What have you done for your bike today????

[steezin_and_wheezin]

Got the side fairings put back on my old GS. Took a while to find a day where me and the new owner could wrench(night/day shifts). With the old hardware and extras I got off adidas we were only missing 1 bracket(lower left fairing closest bracket to the tail). Just secured it with a zip tie until we get a replacement. It's been a while since I've seen a fully fairing gs in person. It looks good and will help on his 80 mile round trip commute.





Also got a second to wrench on my gs. I'll update the project thread on that

[Higgins13]

Bought ngk iridium spark plugs to replace stock ones

[gilkeyb]

I have started the handling mods of my GS.  I got a set of clubman bars in the mail today, an SV650 shock, and some .90 Sonic Springs. 

I installed the bars, and am afraid I don't know the correct direction.  Pictured below is how I mounted the bars




I'm thinking they may be upside down?  With how far forward this put them, at 6' 5" I start to make the bike look really small.  But, flipped in the alternative orientation it feels as though the bars are a little closer than ideal.  Can anyone weigh in?

[Phil B]

far as I can tell, clubman bars are kinda supposed to give you clip-on positioning, without actually clipping to the forks.
SO, if you didnt want them to be closer than you have there.... you should trade them for a different set of bars :-/
I've heard that angling down like that, can be bad for wrists.

[Leadberry]

I rode the piss out of it.

[ThatOtherGuy]

new set of drag bars for the Bandit which solved the other problem I posted about in another thread,  instead of narrowing the GS500 bars I put wider ones on the Bandit.  Has improved the handling immensely and made it more comfortable.

gilkeyb, if you want to reposition the existing bars, ie the picture ones and you don't mind the look, try some Rox risers, they allow forward and backward positioning using 2" rise.  I used them on my Bandit as I needed a low sweep bar which I could only get as a low rise bar, so use the Rox risers to get the rise just right.

[GI_JO_NATHAN]

Well, me and the GS are about two thirds of the way through a 480 mile ride from Upstate SC, to West Florida. With a five hour lay over at Six Flags in ATL.

Me and the GS are headed out for our return trip. Straight through this time.
Wish us luck.

[gilkeyb]

far as I can tell, clubman bars are kinda supposed to give you clip-on positioning, without actually clipping to the forks.
SO, if you didnt want them to be closer than you have there.... you should trade them for a different set of bars :-/
I've heard that angling down like that, can be bad for wrists.

Phil, the long term goal will be to track this GS.  So, an aggressive riding position won't be too much of an issue, as it won't be for long stretches.  This bike will be my fun bike.  I have my FZ6R for touring purposes.

If the bars are rotated 180 degrees, they end up in a much more upright position, but with the exception of the angle towards the rider, they are essentially in the same position as the stock bars (seems silly to make the change, in that case).  In the position I have them they just seem awfully far forward.  But, I don't have experience with clip-on type bars, so maybe i'm being a big girly girl

Brian

[Phil B]

far as I can tell, clubman bars are kinda supposed to give you clip-on positioning, without actually clipping to the forks.
SO, if you didnt want them to be closer than you have there.... you should trade them for a different set of bars :-/
I've heard that angling down like that, can be bad for wrists.

...
If the bars are rotated 180 degrees, they end up in a much more upright position, but with the exception of the angle towards the rider, they are essentially in the same position as the stock bars

180 degrees?

WHy dont you just rotate them as-is, 90 degrees towards you??
THen they'd be like clipons, as I suggested.
YOu have them correctly, they're not supposed to be flipped.

Here's a picture from the wiki:
(okay, that would be more like 75 degrees towards you, but you get the idea hopefully)




You're trying to mounting them like they are sv bars. if you want that style... you should probably go get those bars instead.

[gilkeyb]

gilkeyb, if you want to reposition the existing bars, ie the picture ones and you don't mind the look, try some Rox risers, they allow forward and backward positioning using 2" rise.  I used them on my Bandit as I needed a low sweep bar which I could only get as a low rise bar, so use the Rox risers to get the rise just right.

After looking at some pictures, I used something along these lines.  I took the bar clamp off of my GS550, inverted the 500's upperclamp and made a mini-riser.  This works out to ~3/4"

This allowed the points of the bars to angle more downwards, as opposed to level with the upper clamp.  That change in angle swung the bars from pointing straight downwards to more towards the rider.

Phil, I don't believe my bars are the same as the clipons you pictured.  You can see in that picture that the bar clearly angles down in relation to the handlebar lower.  The spacing on my bars is too narrow to allow that, meaning that the bars had to essentially be mounted level with the handlebar lower.  Our ideas are clearly conflicting.  But, i'm happy with the positioning of my bars at this point.  So there is no further problems

A quote from a thread:  "when turned right side up they mimick clip ons but you cant turn them far enough for proper hand position before they hit the speedo/tach cluster. This leaves them pointing too far down and leaving you in a really awkward position. I've seen several that have done it and it didnt look comfortable at all-I mean even less comfortable than clip ons might be."

http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=9705.msg80192#msg80192

Seems to describe my problem.  But it has been worked around

Brian

[mister]

Patted it as I walked past it, then turned back and blew it a kiss.

[Higgins13]

Patted it as I walked past it, then turned back and blew it a kiss.

Get a room lmao

[slipperymongoose]

Ha ha ha

[ThatOtherGuy]

Patted it as I walked past it, then turned back and blew it a kiss.

how excited do you get when the fairings come off.

[mister]

Patted it as I walked past it, then turned back and blew it a kiss.

how excited do you get when the fairings come off.

Mine is always Naked

[ThatOtherGuy]

Patted it as I walked past it, then turned back and blew it a kiss.

how excited do you get when the fairings come off.

Mine is always Naked

mine too.

[ThatOtherGuy]

Inspired by adidasguy's video of Vashon, I decided to do a run over some close by roads to show the local roads I have.  Was testing some new bars on the Bandit and their setup so not the fastest run (ties into the what I did for my bike theme of the thread).

First video is Bunya Rd, this is on the other side of the forest I live near, I used to ride the forest trails MTBing until injury stopped me riding bikes.  We (wife and I) bought the house because of its location to good MTB riding for me.  Plus the roads are also good road riding (cycling).  Now I enjoy them all on the moto's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy9Bc3AaWYA

Second video also has MTB (XC and DH) and road riding applications, Clear Mtn, its about 2 minutes further on from the end of Bunya Rd.  Rides are steep and can get slippery for the unwary, one of the few places where when riding the road bike I would get rear wheel spins when pedaling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UWp4H9DDaY

[mister]

Man, I haven't been on Eaton's Crossing rd in like 20 years 

[adidasguy]

From now on when I have the tank off, I'll pull the carbs and replace the mixture screws with the one you see on the left of this spare set of carbs. It will make adjusting mixture soooooooo easy 
$15 a pair from Factory Pro

[BockinBboy]

Inspired by adidasguy's video of Vashon, I decided to do a run over some close by roads to show the local roads I have.  Was testing some new bars on the Bandit and their setup so not the fastest run (ties into the what I did for my bike theme of the thread).

First video is Bunya Rd, this is on the other side of the forest I live near, I used to ride the forest trails MTBing until injury stopped me riding bikes.  We (wife and I) bought the house because of its location to good MTB riding for me.  Plus the roads are also good road riding (cycling).  Now I enjoy them all on the moto's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy9Bc3AaWYA

Second video also has MTB (XC and DH) and road riding applications, Clear Mtn, its about 2 minutes further on from the end of Bunya Rd.  Rides are steep and can get slippery for the unwary, one of the few places where when riding the road bike I would get rear wheel spins when pedaling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UWp4H9DDaY

Every time a vehicle came around a turn, I automaticallly braced myself for a collision - You guys are on the 'wrong' side of the road!   

This makes me think though, do you guys participate in the 'rider's wave' over there?  I noticed of the single rider you passed, no wave from either.  But you were on twisty roads, so I might now have in that situation either... Just wondering about this because to achieve the 'same' wave over there you would use your throttle hand, unless you lift your left hand up and across... but then you lose the 'cool' factor.  Or you guys just inherently don't participate in it because of this opposite side of the road stuff?

- Bboy