took the old sprocket, cut off the teeth, and ground it round. I also ground off the outer lip on the original outside spacer. Then I put the new sprocket and the old sprocket on the countershaft and tacked them in place so the splines were lined up and centered. I did this because the spacers put the new sprocket too far out on the splines. About half the width of the sprocket hangs over the threaded area of the countershaft.

The C/S nut also has a lip that I ground off to get more use of the threads. With the stock set-up this nut overlaps the splines of the C/S.

Because there are no splines for the lock washer to hook on, you have to come up with another way to secure this nut. This is the finished product.

These are the spacers that another buddy made for me on his lathe. I'm using a bike with 15mm axles and a wheel with 20mm holes, in basic terms.

In the end, a beautiful bit of custom machine work that nobody will probably ever see or appreciate just looking at the bike.

All buttoned up and out for the first test ride and obligatory tire roasting celebration.

$ spent so far:

500 1982 GS1100E 22k miles.

350 front end, swingarm, rear wheel.

240 motor, carb, and electrical help.

50 front wheel

170 3 brake calipers, 3 rotors.

48 misc. seals, nuts, bushings.

105 Electrex R/R

25 locksmith

254 V&H 4-1 Megaphone Street Exhaust

20 swingarm welding.

10 front sprocket 17t

25 rear sprocket 47t

87 DID 530 o-ring chain

10 grips

11 rear brake hanger

$1905