My 1991 GS500 project

[lucas]

Huh, I hadn't thought of that.  Thanks for the tip.

The light is from a WR250X but I suspect this is some kind of standard size light.

[lucas]

What if I made the clamps .01 or .02 inches lose around the forks and then used some bicycle inner tubes to fill the gap?  I already sold the headlight and brackets, doh!

[lucas]

Went for a ride today, a buddy of mine showed me this cool abandoned road.

[ShowBizWolf]

mmm I wish I was there!! Wish I could get out and ride. We got 2 ft. of snow on Saturday so... this girl is sad 

[cbrfxr67]

sweet pic 

[Big Rich]

sweet pic 

Agreed! Very Mad Max looking.....

[Suggy]

Ah so cool!

[lucas]

Thanks for the comments, guys!

Last weekend I replaced the fork oil in my GS before going on that long-ish ride.  Before that the front suspension would bottom or unexpectedly on little stuff like driveways and give me a jolt in the wrists.  When I opened up the fork caps I learned that the forks were 100% dry...

So... That's another example of why I should never assume anything when it comes to my basket case.

I measured out precisely 377mL of oil into each and capped it up.  After riding for 30 minutes I noticed some oil leaking and I find that it is leaking from the bottom of the left fork.  The fork oil was getting on the left side of the tire... Not a huge amount, very small amounts of oil actually but I took it extra easy.

Today I installed the racetech springs I bought.  I lifted the front of my bike using a ratcheting tie-down strap looped over a rafter in the garage.  I tightened the damper bolt in the bottom of the left fork and checked the right one.  When I pulled the springs out I noticed that they were much longer than the racetech ones... I thought that was odd, I had noticed that there was no spacer when I had filled up the oil previously but it didn't occur to me that that wasn't normal at that time.

One of the DIY articles I was referencing during the upgrade had a picture comparing the stock spring to a progressive spring and wouldn't you know it, the springs that came with the bike were progressive.

I proceeded with the replacement.  I think I will like having a linear spring response better than a progressive response.

I checked the air gap with the springs out and the forks fully compressed and measured 100mm from the lip of the fork tube.  Dropped the springs in with the spring seat, cut the provided PVC, and screwed everything back together.

I took it out for a short ride and I am not 100% sure but I think I can tell a difference in that the front doesn't dip and much when applying the front brakes.  The other day on a short ride I was pumping the front brake and I got the bike bucking pretty good.  Today the forks seemed to hold up the front end in a more consistent manner.

So now I have an extra set of progressive springs.  Perhaps someday when I have more experience with this bike I'll go back to the progressives to see if there is a noticeable difference.  Especially now that I see how simple it is to swap springs.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the articles and threads I read that taught me how to tighten the damper bolt, set my preload, and my airgap.

I stopped at a local trail head to snap a picture.

Ooh yeah - almost forgot to mention.  I slapped some unholy crap together to hold up the headlight.  The bracket looks so bad, but now at least I have a light on the front of the bike.

[lucas]

This morning I started up the motorcycle and was dismayed by a misfire.  I was hoping to ride it today... I unplugged the headlight thinking that it may be overloading the charging system??? Just a wild uneducated guess.  After a minute the misfire went away.  I'll need to do some investigating to figure out the misfire.



Rode the motorcycle to school today and got a moto parking pass ($47 vs $180, woohoo) and parked in a motorcycle spot for the first time.  Right in front of my building cutting my walk commute from 1 mile to 1 driveway.

I parked next to someone who locked his helmet to his bike.  I had my bike lock in my bag, a habit from the days (yesterday ) when I brought my bike in my truck to cut down my walking commute.  I ripped off his idea and locked my helmet up too.

[cbrfxr67]

[ShowBizWolf]

Well done