Just been customising my 1100 a bit

Hi all, just spent the last nine months working on my GRiSO. Time is difficult to find what with life and all. I gave the bike a long overdue service including the forks, steering head bearings, and swinging arm and then got interested in changing the bits I was less keen on. I think the bike looks pretty great as it comes from the factory so I didn't want to overdo my input. I hope you like the results and would welcome feedback. In a nutshell the modifications are LED indicators, older style Hella headlamp lens (better than original IMO), new mirrors and levers, trimmed down carbon hugger, new seat cover, home made rear mudguard over generic tail tidy, hagon Stelvio rear shock (great improvement), gloss and satin black paint to the plastic chrome bits, a bit of black powder coating here and there, and grey pearl paint with GRiSO logos in black candy to the body work.
Things for the future are a beetle map, but it's taken me nine months to get this far and I just need to ride Furio for a bit now.

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Looking good! It's a thumbs up from me.

The Gray Ghost

Very stealthy, nice work.

Very Sharp !

Who makes the rear hugger ? I like how yours doesn't attach to the reaction arm.
And the indicators ?

Thanks for the positive feedback guys. The carbon hugger is made by a company in Dorset imaginatively called Skidmarx. I have shortened it a little giving it a more rounded rather than pointy rear profile and also opened it up on the CARC side so the wheel is more visible. Somewhat counter intuitive given its purpose but I think it looks a bit better. It wasn't cheap but these things seldom are. The rear indicators are 'Koso Storm' and the front are 'Motogaget m~blaze pin' both are LED items and again I think rather expensive for what they are. However I was in the zone by then and couldn't help myself. Hope that's useful.

Nice work, Simon, that's a great looking GRiSO! A Cred for you!

Pete (Street)

That's grand.

if you fancy a trip over to Harrogate, I'd be happy to help out with the Beetling, once you've got the map.

Also I need to see that replacement shock!

Looks very classy good work!

Have you done the LED headlamp? It really helped mine at night. The tradeoff was a loss of detail because my bulb has a shorter wavelength but the gain in distance was great for mountain passes in the middle of the night.

I'm thinking about adding a pair of yellow "driving" lights to gain detail and look like a California Cop.

Yep sagaisMyHomeboy will come over to Harrogate when have a bit of free time. Suggest March will work as a bit tied up at the moment and trying to figure out how to use the PM function.

Nice work. Thanks for all the details about lights and hugger. I must spend some quality time working on my 1100 soon!

What a beauty! Great job on the colourscheme and cleaning up the already great look.

Bravo! Nice clean look. What levers have you chosen as a replacement for clutch/brake?

Looks great! Well done.

Silver Billet The oil cooler cover looks like the only thing needing some love.

Excellent job.

Very nice job. Interested in what you've done with the seat. I need to do something with mine. Keep looking at the options, can't come to a decision. Is it just a cover or a re-upholster? Who, what, where.

Paggers,
AF1 Racing has seat covers like that. And, Street (Pete the artist) has a cover I really like that he said he got from Greece. He provided a link to it too. If you can’t find it I’m sure he can help.

Hi gpranzo, the levers I got from a company in Germany. I will have to search for the make and supplier as I seem to have misplaced this bit of information at the moment. They are very well machined and the anodising is great. I'll get back to you. Paggers, the seat cover is from AF1 Racing in the states as JohnA says. The covers are more expensive than a complete new seat but I was lucky as the one I got was on sale for some reason. I think they are made, or designed at least, in Canada by a company called Luimoto. I fitted it myself and my hand staple gun had enough power to fire in stainless staples. A word of caution: the alcantara (faux suede) section likes to soak up water on a rainy ride, although does dry out OK albeit slowly. Due to this I have sprayed it three times with a good quality waterproof spray to try and combat this sponge like behaviour. We'll see how that works. I like the design as it's different from the original and picks up the line described by the engine fairings or whatever they're called. Let me know if you want any more info.

JohnA wrote:

... And, Street (Pete the artist) has a cover I really like that he said he got from Greece...

Here's that link again:

MotO.K.

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Pete,
How hard was it to re-skin the seat and what tools did you use? Needle nose and good staple gun? Did you have to stretch it on?

I’ve had my GRiSO 1100 seat reupholstered by Twist Grip clothing UK. Based in Adlington near Chorley. Very good quality job and looks amazing.
Will attach a pic.

JohnA wrote:

Pete,
How hard was it to re-skin the seat and what tools did you use? Needle nose and good staple gun? Did you have to stretch it on?

John,

I am fortunate to have a good friend who owns an upholstery shop so for the price of a few beers, he did it for me. He said it was pretty easy to install, but I wasn't there and he does it for a living so I'm really no help to you at all. I say go for it. I think it adds a nice custom look and I really like the textured panel and the red stitching. And it was cheap!

Pete

WARNING - you can reupholster your seat yourself, and there are a few tricks.

You will need a 6 mm staple gun and staples, available at most hardware outlets, probably as a kit - you only need enough staples to go around the seat - longer staples will do you a disservice by poking through and wrecking your nice work - shorter ones will not work properly - beside you don't need something sharp sticking into you leg while you ride.

I covered mine with a cover from MotoK too.

If you have an upholsterer you know, it's money well spent getting them to do it.

However, if you have the DIY bent and want to achieve something, there are a few pointers I can give:
- put the cover in a tumble dryer for around 20 minutes on warm (not hot - don't want to melt it!) before fitting;
- an extra pair of hands will be extremely useful as it's still a bastard to get on, hold it in place, and staple it with only two hands;
- might be worth doing it on a warm/hot day, so the cover doesn't cool off;
- if you have a piece to pull the seat down onto the pan (you'll see this if it exists on the old cover), make sure this is fitted first before the other bits;
- stretch the cover front to back and staple them first, ensuring the cover is centred;
- work forward or backward on both sides to ensure the fit and stitching is even;

I actually sprained my wrist doing it myself - I know, limp wristed jokes - but I really admire upholsterers now - they have a skill way beyond mine - I dips me lid in their general direction.