Removing front end?

[aaront1988]

Hiya I'm Aaron, new to the forum but been checking it out thoroughly!

Just bought myself an 04 GS500E and I'm completely new to biking. I'm currently stripping the bike a) So I get to know how everything works and b) to respray my frame! The bike has not been very well looked after. Anyways what I'd like to know is, is there any way to remove the front end as a whole unit at the stem, straight from the frame? If so a how-to would be brilliant.

Is there a dedicated How-to section to this forum, everything seems to go in the General Discussion? Would be nice to see a dedicated pictures thread too to give me some ideas on what to do with my new toy!

Hope to chat to a few of you soon.

[the mole]

Easiest way to pull the front end is to follow the manual! Wheel, mudguard, brace, forks.......To that point should take you 20 mins if you stop for coffee. that's as far as I've been, but the rest won't be hard, just fiddly.

[tt_four]

yeah, pulling it apart is easy, putting it back together is more work. Just pull off the front wheel, and then start pulling off the top triple clamp. Eventually you could just be able to slide everything straight out of the frame. There's plenty of wires and cables though that will give you the most work once you start trying to disconnect them all.

[burning1]

Good point TT. It sounds like aaront1988 wants to strip the frame down to bare metal, which means removing all the electricals. If he just wanted to rebuild the forks, he could have them out in 15 minutes.

My experience was that disassembiling the wiring harness in the front headlight is a complete Buddha Loves You. If it were me, I'd look into removing the wiring harness from the frame it's self, since the frame will need to be stripped down to do the job properly, anyway.

[Anaconda]

aww...you're repainting the yellow bike? *or I'm just assuming yours is yellow* lol personally I like the 2004 yellow more than my 1999 yellow. And we'd love to see pics of your new bike too

[aaront1988]

Cheers. Yeh I'm after stripping everything from the frame to get it powder coated. This was my GS before I started.



This is it now!



Still a bit to go but getting there.

[The Buddha]

Powdercoaters tend to be a bit iffy about bike frames.
That foil badge the frame number is stamped on, remove it before giving it to them. They will avoid it while blasting, and the glue melts in the heat in the oven. You are better off tearing it off cos the frame has numbers cut into it anyway.
Also remove all the grommets, clean the SA pivot etc, clean the neck area off grease. Grease melts and runs in the oven.

Cool.
Buddha.