2000 GS500E Adventure Bike Project

[bombsquad83]

Yeah, you are probably right about that.  Never hurts to contribute ideas to interesting projects .

[Manaenrc]

that's the extremely valuable part of doing something like this. I look forward to hearing everyone's ideas it get me thinking in different directions than I could have by myself. Keep the input coming 

[Manaenrc]

OK made some major progress today.

Started out in the morning with my inspection (revisited) passed with flying colors.

Went to DMV and the bike is now officially in my name and set for the rest of the mods.

As soon as I got home I went right to work on fitting the tires.

Started with the front since I knew it may take more work to get everything to fit.
Here is the front wheel removed and ready to be swapped


Sometimes you need to resort to drastic measures to pop the bead off the rim. Here is an easy way that I found that works every time.


Tire removed and new tire mounted can you see a difference?


OK so I had to raise the fender about 3/4" to clear the new tire. It was very easy and only took 2 notches longer bolts and 8 -3/8" nuts.  This is temporary as I want to get a block of aluminum and mill some spacers that look much more polished. I also want to get some stainless hardware.  Anyway here is a side shot of the top of the fender, notice how the mount on the fork is recessed into the fender. That is where I had to cut the notches. Just the front 2 had to be notched


here is a shot from the under side of the front fender you can see how the mounting tab is recessed into the fender


After fitting the tire on the front a few times to make sure everything clears I setup my homemade wheel balance Rig. It's not perfect but its always worked well enough. It's basically just two upright brackets and 4 bearings that allows the wheel to free spin. I watch the wheel settle and make a mark on the light side. Then I repeat, if the mark lands on top again I know I need to add some weight to that side, I usually go a 1/4oz at a time.



OK so after mounting both tires here is what the bike looks like. I still need to finish my seat (among other things) but it's starting to look more like I imagined it.



Here is a quick shot of the front


the rest of the day was filled with work so I only got to ride to and from a few locations. The bike handles so much differently with the tires in the front. I've never rode a bike with tires that are so close to the same size front to back. It just feels so much different. The bike turns very easy like it know what you want to do.

Now I need to start saving up money and work on those front forks. New seals, springs, oil, and hopefully some gold valves.

Anyway, it's been a long day and it's time to eat some dinner and shoot some insurgents on MW3

[Tombstones81]

nice!! 

bike looks Soooo much meaner with those tires!

[steezin_and_wheezin]

That looks FANTASTIC!!! Really loving it!

I have a DRZ, but now i want dirty dual sport GS! haha

How deep in the woods do you plan on taking this thing??

[Manaenrc]

How deep in the woods do you plan on taking this thing??

Well the jury is still out, I need to get my forks pulled apart and rebuilt. Then get handguards, and get my fork boots on. Then think through some type of engine guard setup.

I think it could go almost anywhere but at a much slower pace then how I used to ride my offroad bikes. This thing will never see big air or heavy rocks. But it feels pretty good


One big difference with this bike is you don't have the low torque to lift the front wheel like on the big singles.

[NonFiction]

Wow, looks pretty nifty. You must be a pretty big fella to rock the high seat, the raised suspension and the fatty tires and feel comfortable on it. Not do dissimilar to what I'm sort of building on... Keep it up!

[bombsquad83]

I wonder what it would take to switch over to a front end from an enduro...hmmm

[Manaenrc]

I wonder what it would take to switch over to a front end from an enduro...hmmm

Not too much some of the early honda xr's used 37mm forks. Of coarse you could always pull the stem and put almost anything you want on there.

You must be a pretty big fella to rock the high seat

6'5" - I felt very much at home on my 37" high XR650L , This bike is way more comfortable on the street of coarse. I can stand flat footed on this the way it is right now.

[Big Rich]

How close is the front end from a DR650? I've heard that the swingarms are very similar to the GS500, but obviously never looked into it personally.

[Manaenrc]

How close is the front end from a DR650? I've heard that the swingarms are very similar to the GS500, but obviously never looked into it personally.

The Dr forks are probably in the 42mm range but that's just a guess. would need to do some research on that.



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[Manaenrc]

interesting...
Bikes with 37mm forks

Honda crf230l - 9" travel
This would prob need heavier spring. But it is a true showa cartridge

Honda elsinor 250 CR 78-89

Honda XL500r 82


Looks like those are the options if you dont want to replace the tripples.

The new cr230l may be the newest and best option. But it would need some stiffer springs and probably revalving to compensate for the 400 pound gs. I would bet that even in stock form it would act better then the stock gs fork. The stock setup is just that bad.  Ive added preload to the spring which makes it ok.

I may look into the crf forks some more this may be a viable option.




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[bombsquad83]

If you haven't already put new springs in your stock GS forks, I doubt the layout for the other forks would be much more.  This project is going great.  Looking forward to see this thing done and plowing through some dirt!  Really applaud your ambition.

EDIT: I may be wrong about the cost .  I looked around on ebay and the only CRF230L part out was asking 250 for each fork.  Ouch....

[bombsquad83]

Forgive my ignorance...would these work?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/80-Honda-CR125-CR-125-37mm-FRONT-FORKS-SUSPENSION-/350327322839?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item519122b8d7

[Manaenrc]

Forgive my ignorance...would these work?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/80-Honda-CR125-CR-125-37mm-FRONT-FORKS-SUSPENSION-/350327322839?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item519122b8d7

The only problem work a CR 125 would be the weight difference between the bikes. It would really be better to get something a little closer in weight. I found a set of CR 250 forks for 50 bucks. They are cartridge and 37mm. I just need to think about this and determine the pluses and minuses. I may just get progressive springs. Going with different forks would be nice however I would also need to rework the front brakes. The biggest thing would be a mount for the caliper. I already have a design in mind if I decide to pull the trigger.


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[bombsquad83]

Yeah I agree with the brake caliper issue.  I was thinking about it too.  I have progressives on my bike.  They are good for the street for sure.  The small amount of travel is definitely not ideal for off road though.  It all depends on how far you want to take it, and the cash/time available to get there.

[Manaenrc]

Just thinking out loud here but...

I need to really evaluate why I am building this. My purpose was not to build a bike that will rival an XR650L off road ( I could have just bought one of those). My main reason was to build something that I can use to commute as well as go on camping / fishing trips in remote areas. 98% of the miles will be roads to get to places and then the other 2% will be fire roads maybe something more technical in the WV or northern PA areas. I have adjusted the pre-load on the spring and the front end is much improved. I noticed that this bike seems to be over damped and under sprung. With limited travel the dampning is probably on par.


Facts of Stock forks
1) Much less work to fixup
2) will never shine offroad
3) It is currently well balanced with the sv650 shock I have in the back
4) Could probably get a progessive and new seals and it will be great on street and passable offroad
5) Would be less expensive to stick with it
6) Currently set at it's height limit and will never go higher

Facts of XL500 or CR250 shock
1) 2" to 3" more travel then stock
2) custom axle design to fit stock wheel
3) custom caliper mount for disk brakes
4) custom spacers for axle
5) Need to get longer brake lines
6) need a longer speedo cable
7) Would have much better dampening
cartridge forks are just way easier to dial in for the bike.
9) The rear sv650 shock will never match the front which would mean that I would have to swap that too for something more offroad. 


The more I think about it I may just stick with the stock setup. I am pretty happy with the current setup and how this thing is handling. I'll probably regret it and maybe in the future I will look for more options. Before I went out and bought the seals, springs, and oil for the stock setup I needed to think through this.


So you have progressives, how would you describe the difference compared to the stock springs? and would you do the upgrade again?

[bombsquad83]

Unfortunately I can't speak to the difference when upgrading because the bike I bought already had the progressives in it.  Glad you took the time to think through things.  I think it will work out just fine for what you want it to do with the upgraded springs.  If it doens't, you can always sell your forks with progressives to someone on the board if you decide to change it. 

[Manaenrc]

OK so I put over 200 miles on the bike this weekend. 

160 on friday commuting into the city.
After this ride I adjusted the pre-load on the front springs these things will definitely need to go. And I had to put a chain on the bike as it had the stock chain and had one spot that was very bad. Oddly the rest of the chain was still good I get the feeling the bike was sitting under a cover outside with part of the chain exposed to the weather. I cannot believe how smooth the new chain is.


Anyway today it's kinda nice and my daughter asked to go for a ride so I thought it would be a great opportunity to break in the chain and test my suspension changes.

I had the chain a little tight and made the necessary changes then went for a ride
After riding about 55miles with mostly backroads and some western Maryland dirt mountain roads I am very happy with how the bike ran.

Took a few shots along the way.
Here we are on top of a mountain in southern PA


Here's another shot from the same dirt road. It was about 10 miles worth of two track and single track. It reminded me that I really need to build some engine guards for this bike.


Almost at the end I stopped by the local creek to take in the bueaty of the day, and another shot of the bike LOL...



So after many miles I can say that
1) the bike performed great
2) the tires never slipped once off road it felt very confidence inspiring, even in very loose stones just feels great!
3) The front springs are just too soft
4) I need to finish molding the seat now that I know I am sticking with the stock shocks.

[Funderb]

I am jealous.

I imagine progressives are your best bet, they are initially pretty soft on the bike i rode with them, but get nice and stiff to prevent you from bottoming out and stressing the steering tube and bearings.
(If you've ever seen the gif of a guy jumping a virago (i think) and the front end separating from the bike, try and find it, its good )

You said you might be doing emulators? I think progs and gold valves might be as perfect as you can get without buying a whole new bike. (or re-inventing the wheel on the front end.)

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