GS500 Race Build

[yamahonkawazuki]

dumb question ( and lsightly intoxicated,so bear with me) but when you set up for racing, are you supposed to safety wire, and if so, how? ty ahead of time

[Kurlon]

Yes, for racing I have a whole crazy long list of things that must be safety wired, along with the general rule of thumb that if I would be annoyed to have it rattle off at speed, it should be wired.  So just about every nut and bolt on this thing will be wire tied in one way or another when I hit the track in April.

There are lots of safety wiring guides online.  The general idea is you drill your victim, as well as a nearby spot to use as an anchoring point.  Loop the wire through your new hole, and then twist the wire so there is no slack, loop through the anchor hole, twist out any slack, and snip off any excess.  You want the wire pulling the victim such that in oder for it to undo itself, it's going to have to pull against the wire.

[ben2go]

Way back when I raced go karts I spent a week drilling nuts and bolts for safety wire.It's a pain in the a$$.

[ohgood]

Way back when I raced go karts I spent a week drilling nuts and bolts for safety wire.It's a pain in the a$$.

mmm, more 2 1/2" stainless bolts being safety wired come to mind. ouch. stupid props. stupid ships.

haven't safety wired anything on my gs, but then i'm not going fast on a track either

[TANNER]

speaking of safety wire, i was curious if you were going to be using your stock clutch lever safety switch, the little bugger mounted under the clutch perch.
mine broke, i was being dumb and if you were not going to be using it i would purchase it from you 

[coll0412]

The safety switches are like $5.00 from www.bikebandit.com, Ron Ayers, ect ect

[Kurlon]

speaking of safety wire, i was curious if you were going to be using your stock clutch lever safety switch, the little bugger mounted under the clutch perch.
mine broke, i was being dumb and if you were not going to be using it i would purchase it from you 

Amusingly, unless it can be proven it's a safety hazzard, I think I have to retain it for the production class.

[Kurlon]

Fork springs and emulators arrived today, along with brake pads.  Put in an order for a Works Perf shock, fully adjustable with a ride height adjuster so I can dial in the twitchyness. : )

With the fork bits here I can start working on the front end, maybe Saturday?

[Kurlon]

Build update - First snags encountered. The used Woodcraft rearsets I got fit, and move the pegs back a good 1.5 inches, which is good. They also lower the pegs an inch, not so good. So, while CBR900 fitment rearsets do in fact mount on a GS500E, they are no good for racing. Second snag, while cleaning 15 years worth of road debris, dirt, and chain lube from behind the front sprocket cover, I developed a gas leak. It looks like it's either a line cracking, or the vacuum petcock on the tank. Guess it's good that it happened now vs on the track though.

So, all I accomplished today was cleaning out the buildup behind the sprocket cover, determined both my sprockets are junk, and mounted a billet ignition rotor cover to give it some crash protection.

[dgyver]

Are these Woodcraft rearsets made for the GS or are they from another bike? Mine raised the pegs and I never had a clearance problem.

[Kurlon]

These were for a CBR 900.  I got them used via this forum hoping to save some over the cost of new... but that didn't quite work out.  I will at least be able to swap over the shift linkage and brake pedal though, so they aren't a total loss for me.

[ben2go]

You could make plates out of aluminum to raise and move them back.The weight penalty wouldn't be noticed in any way.Cheaper than another set of rear sets.

[Kurlon]

I don't have any aluminum handy, and that'd put them too far back.  Given it's a race bike, I'd rather not make a large lever out of the assembly, having my rearset mounts ripped off the frame would be a bad way to end a weekend.  : )

[Canonball]

i know this thread is way old but i was just wondering what kind of handlebars/forks do you have on there? i recently acquired a gs500, i love the bike but i want a little more aggressive stance. not finding much on the web for what i'm looking for........

[Kurlon]

I'm using the stock forks with new springs, cartridge emulators, and Woodcraft clipons.  The forks are raised a touch in the clamps.  I'm hoping to get my damping rods reworked so I can stop using 30w sludge for fork oil to get any damping out of them.

[omrimon]

i know this thread is way old but i was just wondering what kind of handlebars/forks do you have on there? i recently acquired a gs500, i love the bike but i want a little more aggressive stance. not finding much on the web for what i'm looking for........

I have an 06 GSXR-600 front end/forks on my racer. Stock clipons. Works a treat.

If keeping stock forks, woodcraft or vortex clipons are the way too go. I love my woodcraft rearsets.

[coll0412]

I'm using the stock forks with new springs, cartridge emulators, and Woodcraft clipons.  The forks are raised a touch in the clamps.  I'm hoping to get my damping rods reworked so I can stop using 30w sludge for fork oil to get any damping out of them.

You put the cartridge emulators in there right? If you did you should have drilled a bunch of holes in the damper rod(as specified by race tech), since the damper control is via the cartridge emulator.

[Kurlon]

I'm using the stock forks with new springs, cartridge emulators, and Woodcraft clipons.  The forks are raised a touch in the clamps.  I'm hoping to get my damping rods reworked so I can stop using 30w sludge for fork oil to get any damping out of them.

You put the cartridge emulators in there right? If you did you should have drilled a bunch of holes in the damper rod(as specified by race tech), since the damper control is via the cartridge emulator.

The compression damping is controlled by the emulator, and it's working fine.  I can get proper compression using the emulator and 10w oil.  It's the rebound that needs to be reigned in, only way to get decent rebound control is with 30w oil.  The fix, rework the rebound ports on the damping rods.

[Canonball]

i like the clubman style handle bars, i found some here: http://www.airtech-streamlining.com/suzuz/GS500Titan.htm, anyone have any experience from this company?

p.s. not tryin to whore the post

[intergalactic]

Can you elaborate on jetting for Loudon?

And you had the forks brazed and drilled by KB? You know what size holes? And is this compatible with a non emulator setup?

I'm using the stock forks with new springs, cartridge emulators, and Woodcraft clipons.  The forks are raised a touch in the clamps.  I'm hoping to get my damping rods reworked so I can stop using 30w sludge for fork oil to get any damping out of them.

You put the cartridge emulators in there right? If you did you should have drilled a bunch of holes in the damper rod(as specified by race tech), since the damper control is via the cartridge emulator.

The compression damping is controlled by the emulator, and it's working fine.  I can get proper compression using the emulator and 10w oil.  It's the rebound that needs to be reigned in, only way to get decent rebound control is with 30w oil.  The fix, rework the rebound ports on the damping rods.