upgrades

[rob1bike]

Ok guys(and girls), I've ordered a new set of springs, sonics .90. Rich @ sonic is a very nice guy! Hope they help, sure can't hurt! Also ordered a dragbar to replace the slighty bent stocker. I've done a little trim work to the rear fender and relocated the turn signals. I'll send sum pics so ya 'all can tell me what ya think. Next up is a vance and h pipe, k and n filter and a rejet. A local shop has a dyno machine, anyone ever had that done when they rejeted? Or should I just go with what others have used? I'm not made of money but it was only like 75 dollars more to dyno it. What ya think? They said to put the pipe on, and rejet, 150....dyno it, that includes the rejet and put the pipe on is 200-225. Local stealership wants 310! No dyno! They wanted 75 to change the oil! I did it, took 20mins, cost 18bucks!....thanks for reading

[starwalt]

Hello to another SC GS owner! You've got company here in the Palmetto State.

What year GS is this?

[rob1bike]

Greetings, she's a 2001.has 6200 miles on her

[Mk1inCali]

I'd hold off on the mods unless you have already paid for the exhaust.


I rejetted, piped and pod filtered my '00 and it's not enough of a difference to not make you want a new bike after about 2 months of riding the "renewed" GS.  It definitely is faster, and handles MUCH better with the stiffer springs (I barely rode on the stock noodles because they sucked so bad, so I hardly remember them), but it's still not as solid feeling as a bigger/more recent designed bike.

My $.02.

[rob1bike]

I'd hold off on the mods unless you have already paid for the exhaust.


I rejetted, piped and pod filtered my '00 and it's not enough of a difference to not make you want a new bike after about 2 months of riding the "renewed" GS.  It definitely is faster, and handles MUCH better with the stiffer springs (I barely rode on the stock noodles because they sucked so bad, so I hardly remember them), but it's still not as solid feeling as a bigger/more recent designed bike.

My $.02.

so it sounds like your saying that with the springs it still sucks? The pipe n rejet didn't really do anything? That contrasts what everyone else is saying.... Did you have it done correctly? Are you just used to riden $15,000 liter bikes? Just wondering? I had a an older kz750 that had the same basic mods and I'd drop A LOT of way more expensive bikes (in a straight line)...... Just a thought, thanx for reading!

[ducati_nolan]

If you want to see your improvement you should do a dyno run before and after the mods. also take note of the atmospheric pressure and tempature so you can correct the power for your density altitude. Dynos are all a little different, so comparing different dynos at different locations dosen't tell you much. The real value is seeing the improvement over stock when measured on the same dyno on simmilar atmospheric conditions.

If possible, after the pipe, filter and jets have been installed do a couple of runs with different jets. If you have the right length screwdrivers, you can swap jets with the carbs still on the bike and it won't take long. This is the main advantage of using the dyno, you can tune it just right. If you throw in some jets, run it on the dyno and call it good, it isn't worth the money. You may as well just use the seat of your pants.

The pipe and jet will give you a little more peak power, but mostly it just makes the power delivery start sooner and it's a lot smoother.

Is the 2001 the 2 jet or 3 jet carb? I forget, but you can look into it here and come up wit some good starting numbers and work from there.

I'd recomend doing the pipe and jet yourself and just paying for the dyno runs. It's pretty easy.

Good luck 

[Mk1inCali]

so it sounds like your saying that with the springs it still sucks? The pipe n rejet didn't really do anything? That contrasts what everyone else is saying.... Did you have it done correctly? Are you just used to riden $15,000 liter bikes? Just wondering? I had a an older kz750 that had the same basic mods and I'd drop A LOT of way more expensive bikes (in a straight line)...... Just a thought, thanx for reading!

Well, it's a huge improvement over the stock springs, for sure.  The pipe/filter/rejet DO change characteristics of the power delivery, definitely pulls up top much better, but it's still a GS500.  KZ750 != GS500 when it comes to responsiveness to modifications.


Not saying it isn't going to be worth it for you, but it wasn't/isn't for me and I still want to move up to something else.  Nolan is right about the dyno tuning, do the swaps yourself, and bring it in with a bunch of jets for them to try while it's on the dyno.  No sense having them do the easy swap work that'll burn $60/hr the same as running the bike does.

[rob1bike]

Yeah, the mechanic said he would do a b4 and after on the dyno to see what the result really are. The dyno includes any rejetting, I'll most likely have him do it all so I can have the true b4 and after. Jet kit question, when I get a kit does it come with different sizes to play a round with or just 1 size? Would I be better of just getting a bunch of jets? What's the most cost affective? Thanks for the input!