GS Updates...

So I got my first set of parts in the mail today. I got the seat and the side panel that I purchased from the guy on GS Resources.

They are exactly as they were described and I'm very happy with them.

With that said, both of them are wrong for the bike...but not in the sense that they won't work at all. The side panel is the wrong color, but that's no matter because I am going to be painting the bike anyways, so it works perfectly. The seat is the right seat for the bike but is lacking a cover. Basically, it's a foam pad with some ugly vinyl still clinging to it. That's no matter either, because the foam is good and the pan is excellent. I was probably going to want to recover the seat anyways, so this is nothing that is a problem.

The good thing about the parts is that even though they both need some work, they are better than what I had for the bike...which was an ugly aftermarket seat that I didn't like and a side panel that wasn't even there.

I have been throwing around a few different ideas for what I want to do for the seat. Of course the least expensive route would be for me to just go get some vinyl and try to cover it myself. I've done the Ninja's seat with some decent success, especially the second time. However, the pan on the GS is made out of metal, where the Ninja's pan is plastic...so the way of mounting the vinyl would be significantly different, as with the Ninja I just stapled and stapled and it worked, but I couldn't do that to the metal pan. Another option is to just get it covered as well as I can and then go with one of the Alaska Leather sheepskin covers. I like the idea of the sheepskin covers because they look comfy and are supposed to work well at keeping your rear side warm when it's cool outside and cool when it's warm outside. The other option is to order a remake of the original cover. This would of course be the most authentic, and probably the easiest as it would fit perfectly onto the seat pan, but it's not the cheapest route.

I will more than likely end up ordering the original seat cover...and then later on get the sheepskin cover as well. That will end up being the best of both worlds and in the long run be the best overall option for the seat on the bike.

In other news, I'm leaning on doing the exterior of the bike the same way that I did my Yamaha Radian a few years back. I did black on that bike, but not just paint. I did it with spray on bedliner, and it looked great. Not only did the paint look good, it was textured which made it look even more "custom" than it actually was. The nice thing about the bedliner is the fact that it's REALLY durable. It can get beaten on and still just look like it was the day you put it down. It also does a fairly good job of hiding small imperfections in the body that it's covering. I am planning on still doing all of the prep work necessary for painting...with sanding and priming and such...but the use of the bedliner will mask any small imperfections that I make in that. The best part about it is the fact that I really like the way it looks. If I prep the parts just as I would for painting then lay the bedliner down, it will basically be like a paint job only with textured paint.

I also have found a line on a replacement switch for the headlights and turn signals on the bike. I'm not sure how much the guy wants for it, but judging by his other parts prices it shouldn't be more than $15 or so. And that part will definitely be better than the broken part that is on there now!!!