Building an ST1300 from the ground up.

It's an '04. I'll probably do the t-stat while I'm here since it's easy. I'll get back to you on the weep hole. Thanks!

The Gixxah front end showed up today. Oddly, it didn't come with a wife beater and flip flops. I guess you only get that when you buy the whole bike.

I got bored and threw it together tonight.

Is it me or does that wheelbase look even shorter now? Looks like those triple trees are raked in more than the ST's.

It's the angle of the picture; the front end has a fair amount of rake to it. The GSXR forks are not raked in relation to the stem. As for the offset, I can tell you that the GSXR is 30mm and can measure the ST lower I have at some point and post it up, or you can measure what's on your bike.

Thanks to KYCycles selling me a rear wheel, I now have a roller. I have the bike sitting on a 120/70- 17 front tire and the only rear I had laying around to spoon on the rear was a 190/55. With a proper size rear that will eventually be on there, this will lower the rear some and rake out the front geometry a bit.

So, some observations... parked next to my RC51, it is a looooong bike. Throttlejockey asked about the wheelbase- it's right at 58.5" axle to axle (the ST, not the RC). Also, the GSXR and RC51 trees both have 30mm offset, and the ST front has more rake than the RC. I measured the ST lower tree I have, and the offset is 45mm, which means that with the 30mm offset GSXR trees, I gain 15mm of trail without factoring in the shorter front end. So, the shallower offset tree moved the front wheel back by 15mm, and according to my measurement of the wheelbase, I'm only 12.7mm shorter than stock, so I think the front end geometry is going to be fine, but will still be using a steering damper and will make the first couple hundred miles cautious ones. Also, as the bike sits, the front only has about 0.5" of static sag with the preload set halfway, so I think the front springs and valving will be fine. The rear, however, is stiff So stiff that when I put all my weight on the frame above the swing arm, the forks compress while the rear doesn't move at all. While I suspect I'll be adding about another 125- 150 lbs. to the bike, I don't see that changing much with the rear spring. I will probably throw scales under the wheels and send the rear shock off to Race Tech for a spring and valving.

Unless I'm mistaken, I think that I am the first to do a fork swap on this bike.

Looks Stunning so far!!

The main harness and ECU just showed up today. That's about all that is new. I race a YZ85 in adult mini supermoto, and had to spend some money on slicks which would have otherwise gone towards this project. They're so tiny- 90/580-17 front and 120/600-17 rear.

An idea rolling around in my head as of late is to abandon the two up role of this bike, as I don't really have anyone to take for a ride (the two up function was more of a just in case thing), and instead go with a Honda RS250 tail and either do an underbelly exhaust that blends into a bit of a chin fairing similar to what's on the SV1000S, or bring the two pipes over to the left side of the bike and have two cans stacked vertically in a nod to another V4 that I covet:



I'd have to look at the tail and see how it'd go with the lines of the ST tank. I also have a spare RC51 tail fairing that could find its way on the bike if I like the proportion and lines once the tank is in place. Speaking of proportions, another exhaust possibility would be just simply have a can on either side, but in more of a sportbike orientation than OEM. This may balance out the width of the tail with the width of the engine.

And... if I do decide to go that route, I'll no longer be doing an undertail exhaust, which will allow me to use the bottom gas tank. This appeals to me because I'd be able to ride all day on one tank, plus I'd then be able to use the entire OEM fuel injection system from gas cap to O2 sensor, and that means more reliability. The bike is a blank slate, basically. I had a very specific look in mind when I started amassing parts, but new ideas surface as I progress and time passes, and to be honest, it's anyone's guess as to what the final product will look like.

The tank showed up today. Kinda really digging how the lines of the RC51 tail work with the tank. From every angle, they compliment each other. I think this is the tail I'm going to use.

Nice looking mandrake. Are you planning to leave the exhaust pipes lengths/angles unchanged from stock?

Thanks. I'm still undecided about the exhaust, so it could go any number of ways. Two cans on the left, an underbelly exhaust, one on each side mounted low, one on each side mounted high, or an in- tail exhaust... I dunno.

Wow! This is incredible! It looks real nice! I hope the seat will be more substantial than that if you plan on riding long distance though.

One of my other bikes is an RC51, and I don't have a problem knocking out 350 miles in a day on it. That's peanuts compared to what you guys do, but I don't do any long distance riding, nor am I building this bike to do so.

Just a quick update... subframe, seat, brake and clutch master cylinders, OEM rear sets, fuel pump, and some other odds and ends are all here. Here's the gauge that showed up today.



I'm going to have a custom top triple machined with mounts for the bars, that gauge and maybe the headlight (if I go the direction I'm thinking).

Next up is to get the subframe on the bike so I can lay out the wiring and figure out what to do with the fuel pump.

Nice to see this project coming together.

The handlebars are here...



And the headlight is on its way. I'm going to try to find time this weekend to begin to attach the subframe to the frame. I have two options- one is to modify the RC51 subframe to bolt to the ST frame, and the other is to build a sub-subframe that bolts to the ST frame to which the RC subframe would bolt to. I'm going to have a shot at the sub-subframe option this weekend if I have time to see how it turns out.

I am way impressed with this project. Maybe make it look like a Motus and show up at one of their dealerships.

I like (have always liked since Eric pioneered it) the under-belly exhaust. Do keep us up to date on this project.

Thanks, George.

And the headlight. Don't mind the steering damper; once I build a bracket for it, it'll sit parallel with the lower tree.