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

[brickerenator]

Got a new Sport Demon tire fitted to the front. Got over 30,000kms from my previous Sport Demon.

That's impressive! Most people seem happy with 15,000kms on their Sport Demons.

[TheOzTurkish]

This happened



shes all ready to go under the knife Tuesday for her head gasket, then it'll be time to fit the exhaust and get the re-jetting done

[Cosimo_Zaretti]

Well today I installed a freshly charged battery and kicked the bike over for the first time in 18 months.  Cranked it a few times and hello fuel leak.  Called it a day.

[Shepa]

Spent almost an hour mounting the gixxer 1000 rear shock, only to find out it's too soft for GS.
Darn.

No pictures though.

Maybe it would work with different linkage, but I won't bother any more, the SV's shock is back on bike.




Sent from my toilet seat using HTC FartPhone

[Golly]

Fork seals done with 20w oil....woot!!! Much firmer

Sent from my GT-I9210T using Tapatalk

[adidasguy]

Theyare getting snowed on.


[attachment deleted by admin]

[cWj]

Yesterday:

Took battery to be recharged at A Z so  let Pokey run for a few minutes for the first time since December.

(Which resulted in jumping it with the Subaru anyway)

Ran him a few minutes, throttled up past 8k to air things out a little.

Realized my little VHT clear coat experiment on the headed/Piper wasn't quite effective (particularly on header; will likely just go back over it with some of this stove polish I keep reading about.

Pulled the batt and re-drained the carbs for the 1.5-2 weeks that it is going to take to get back into the forties and, hopefully, past the snow.

Looked at the adjustable mirror riser from Luckybike that fell apart of its own volition and decided it's more gimmick than good.

[Alan_nc]

Hit 50f in NC today.  Got a good run with new plugs.  Cleared up most of the low rpm bog.  This thing screams from 4 to 9 thou.  Sounds great with the Vance & Hines exhaust.  Filled up with gas....55 mpg.

All this fun and good gas mileage to.

[Jooski]

Hi everyone.  I just bought my first bike yesterday. I'm looking forward to learning how to ride this spring at the MSF course. I ordered some slide bars today to install. I'm pretty nervous about laying it down. I'm afraid the bike is going  to be too big for me as a female beginner.  I've heard good things about the GS500F.  What do you all think?

[radodrill]

Hi everyone.  I just bought my first bike yesterday. I'm looking forward to learning how to ride this spring at the MSF course. I ordered some slide bars today to install. I'm pretty nervous about laying it down. I'm afraid the bike is going  to be too big for me as a female beginner.  I've heard good things about the GS500F.  What do you all think?

Welcome to the forums

From having actively ridden a Yamaha Vino 125 scooter, 2007 Ninja 250, and 2009 GS500F; I can say the following.  The scooter did not feel safe; going across small transitions in pavement (e.g. 1/2 in or so) at 20mph it feels like you're being bumped 2in off the seat, the CVT is not that great and you lose a lot of speed going up a hill, and many times in turns I've scraped the frame (not aggressive lean) long before the tires would start to lose traction.  The only advantage of scooters is east low speed maneuverability, high fuel mileage, and easy for people who don't understand clutching/shifting gears.

Between the Ninja 250 and GS500F; I'd say both are great beginner bikes.  The 250 is ~100lb lighter; at really low speed the additional weight makes it slightly more tippy but at normal and higher speeds it feels more stable and isn't as susceptible to being buffeted by the wind (e.g. from a tractor trailer).  From the factory the 250 is jetted richer than the GS making it a more spirited ride and feel like it has more pep to it (even so the speced 0-60 is about 0.5-1 sec lower on the GS); yet the 250 is geared a lot lower so you'll find yourself shifting more and on the freeway it'll be running very high RPMs (10.5K rpm @ 80 mph; redline @ 13K).  Also, the GS has a much better top speed and better acceleration on the freeway.  With the 250; more likely than not you'll quickly feel yourself wanting more, yet this isn't so much the case with the GS500.

When I got the GS, I was spoiled by the peppy feel of the 250 and expected the GS to be that and more.  I did a massive rejet (up 5 sizes on the main) a week after buying the GS and got exactly the performance I was hoping for.  It is now a spirited ride yet does not have too much power so as to get you into trouble (will not pull a wheelie by rolling hard on the throttle).

All in all I'd say the GS500 would be a great beginner bike that you can have fun with for many years.

[TheOzTurkish]

Hi everyone.  I just bought my first bike yesterday. I'm looking forward to learning how to ride this spring at the MSF course. I ordered some slide bars today to install. I'm pretty nervous about laying it down. I'm afraid the bike is going  to be too big for me as a female beginner.  I've heard good things about the GS500F.  What do you all think?

the size can be a bit daunting, I'm 6ft and was a bit intimidated to start off with not wanting to drop it and what not, once you get riding the thing you'll notice it actually feels quite light and nimble despite its size and after a bit of practice you end up loving it like the rest of us, I'm a big believer of bikes (and cars) having their own "personality" just spend some time with it and get to know it, the first maybe 150kms I did were all back streets around my house getting the feel of the clutch, friction point, what speeds in which gears at what rpm that sort of thing, after about 2 weeks did I finally venture out onto a main road

[TheOzTurkish]

so all the work went well today everything is done, I have essentially a brand new engine, the internals are in pristine condition (mechanic let me look on) all new seals, oil leak was from a stud, just needed a new rubber, the head gasket was on its way out aswell,  air leak was found in one of my new intake boots, we think from when I had the fuel leak..... not sure either way sorted that and now there's no lean surging, bike feel tight and is running like a treat.....

next pay it'll be the exhaust

[HotrodScamp]

Took my GS out for a nice 125 mile ride around central Florida! I've been tracking mileage for the last 5 fill-ups. 2 tanks of 91 octane, got about 50 mpg. 2 tanks of 89 octane, got a little under 60. The last tank of 87 octane I got just over 62 mpg. I guess I'm stickin' with the cheap stuff!

[CrispThat]

I was busy last week:

-new tires (BT-003 140/70 120/70)
-new sealed gel battery
-new brake pads (front and back)
-new SS brake lines
-new jetting (20/60/135 with K&N drop-in)
-new fork oil/dust seals
-new "S" stickers
-cleaned and re-oiled chain/sprockets
-valve adjustment
-plastic welded minor cracks in rear cowling
-cleaned/greased swing arm and suspension linkages
-cleaned/greased steering head
-scrubbed everything else till it shined
-exhaust prepared for paint (hopefully the weather will warm up so i can actually paint it soon....)

Hopefully with finish getting it all back together in another week....

[radodrill]

Put in new jets; currently sitting at 22.5/62.5/147.5 with a K&N drop-in (no restrictor) and a V&H exhaust on swedged stock headers.  The new jetting makes it a lot easier to start up; just have to test out the WOT performance as she felt a bit lean on a 145 main.

[mister]

Picked up my Custom Seat from the auto trimmer....





A little firmer than the OEM - and higher - so cornering will need to be relearned again. But I like it and will be doing a small few other things as well... 

[Janx101]

Very nice .. And good retro look too!

[mister]

Very nice .. And good retro look too!

Thanks. It took him a while. A few visits before he finally "got" what I was telling him to do. But well worth it IMO.

A retro seat for a retro bike. Now to attack the exhaust and wheels...

[Janx101]

Lol ... Well that upholstery glue is strong stuff!!! ... It gets those fellas a bit loopy and distracted with butterflies sometimes! 

[HotrodScamp]

Rode out to Cassadaga, Florida "Spiritualist" community!