New GS500 owner need some help!!

[chris0055]

Greetings!!

I'm a new rider from Vancouver Canada. Just finished a riding course and purchased an used 2008 GS500E (my first bike of my life). Its a great bike and I'm start learning my skills on it. I have couple questions to ask you experienced GS500 riders:

1. I found the indicator for Neutral and Oil is very hard to see during the day time. I'm wondering if I can replace the light bulb with an LED light bulb to make it clear. Has anyone ever performed such thing before and if yes, please please let me know how you did it.

2. The bike I purchased had only 1500 km on it, and its pretty much in mint condition. Its a naked version but I still would like to add frame slider on it. I've googled it for many pages yet can not find a brand that makes a perfect fit for GS500E. Any tips?

All feedbacks are so much appreciated!!


Newb GS500 Rider from Vancouver

[romulux]

1.  Yes, they are.  Another option would be to use a different lens material, but that would be even more of a mod.

2.  No experience on this.  There are engine guards available for E models which would be an alternative to frame sliders.

[007brendan]

I didn't even realize there were 2008 versions of the E in Canada, I thought all the new bikes were F models except in parts of Europe and Australia.

[adidasguy]

Yes, those indicators are hard to see in bright sun. Try making a small sun shade for them out of black or smoke plastic. My problem us sometimes forgetting the turn signal. I'll be adding duplicate indicators in the fairing on my GS500F.

[Gary856]

1. I put in "regular" LEDs and they (neutral, oil) are not bright enough in direct sun light. I bought high power LEDs (from superbrightleds.com, type "WLED-xHP" (shown on the lower half of the photo below), which should be a lot better, but I've been too lazy to put them in so far. Just get white ones; the idot light lens would give them the right color.



2. On my naked '01 GS I have an engine guard (curved metal tube that bolts onto the frame) on each side. They function like frame sliders and are great in protecting the engine/frame from being scratched in a drop. The bike would touch down and rest on the engine guard and the handlebar. I thought the engine guards were OEM Suzuki parts. You can see the engine guard (well scratched up) in this photo.  

[Toledo Jim]

..snip.. Just get white ones; the idot light lens would give them the right color.  ..snip..

Note (caution) about what color to get, led's are not the same as incandescent bulbs..
From the site mentioned above: http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fcarbulb-notes.htm

Which Color LEDs should I use?

For best results the LED color should be the same as the lens color. As an example: a red lens will filter out all but the red portion of the light so if the light is all red, none or very little light will be blocked by the lens. The light from a White LED contains very little light in the red portion of the visible spectrum so most of the light would be filtered out by a red lens.

[chris0055]

I didn't even realize there were 2008 versions of the E in Canada, I thought all the new bikes were F models except in parts of Europe and Australia.

I think Suzuki made E available in 2008 as well as 2009 available for Canadian. Lucky us?

http://moto.suzuki.ca/Product%20Lines/Cycles/Products/GS500F/2009/GS500.aspx?category=standard

[chris0055]

1. I put in "regular" LEDs and they (neutral, oil) are not bright enough in direct sun light. I bought high power LEDs (from superbrightleds.com, type "WLED-xHP" (shown on the lower half of the photo below), which should be a lot better, but I've been too lazy to put them in so far. Just get white ones; the idot light lens would give them the right color.



2. On my naked '01 GS I have an engine guard (curved metal tube that bolts onto the frame) on each side. They function like frame sliders and are great in protecting the engine/frame from being scratched in a drop. The bike would touch down and rest on the engine guard and the handlebar. I thought the engine guards were OEM Suzuki parts. You can see the engine guard (well scratched up) in this photo.  

I wonder how easy is it to replace the light bulb with the LED?

[chris0055]

..snip.. Just get white ones; the idot light lens would give them the right color.  ..snip..

Note (caution) about what color to get, led's are not the same as incandescent bulbs..
From the site mentioned above: http://www.superbrightleds.com/cgi-bin/store/index.cgi?action=DispPage&Page2Disp=%2Fcarbulb-notes.htm

Which Color LEDs should I use?

For best results the LED color should be the same as the lens color. As an example: a red lens will filter out all but the red portion of the light so if the light is all red, none or very little light will be blocked by the lens. The light from a White LED contains very little light in the red portion of the visible spectrum so most of the light would be filtered out by a red lens.

So I guess I need a Red and a Green LED? BTW, I"m too noob that I didn't even know what's the oil indicator for?
Its not for GAS right? I think its a warning light of when there is an engine problem?

[Homer]

It's so this doesn't happen:

[the mole]

So I guess I need a Red and a Green LED? BTW, I"m too noob that I didn't even know what's the oil indicator for?
Its not for GAS right? I think its a warning light of when there is an engine problem?

The oil indicator tells you when the oil pressure is too low, which happens if the oil level gets VERY low, or the oil pump fails. It will only warn you after the engine is already only good for a boat anchor! Just check your oil level regularly. You will soon get an idea of how much oil it uses. My '06 with 25,000km needs about 0.5 litre of oil in between changes. I usually check it at least every 1,000 km.

[Eklipse]

I believe the indicators are a #74 bulb on superbrightleds.com. It's in the wiki.

[Gary856]

I wonder how easy is it to replace the light bulb with the LED?

The LED (of the right type) fits inside the existing socket exactly like the existing light bulb.

[Jabilli]

Homer-
Owie! That engine went bye-bye.... Just out of curiosity, if a catastrophic engine (or any other main component) failure were to happen while at speed, wouldn't that cause your tire to lock up and have you lose control/slide/bad nasty stuff happen?

[Elijafir]

Chris - "Underneath" where the indicators are you can pull the bulbs out.. they are in "rubber boots."  It's pretty easy to get them out.. just try to pull on the rubber and not the actual wires.