ShowBizWolf's 1998 GS500E

[peteGS]

Well that there would be Katana colours through and through... so I say do it 

[Suzi Q]

Sounds like a sweet scheme

[ShowBizWolf]

Thanks guys!!! 

I've called in some help from my good friend Jamie for Sunday. This fender is taking too long by myself. There's really no easy way to clamp it or hold it down while I sand it... so she's gonna help me. Pizza and beer time too

Also, I got out my box of fork parts recently. I've sanded, cleaned and primed my spare set of lowers and will probably paint them this weekend. New chrome inner tubes are in my future (my wallet is sure gonna be bruised after that one) as well as seals, dust wipers and possibly springs. Waiting to hear back from RichDesmond for his advice... cuz when I plug in my numbers to the spring calculator, it gives me .70... and idk if I was looking wrong or what but I didn't find that rate offered for the GS. But I'm tired of bottoming out from time to time and even though I have 20w oil currently, they still feel... inadequate. I only weigh ~150 with gear

But with my spare parts + new parts I'll get, I can build my forks while the current ones are still on my GS and I can keep riding.

[Big Rich]

Rich Desmond is awesome for that kind of stuff..... when I was looking at Bandit springs for my GR, I was well below the current offerings (I should say: the GR650 is in a different weight category than a Bandit 1200). I was worried about getting custom springs made, but Rich emailed me back saying "I have those springs in your weight, they just aren't listed online yet."

Can't say enough about Rich and his business!

[crackin]

Hey Showbiz, i love your bike its cool.
What is wrong with your fork tube inners? A bit of rust? You can get them redone by a "suspension guru" if you have one in your area. Probably cheaper then new ones. Just remember the GS only has 110mm of fork travel until it bottoms out, with the springs removed. So any rust higher than that isnt going to cause any harm to you fork seals.
Just try and clean them up with steelo or similar and turn the rusty bits to the back lol.
I think you are adding too much weight to your front end. Thats just me though. I wonder if there might be a way to attach the headlight and fairing to the frame instead of the forks like the F model does?
Johno

[Suzi Q]

+1 for Rich and Sonic.

Seal kit is like $14...got mine from All Balls.

I have a set of +04 plus fork tubes sitting in the shed if you're interested. Admittedly though, the damping tubes are a royal shitshow to remove, which is why I swapped for 01's.

[ShowBizWolf]

Thanks for the offer Suzi! Yeah those newer tubes... I've read quite a few times about 'em... not something I wanna get into lol but seriously, thank you

crackin, hey, thanks for stoppin' by! I was right in your line of thinking less than two years ago with having the tubes redone. I got them from weedahoe a few years back off a parts bike because the tubes my bike came with were bent. But sadly, even after having them cleaned/redone, only 2k miles later, my seals are leaking again. I can feel the burrs/imperfections and several of them are all quite near the dust seal. I'm fed up at this point and would just rather go with some new ones.

Also, now you've got me thinking about the weight on the front end lol! But as I sit here, sipping my coffee, I'm realizing that I should be right about the same as a stock GS, if not less.
-I've removed the steel headlight triangles and made my own brackets from aluminum
-I don't have a scale but I'd be willing to bet the plastic gixxer headlight weighs the same if not less than the metal and glass stock round one
-The signals are a tiny bit shorter than stockers so they are no heavier
-I've shortened the wiring and it's not crammed into the headlight bucket anymore
-I haven't been riding with the nose fairing because it's not done yet
-The 'Busa fender hasn't been on the bike either but it wouldn't have any effect anyway because it's mounted to the fork lowers

But seriously, that was a great thing to consider Johno! I had a  moment there, for sure And I think I'd go back to stock before I attach the stuff to the frame rather than the front end... for some reason, I love how my headlight etc turns with the bars instead of staying straight ahead.

Edit: now that I'm waking up a bit and thinking more, even if I have been adding weight to the front, it's all the more reason for upgraded springs yay

[crackin]

All valid points Showbiz. Those forks sound like they have had their day.
I weigh my bike on my bathroom scales, just weigh the front and rear separate and add together.
Carry on
Johno

[Big Rich]

All valid points Showbiz. Those forks sound like they have had their day.
I weigh my bike on my bathroom scales, just weigh the front and rear separate and add together.
Carry on
Johno

Yep. Just make sure there's a 2x4 or something under the other tire (so the bike is level). Or else any liquids run to the tire on the ground, giving a lighter weight on the scale.

[ShowBizWolf]

Sooooo no fender work got done this weekend Jamie wasn't able to come help... so I kept myself busy with other things like cleaning behind the sprocket cover, clean/lube the chain, mowin' the whole lawn and sweeping, running the vacuum, etc etc.

Maybe this coming weekend I'll keep trying to work on it myself in the mean time.

[89gS500_Kirk]

ShowBiz do you sell the bags you modified in this post? If so I would def be interested in one, I am close by also I am in WV I believe I saw you say somewhere you are in PA.

[ShowBizWolf]

Hi Kirk! I don't sell the bags but I'll send ya a PM with some more details and the link

[ShowBizWolf]

Not much goin' on... last night I put the nose fairing and new windscreen on. Rode to work today and brought my camera... so maybe on my break I'll go out and get some pics!

Also, here's a pic of my spare fork lowers after sanding, cleaning and priming. I painted them silver today and will clear them on the weekend.

[ShowBizWolf]

Pics of the nose fairing back on:

[crackin]

I'm loving the Gixxer fairing, it looks great on the Gs.
Have you considered wet sanding and polishing the machined part of your rims? These rims look sweet as polished.
I painted my spokes gold with polished rims, it looks bad arse.

[ShowBizWolf]

Thanks so much crackin, glad you like it! And that's a sweet idea about the wheels, I'll keep that in mind! I'm picturing what your wheels must look like and I agree, that would look sharp

[89gS500_Kirk]

Is your rear fender stock or did you get an aftermarket one? I like his it fits low over the rear tire, the one on my 89 is high under the seat and takes up a lot of room that I could be using for wires.

[ShowBizWolf]

I have the same (stock) fender as you, which is the plastic that is high under the seat BUT I also added a hugger (which is what you're pointing out that sits low over the tire) from a Bandit 400. I had to creep on ebay.uk for a bit but I found a used one and the shipping was doable. The wiki gave me a decent idea of how to make it work on the GS and then I made my own thread about how to fit one.
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=71283.0

[peteGS]

Yep that nose really suits it ShowBiz, awesome work! 

[ShowBizWolf]

Thank you thank you Pete!! Feels nice to have it painted to match finally!

Fork lowers done. They came out better than I hoped! Can't wait until I can afford the new chrome inner tubes.