grr, second lowside.

[Rweimer]

well, i had my second low side on friday.  The first was when a car cut me off, went horizontal.

This time, i was in a rural road in mobile, alabama, and i start to pull into a gas station, i get it down to about 20 mph, then veer to the left.  I see a huge patch of gravel.  i remember thinking "im going to lose traction.  i am going to lowside."  sure enough, it lost traction, and i laid it down on the left side.

Damages to me:  road rashed through my gloves.  messed up my leater jacket a bit, and my ankle got rashed where my boot ended.  i need full ankle covering boots.

I'm all patched up.  

I am amazed at the resiliency of this bike.  

Extent of damage to the bike:  I broke the glass on the speedometer.  Just by impact.   The Left fairing is rashed.  

So, I thought fixing the glass would be easy.  I disassembled the meter mount and pulled the speedomter housing out.  i was under the impression i could just go to my local glass house and purchase another round piece of glass to replace it.  Well, the thing looks hermetically sealed.   So, i figure i have two options.  Option one is to shell out for a new speedo housing, or option two is to rig something and get that glass out, repair it, put new glass on it, and put some caulk to seal it up.  The latter sounds very sketchy.

About the fairing:  I am not going to buy another one.  So, i am going to find a way to sand it down, then borrowing from gixxer.com, i am going to go to the local vinyl shop, and get some vinyl, and wrap the entire bike.  The full cost quoted from 'bikeskinz.com' was like 450.  I figure i can get it for less than that from a local sign vinyl person.  This way WHEN i drop it again, i just patch some more vinyl on that.

Also,  i guess this is an omen that i need to do the things ive been meaning to do, namely..

can anyone point me to a turn signal eliminator solution for the gs500f?
Also, a fender eliminator for the back?

Finally,  I need/want to buy some new handlebars.  I think clipons would be the most fun.  Are they comercially available?  Otherwise, what would  ya'll recommend? These are looking rough.

Also, I need to buy a, i think ya'll call it a "can", just to replace my rashed one.  I don't care much about the 'performance' it may or may not increase, rather the logistics.  I know i am probably going to have to take it to a muffler shop and have them weld it on, right?  will the same bracket apply?  could you point me in the direction of one that passes ya'll's marks?

whew.  I guess thats it.  

----

I was frustrated on friday, and was pissed at the bike, when i should have been pissed at myself.  Then a friend called me over, i got to ride down a rural swampy road, opened the bike up, took the twisties, and realized that the alternative is not having a bike.

not much of an alternative at all.

[cummuterguy]

tips for a 'fenderectomy' and shortening you turn signals can be found on the home page of this site.
clip-ons have been done by several members of this site, apperently it requires lowering your front end a bit, so you can clamp a 37mm clip-on onto your forks. (unless you heve the 89 model that came with clip-ons)

as far as exhaust, you can find entire stock systems fairly easily(usally pretty cheap too, (compared to slip on can's that may cause you to need to re-jet) either in the forsale/trade section of this site, or on e-bay

Sorry to hear about your low-side, but at least you had your gear on, smart, very smart

[johncam4]

if you dont seal that tack right its gonna fog

[starwalt]

Don't know about the latest models of instruments but, the 89 -90 years have vents in the back of them so sealing is only a "splash and puddle" thing for the top end.

I've been repairing a tach today that is off my project bike - broken mounting posts.  I also noticed the speedo from the project bike is cracked and yellowed directly above the lamp due to heat. I see LED replacement in their future (oooh - cool blue?). This vintage of instrument has an aluminum ring that is crimped around the front of the meter. No removal is easy or non-invasive.

That makes some sense from the speedo point of view - no tampering with the mileage. My meters have crap on the inside of the glass that's bugging me.  :x

I have a sacrificial tach from a junk GS. The top ring is bent, the meter face is faded, but the glass is fine. I am going to use it to test my invasion procedure. The idea is to Dremel the back side of the aluminum ring off. This should allow the ring, the foam pad between the ring and the glass, and the glass to come out. Reassembly would be with RTV.

It may get done this week. If so, I will post here. Pics will also be on my webpage.

[Aznboytpk]

I used a fender eliminator for an '03-'04 gsxr 600 and front flush mount signals from lockhart phillips.

[Aznboytpk]

with the fender eliminator.....instead of taking the whole fender out, I hacked off right before the reflectors and bolted it back on so no dirt would kick up under the seat on everything.

[starwalt]

My invasion of the tach was successful. I Dremeled the outside ring off just enough to remove it.

The tach is magnetically coupled to the needle mechanism. No gears, belts, or pulleys. Neat really. Could the Speedo be invaded the same way? Probably and you could clean the glass on the inside.

Is it a cinch? Not totally even if you have the tools. I used the cutting wheel/disc tool and used two discs up before getting all the way around. I have the old school drill press that raises the table to the drill. The posts and mech connection to the tach were places I had to manually use the tool on.

I really want to pull the face off, scan it, and try to reprint it to eliminate fading. Unfortunately the original face is printed on an adhesive plastic that is bonded to a clear plate. That allows the light from the bulb to illuminate your display. Simple but fading nearly totals the meter for night use.

I will post more when I get time. No pics yet.

[ashman]

Damn robert, again?!? Dude, you have some bad luck. Where did it happen? We still need to take our GS's for a ride sometime. Let me know if you need some help getting it back together.

-ash