Hello!

[djslowmo]

Thanks for all the help this place has been.  I got my 99 E in early February this year *(my first motorcycle)* and while the bike came in great shape, you guys have all helped me get it closer to how I want it to be.  Without further adieu, my hog.

That's my RapidTransit recon 19 on the tank and Nelson-Rigg uv2000 cover under the seat there.  I'm trying to find a better method for keeping it under the seat but it works for now.  Yes the gouges on the crank case are mine  but I learned a lesson about loose dirt in parking lot turn ins.


The only things I've added to the bike myself are the side view mirrors and the rear hugger from the one and only Airbrush.  Got the last one from what he says.


The rear seat, seat frame, and rear tail light (with integrated turn signals) were done by the previous owner.  He had the bike for a year, only put 300 miles on it, and installed this "ducati monster" seat.  I love it.  Not sure if it's p.c. to talk about price but this bike was had for $1600 out of Springfield, MO with 8100 miles on it.  I was planning on holding out on purchasing a bike for a year, but once i saw this beaut I had to go for it.  No regrets.

I've only head a couple issues and this site has fixed all of them.  My Clymer the guy gave me with the bike gets half the credit though.  First things I did was change the oil and oil filter.  Then came installing an in line fuel filter.  This was done while I was rebuilding and basically poking around with the carbs. 

I noticed the right spark plug showed signs of running much leaner than the left so I decided to investigate.  The bike was also needing to run with a lot of choke and would never seem to warm up enough to idle without some choke.  It would ALSO cruse on the highway for about 3-5 minutes and then start to lose power in surges, then completely die.  It would take 20-30 seconds of sitting and trying to start it before it'd finally start and then all was forgotten and it'd be good to go for another couple of minutes at 70+.  I figured this was all an issue with fuel but didn't know what link in the chain to replace.

The previous guy had re-jetted and installed a K&N filter but not altered anything else.  I re-lubed all the rubber caskets, replaced some crappy screws, cleaned them (though they were already very tidy) checked the float heights (0.5 inches), replaced the fuel lines, and added a 0.032 thick washer to the needles.  I planned on rigging up a vacuum gauge but after I installed the carbs and ran it around for a day or two, the spark plugs looked much better and the bike would start much easier and only need choke for about 20 seconds before it'd rev up and be good to go (in 50 degrees), and the problem with highway speeds stopped.  I decided to call it quits while I was ahead.

The second major obstacle came after this when I decided to see how weather proof my bike was.  It sat out in pretty heavy ran for a couple hours and I tried it out.  No water in the cylinders so I gave it a crank.  Long story short.  The previous guy had ran a line from the carb overflow (the top T connector, though no fuels ever come out of mine ) to the drainage line on the gas tank.  Rain water was literally being funneled into the carb.  I think he thought that was a vapor recovery system like on the Cali bikes so he just hooked it up.  That hose is now ran to the bottom of my bike along with the battery vent.  The T connector is just hanging out, pointed down, because I have yet to see a single drop of anything come from my bike.  Oil, gas, nothing. 

I added the rear hugger because as you can see from the pictures, all of the gs500's built in rear wheel fenders had been removed and I ride no matter the conditions.  I really wanted a fender to help keep my innards clean so Airbrush hooked me up.  Cant thank you enough man.

I keep a pretty tight budget being a college student and I'm kind of past the necessary expenses phase but I have a couple additions coming.  I'm currently installing a USB power outlet from Burnsmoto.com.  Still hashing out my plan but I was having trouble following the plans from 4strings thread.  (Why does he use a 3 wire harness for a 2 wire hookup?)  I might try to run it in parallel with the headlight.  My other goal is to find some saddle bags that will work with my seat.  Something that wouldn't require a lot of permanent hardware cluttering up the bike when the bags aren't being used.  I like the minimal clean look.

So thanks again, everyone, for all the help this site has given me.  haha, sorry this is so long.

[Twisted]

Welcome to the forums. Love the tail chop. Is that an aftermarket GS tail light or Ducati Monster?

[codajastal]

Looking good, Love the rear
Oh and welcome

[adidasguy]

The "T" on the carbs goes nowhere. Sometimes to a small filter pod. Its just an air vent.
Fuel issue might be your fuel filter. The paper car type don't work. IN-line filter not really necessary and can cause fuel starvation issues.

[Tombstones81]

Welcome!
nice bike!

and hahahaha another victim of the gravel on the side of the road near a parking lot huh?

got that lesson down last year.

[cbrfxr67]

welcome,..good job on intro pics! 

[bombsquad83]

Putting the carb breather to the water drain on the tank...classic.  Kinda funny though really, just unlucky that it would work just fine that way, until it rains of course.

[djslowmo]

Thanks guys! 

I'm not sure about the tail light.  I honestly just figured out last night when I posted that Ducati Monster is the name of another bike, not just the name of the seat style.  I'll try to find some S/N on the tail light and get back to you. 

As far as fuel starvation I'm sure the inline filter doesn't help, but I added it at the same time I rebuilt the carbs and the problems went away so it's not slowing me down yet.  And yeah, it's just a little clear paper guy I picked up from O'Reilly's.  If problems start creeping in again I'll keep that in mind though.