Hi Mick

Luke's cutdown Arrow looked pretty good on the bike and sounded right rorty.  Considering he was on a 'make & mend' budget at the time, I thought it worked out really well.  And polishing titanium to a mirror finish ain't no cakewalk.

As for mine, I think the traditional oval-shaped can works best on the Gen 1.  I've had the Blueflame Tri-Oval and a round, stubby Mivv GP and neither went as well with the lines of the bike, IMHO.  Perhaps you'll see it differently when the Akra is back on the bike.  It's gone from being 470mm to 430mm and it could well be an improvement being that little bit shorter.

At least my wallet hasn't be shortened by my mistake.

Cheers!

Mike

Whew, I think I got off lightly ... trimmed 4cms off the sleeve today, cut back the baffle tube and wadding and hey-ho, slightly shorter but good as before.  Doesn't titanium make lovely white sparks! 



Managed to polish out the marks from where strap was previously and I'm just waiting on some genuine Akra stainless rivets before refitting the titanium strap around the end.

Lucky escape, methinks.

Actually, Dave, exactly the same thoughts crossed my mind as I was lying with my right arm pinned under the rear wheel.

Thanks for the link, Bludclot.   I'd prefer titanium still and I could get a repair kit from Akra for £180 (eek!) or an unmarked used Akra for around the same amount off ebay.  I'll be getting the tools out later this morning to see what's possible repair-wise first.

    

There's cut-down and there's just plain stunted, mate.  That one is definitely proof that size does matter. 

I'm hoping that I will get away with shortening mine by just a couple of inches at most.  If not, ebay here I come ... 

... when the nuts are off i can clean the threads up

Looks to me like the studs are just as bad as the nuts.  If you split the latter, don't hold out too much hope of being left with studs that can be simply run with a die to clean up the threads ...

Same goes for the header clamps and collets, I'm afraid.  The latter have corrosion-welded to the head from what I can see in the photo.  Give it a go by all means but have one eye on ebay for a replacement set of headers. 

Re the AIS tapping, if you don't have a tapered M8 in your Lidl set, be very very careful.  The tap should cut easily, if it requires any effort to turn, back it out and rethink.  Much better than than busting a tap in the stud as a few have discovered the hard way.

Good luck.

I don't know, mate.   He's a Brummy (not that I hold that against him  ) but he could have worked with another force.  Name's Paul and like I said, he used to have a GS1200.  He's changed it this year for a 1200 Bandit, which I guess is a value for money tourer but not what I'd have expected him to go for over the Beemer. 

He'll still be riding around the outside of me on that, I'm sure ... 

Definetly interested in a swap. The headlight is in excellent condition with no scratches

I'll get in touch and see what he says ...

The crease in the mid-pipe caught my eye but I couldn't figure out why.  I was also admiring the chain adjusters and wondering why I hadn't seen more like them on Gen 1s.

Now I know.

It's still in immaculate condition, Dave, and has probably done less than 2000 miles since you sold it, 700 of which accounted for the move from the UK to its present home.

It pulls like a champ as is and the extra tooth on the rear sprocket evidently corrects for the average pessimistic speedo error.

So, I'm faster than I thought I was ... 

Fair enough, JP ... I'll own up to 'veteran' and I guess that's why I was early onto the Ivan's and K-tech stuff but Luke's the fella who has spent time really thinking about cost-effective ways to improve the Gen 1.  Granted, some of the mods on his 80s duvet cover 'un were anything but cheap (I'm thinking single-side swingarm, ISR/rim-mount front brake etc) but any man who gets thrown out of Fowlers for lying on the floor measuring R6 shocks is sure to get my vote. 

I tend to forget the inside leg challenge of the 'tall-rounders' and I confess to sitting on the GS1200 and thinking 'hmm, comfortable' but that's as close as I'll get to buying one.  I like reliability, me.

I've tried mates' Sprint 1050 and Tiger 1050 and I must be missing something because the triple motor did nothing for me at all.  It felt rather wooffly and I didn't feel I was riding anything particularly torquey.  The Sprint felt long and slow-steering.  The Tiger was tall and roomy - a good distance tool, no doubt - but my boat remained firmly on the beach.

As for being embarrassed by GS riders, one of our crew over here is a police car and bike instructor.  Used to ride a GS1200 with his life's possessions in the panniers (about 40 kgs, I'm convinced - why he never took them off beats me) but he'd fly round the outside of even our quickest riders as though he was obeying his own Laws of Physics, Jim.   All you'd hear would be this noise like a WWI biplane, then the Red Baron's shadow would flit rapidly past your eyeline.  Still, at least he was first at the cafe to get the orders in ... 

Cheers!

Mike

More coffee required, JP.

He means his second Gen 1, not his 2nd Gen Fazer.