2000 GS500E Adventure Bike Project

[Manaenrc]

Yeah I looked at those ones for snowmobile and atv, but I need something that will protect the controls from a fall or trees.  These will probably not be as good of a wind block, but with the aluminum bar embedded in them they should hold up well in a drop.

[dropitlow88]

Have you stood up on it yet? When i stand up on mine it just feels likes its miles below me. Does the seat and mx bars help?

[Manaenrc]

Have you stood up on it yet? When i stand up on mine it just feels likes its miles below me. Does the seat and mx bars help?

Yeah the seat does help. Frankly at 6' 5" every bike feels miles below me. But the higher bars and higher seat do help


Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

[BrianKD]

Where did you find fork gators that fit the GS stock forks? I've been wanting a pair for so long!

[Manaenrc]

Those came from summit racing. They cost about 14$ with shipping. When I get back to my computer I will post a link to them.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

[BrianKD]

Thanks! Once you do, I'm gonna order a pair!

[bombsquad83]

Can't wait to see all those new parts installed and the final seat shaping done.  Gotta see pics when you are done with that. 

[Manaenrc]

You know, it's funny I found those boots on ebay and purchased them for like $10. Now when I search I still find some but summit pulled the ones that I bought.

Here are the ones I purchased


However if you do some searching you should be able to pickup the ones for the CB450 pretty cheap. They had a 35mm fork however all boots are made to fit a range of forks, so they stretch pretty well.

Here is an example of what I am talking about
Click Here

[BrianKD]

Did the ones you get replace the stock dust seals or do they fit over top of them?

[Manaenrc]

Dust seals always stay under the boots since the boots are not completely sealed. All gators have holes to let the air out as the boot compresses. These hole can let dust through so you still need to have the scraper to be the final barrier to protect the seals.



Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

[Manaenrc]

Just got the seals and the boots, now I need to get the springs and I will be ready to fix my fork problem. I've also installed the handguards (they came yesterday) I will have a pic soon. I am not sure I am really liking the fake carbon look, so they may get a coat of  black to match the bike.  I measured up for the LED turn signals and they should fit, although it might be a little tight.

Here are the fork gators and seals waiting for thier big brother Mr. Springs to arrive... (OK... OK... maybe I need to step away from this for a while)

[Manaenrc]

OK this is gonna be a big update, I did a lot yesterday and this morning.

OK so yesterday started out pretty calm. I received my fork boots and seals and also received the o-ring kit from harbor freight. I was busy with work in the morning so was not able to tear the carbs out for an o-ring replacement. 

Midway through the day I got a call from my friend that he was going to go look at a car and wanted to also go for a ride after. Any excuse to go for a ride is a good excuse for me so we met up and headed out.

After checking out a few cages he had enough and we headed north into the Caledonia state forest. There are miles and miles of un-maintained dirt roads just ripe for exploration.  As you can see by the photo


So after riding about 10miles out on this dirt road we both decided that we should probably turn back and head for home. Almost immediately I heard what sounded like something metal hitting my fender. Seconds after I started to feel that loose feeling of a flat tire on the rear. Since we were about 30 miles from anything I decided to at least try to ride it the 10 miles to the black top. I started to think about the lack of tubes in my tires and if this would cause any issues. I kept it under 25mph for the 10 mile trek and made it fine without running the tire off the bead. Everything held up great and I put all the worries of running these tube tires tubeless on tubeless rims.
Here is a shot after the 10 miles of dirt


OK so my buddy went to go grab a can of fix-a-flat so we can hopefully inflate this thing. In the mean time I started to look over the tire and found a typical nail/screw size hole right between the treads. When I saw that I started to worry that the fix-a-goo stuff would not be able to plug such a large hole and started wishing for cell coverage to call my friend and have him grab a plug kit too.
No such luck so I took a few mountain flower pictures while I waited LOL... 



He finally returned after about 45minutes with the can of fix-a-flat, while I was waiting I found a small screw in my tank bag to help plug the hole. At first I tried to just use the FAF but it was aparent that I just created a geyser of FAF from my tire. So I inserted the screw into the hole and used most of the can to inflate the tire to about 15psi. I quickly jumped on the bike and hit the pavement. I was riding on the tank to try to get most of the weight off of the back tire. Well 3/4 of the way to the closest gas station it was aparent that the screw had flew out and I had no air left. I went around this hard right turn and sure enough the left side bead popped of the rim. This was after about 4 miles of the drunkest looking riding you've ever seen (at least thats how it felt).

Anyway with no air, and no way to get the bead back on the rim my mind started racing for solutions. I tried to call a few friends with trailers to no avail. Then I decided to take my friends bike the rest of the way to the gas station and hope they had the makings of some kind of solution.

Anyway here is what I found. Those of you who are mechanics know what all this adds up to. And maybe those of you who watch myth busters.


Yes, sports fans.... I would use the lighter fluid and lighter to blow the tire back onto the bead. I have done this many times in the past but never on the bike. I had visions of sacrificing my hard work on the side of the road to the motorcycle gods as my bike went up in flames.

First 2 attempts failed because I still had the weight of the bike on the tire. So we found a stick long enough to prop the back wheel off the ground. and the next attempt succeeded with a miraculous ball of fire and loud poof, but the tire was back on. My friend quickly injected the last can of FAF into the tire and the plug and bead were holding well. God is good, and off we went. The trip home was pretty much un-eventful


Here is a picture of the plug this morning. Air is holding well and I have no concerns with the reliability of the tire


So here are the o-ring kits that I ordered from harbor frieght. I am very impressed with them since both together cost less then 20$ with shipping.







So this morning I got up early to pull the carbs apart and try these o-rings.

I was able to find orings from both the kits that fit every part of the carb. Unfortunately it took both kits. The choke tube required an oring from the large kit.  The float seat used one from the small kit. and the top vacuum port used an oring from the small kit as well. The hardest one to match up was the choke tube. It has a very thin o-ring. What I ended up doing was to use a smaller fatter o-ring but I stretched it over the choke tube which made it thinner (this was the smallest one from the large kit). After that brainstorm the choke fit perfectly.
Here is the choke tube with the old o-ring and new o-ring






Here is the seats with the new orings these fit perfectly note the old stretched one below on the left compared to the new on the lower right.



BTW before I re-assembled the seats i made sure to polish them really well with a paper towel until they shine. This provides the best seal to the rubber needle.



As I was writing this my springs just arrived 


Now I need to finish this work so I can go and install them. check back soon for much improved spring bliss....

[bombsquad83]

What size from the kit did you use for each o-ring?  Did you think about replacing the o-ring that is under the white slide support piece?

Oh and by the way...nice improvisation on fixing the tire.  Did this experience make you think about putting tubes in?

[knowles]

Nice to see you got it back home, I have used those tire plugs on three of the four of my truck tires, lasted as long as the time did, and the holes where put in them about a month after i got them new.

[Manaenrc]

What size from the kit did you use for each o-ring?  Did you think about replacing the o-ring that is under the white slide support piece?

Oh and by the way...nice improvisation on fixing the tire.  Did this experience make you think about putting tubes in?

actually quite the opposite. I am very impressed with how the tires stayed on the rims with no air after all I drove a total of about 15 to 20 miles until the tire came off going around the hard corner. most of that was done with little to no air pressure. If I would have had tubes I would have had to unmount the wheel, tire and tube. Patch the tube and remount the tube, wheel, and tire. Sure I wouldnt have needed to blow my tire up to seat the bead. However in the future I will have an air source and the plug kit so hopefully I wont need to drive on a flat tire in the first place. 

When I used tubes offroad I always had a set of tire bars, patches and co2 inflator. It was a pain to pull the wheel in the dirt and fix the tube.  That was the reason I ran techtubes in my race bike. The very first enduro I rode I ended up riding half the race with a flat front tire. Those tech tubes are awesome for off road, no air needed and they are always the perfect 15psi feel.

Orings I used are as follows
4 x 1mm - top vacuum port - this is just the right thickness
5.8 x 1.9mm - was the seat
2.8 x 1.9mm - this was the float circuit, it had to be stretched over I heated them slightly after ripping the first one. This made them stretch right on.


Forks Update:
I just ripped my one fork apart only to realize that I am an idiot and ordered the wrong fork seals. So now  I am going to take the other fork apart and clean it to get it ready to re-assemble friday morning when the new seals come.

Jeesh without a bike for 2 days how will I deal LOL... 

[Manaenrc]

OK well since I am waiting for fork seals I thought I would post a few pictures I took of the process.

Here are the forks removed from the bike and ready to be torn down.


Ahhh the smell of freshly opened parts. Most places online sell these for about $80 however there is a spring sale going on right now at www.jcmotors.com thier price is 58.62 so if you need some get them now!!
Anyway here is what's in the box..



OK and just for comparison. The stock springs on the right. They should have been pink because they look like something from a barbie car. The properly sized progressives are on the left. The only negative about the progressives is the added weight over the stock springs that fell like they were made of plastic. But I know the positives will outweigh any addition of heft.


new seals should be here tomorrow and then I can get everything put back together.

[mysterious_rider]

Brilliant stuff mate! Tried asking about those tyres and they dont ship to the UK! Not to worry!

The build is looking so good now. Sorry to hear about the puncture, but you seem to have got it nailed! (see what I did there!?)

Just a word of warning , I had a pair of rubber boots on my forks and they actually caused slight rusting. The rubber let water in (or condesation?) and wouldnt let it out at the bottom I guess. Lucky I only had them on for a month or so.....

I'd opt for the plastic ones. 

[Manaenrc]

Brilliant stuff mate! Tried asking about those tyres and they dont ship to the UK! Not to worry!

The build is looking so good now. Sorry to hear about the puncture, but you seem to have got it nailed! (see what I did there!?)

Just a word of warning , I had a pair of rubber boots on my forks and they actually caused slight rusting. The rubber let water in (or condesation?) and wouldnt let it out at the bottom I guess. Lucky I only had them on for a month or so.....

I'd opt for the plastic ones. 

thanks bro, I will definitely keep an eye on the forks, don't want any rusted chrome. I should have an update today as time permits. I didn't get as much done over the weekend as I wanted due to some bug that I picked up. I am back on the horse today but have many work things to take care of so the update may happen later this afternoon.

Some quick updates things I finished on Friday (pictures and more details later)
1)Forks back together and working brilliantly. The bike sits much more level with no nose dive. The stock 3/4" preload is almost perfect. I stuck with the stock 10wt oil for now and want to see how it work offroad. I don't want to over damp the forks (especially rebound). I set the oil level to the max to increase bottoming resistance but we will see how things work soon. Been raining and snowing most of the weekend and with my illness I have not been eager to get out and test things offroad. 

2) started building a custom flyscreen for those longer trips. This is a convertable/ expandable idea I got from one of those honda motorized screens on a goldwing. I thought why wouldn't this same thing work well with a flyscreen that could manually slide into itself for normal riding, then be pulled up for highway trips. I am 80% through the design and only need to build some mounts for it. but more details to come.

3) Carbs are still causing some issues I am starting to think one of the PO's messed with some parts trying to make them better. I suspect the CV slide springs are not stock and causing some weird issues. I am getting a strange flutter which I believe is due to weak slide springs. They even bounce during idle which is really odd to me.  So I suspect he did some drilling or made some changes that are causing this issue. Or maybe this carb setup is just crappy and would explain the 3 jet setup on the later year carbs.  For now mid range is an issue but I will concur this problem. Even if I need to start changing things out. I have a set of stiffer CV springs from an EX500 I had years ago I may give them a try to see if it will eliminate the CV flutter, or maybe just add some preload to the CV springs. I may also start to play with different needle tapers to see if I can get rid of the problem.

[bombsquad83]

I have a set of stock carb springs and slides if you need them.

[Manaenrc]

I have a set of stock carb springs and slides if you need them.

would it be possible to post a picture of the springs. I am curious what yours look like in comparison to mine.

Thanks...