power loss & quieter exhaust

[scath]

Hey All,

New GS500 rider here - I'm very new to bikes so please forgive me if this is a simple issue...

I've had my GS500 (2009) for a few weeks now absolutely love it, love it even more when I cleaned the chain and noticed I nice kick in power! Unfortunately though last weekend I was cutoff at an intersection but managed to slam on the brakes and not hit anything but the force of the sudden slow speed stop threw me and the bike over - snapped the clutch lever (easy fix) and a few scratches

Since getting it fixed up I've noticed a significant reduction in power, I feel like I am riding a 250cc - I barely had to push the engine to get power through the gears but now I am pushing it hard before changing up. I have also noticed that my exhaust isn't as loud/deep as was before .

Any ideas?

Not sure if this is relevant but the mechanic who helped me replace the clutch lever noticed the oil light would stay on even after starting (didn't do this before dropping it), he checked it and didn't think I had any leaks or problems pointing to an oil pressure problem and thought the sensor may have not liked the drop, he eventually fixed it saying "industry trick"  - could this have something to do with the above??

Appreciate your comments/advice (please be nice, its my first post - I've tried searching it but allot of the power loss threads are power loss at 4K RPM etc, not a general power loss...)

[Big Rich]

Probably had an air bubble in the system, and just needed "burped".

As far as it feeling like a 250, I'd guess you're running on one cylinder. You need to figure out which cylinder first - try pulling a spark plug boot off while it's running (I recommend some rubber globes btw). Then you can begin to narrow down why that cylinder isn't firing.

[DesertFox]

Definitely check that both cylinders are firing.  I've been fighting this problem in my GS the past few weeks; lost spark in the right cylinder...and learned a LOT about our ignition system in the process of tracing the problem down.  I could pull the plug off my right cylinder and the rpms wouldn't change which was a dead giveaway it was only running on 1 cylinder.

[scath]

Thanks guys, is it mechanically safe to ride around on if it is only firing on one cylinder?

[Big Rich]

Meh...... I would ride it "maybe" across town. The problem is, that one cylinder is going to struggle to do ALL the work for the engine. And you'll still have gasoline pumping into the other cylinder which can wash down the cylinder wall.

Possible, but not a good idea.

[scath]

Thanks again,

Good news - I pulled the boots off, both of them make the engine revs drop significantly when doing so, so I don't think it's not firing?

Mystery remains - what's caused the loss in power? It feels like it is lacking torque more than anything else...

Maybe it's just me...

Thanks again