ShowBizWolf's 1998 GS500E

[ShowBizWolf]

You are quite welcome Pete. Let me know what ya find out! That's cool about the emulator kit

Found the pic I sent the eBay seller to show how those big threads would certainly not work in the GS forks

[peteGS]

Ah yes, definitely a no go! Will let you know once the forks come apart next time... hopefully get motivated in the next month or so to get it done.

[ShowBizWolf]

After sending quite a few emails translated from English into Portuguese, I was able to order a belly pan I really liked from this site:
http://www.mototuningbrasil.com.br/Produto/134-Spoiler-Suzuki-GS-500

They asked me what color I wanted and I said black. I honestly didn't think it'd end up being the "Pearl Novelty Black" my '98 is... but it is!

The total cost came to $160. Basically $80 for the pan, painted... and $80 to ship it to me here in Western PA from somewhere in Brazil.

When it arrived at my house, the box was in pretty rough shape. The pan itself was packed nicely... wrapped in bubble wrap and tape and paper. Unfortunately though, there was no mounting hardware. In one of my several emails, I managed to confirm that the hardware was indeed included... but alas, I couldn't find any.

I sent them an email explaining how much I loved the pan and how it was painted! I also explained about the missing hardware. They sent me pictures of what the brackets look like along with the measurements of them. After seeing them though, I decided I didn't want to go that route anyway. The front two require removing the front engine bolt and the rear two (from what I can see in close up pictures of this thing mounted) have to be bent a bit to make work.

Here's a pic of the pan when I got it:


After just test-fitting it onto the bike, I noticed I would have to trim/sand these spots. The fit around the frame was really really really tight.


Idk if it is my OCD or what but I also wanted to trim the longer side of the pan to match the other side.


Trimmed!


How it sits now.


I am thinking of getting the same brackets from Home Depot that I used on the forks for the 'Busa fender... and bending them in a square shape for around the frame and attaching the belly pan that way.

[Toner]

Nice. Looking forward to seeing this on the bike.
I believe they still make a GS500 in Brazil. Is that true?
Wonder what other cool accessories they have down there.

[Toner]

Wow, they actually make a fender eliminator.



http://www.mototuningbrasil.com.br/Produto/135-Eliminador-de-paralama-GS-500

Wonder how that works. Do you get the side panels too? What's going on on the underside there.
Wonder if it fits all models, maybe if you bought a round rear light instead of the square one the older models use.

[Toner]

They have a rear hugger too, looks decent.



http://www.mototuningbrasil.com.br/Produto/133-Paralama-de-pneu-traseiro-GS-500

[ShowBizWolf]

They certainly do have some cool stuff on the site! And the email replies were pretty fast too. The fender eliminator looks as though you have to remove/replace the whole inner fender piece... which would make sense, especially for that price... but you're right, it's hard to tell.

IIRC you can still get a brand new GS500 in Colombia... so I'd imagine they would be available in Brazil as well.

I'm working overnight shift 9:30pm-6am, just clocked in. I'm thinking when I get out in the morning I might head over to Home Depot and get some brackets and stainless bits

[crackin]

The belly pan looks great Showbiz, I have always wanted one for my bike. I'm really jealous now.
I'm sure you could bend up some brackets in a vice with some aluminum stock.
Umm? Yep, I think your OCD might be getting out of hand Lol

[ShowBizWolf]

Thanks for checkin' in, crackin! Yeah that OCD can get pretty crazy sometimes

Made some brackets last evening. Totally abandoned my original idea of making them go around the frame. That method just wasn't working for me.

I used the galvanized strips from the ends of the brackets I bought and trimmed them/drilled them as needed. Used stainless button head allen bolts and stainless nylon lock nuts.

Rear two brackets:




Front clutch side bracket:




Front brake side bracket:
(This one gave me attitude and I broke the first one. I was also idk how many beers in at that point so that's why the part that meets the belly pan doesn't sit perfectly flat against it LOL)




Done!








After all that effort to order it and get it and mess around with brackets... I stood back and was like meh... it looks OK

I do like it though. I'll most likely keep it

[cbrfxr67]

That's rocking show! 
Love seeing you do work!

(picture game time!)

[Toner]

Looks pretty sweet, SBW. Cheers for the pics.

[ShowBizWolf]

Thank you cbr and Toner! I'm glad you like it

A couple more pics cuz pics are awesome!

[Sarasi]

I really like the combo of your front fender and rear hugger! I am not a bellypan girl myself, but it does balance out your front fairing very neatly. Do you have any plans for a seat cover? I think that might take a bit of the "heaviness" out the front and balance the rear a bit, visually.

It is one pretty hell of a GS500 though. 

(also hi! thanks for the rec! when do the verifications stop?! )

[qcbaker]

Nice work as always, Showbiz. The belly pan really ties the GSXR cowl into the rest of the bike, visually, I think.

(also hi! thanks for the rec! when do the verifications stop?! )

After 5 posts you should be fine.

[ShowBizWolf]

@qc, thank you for your opinion! It makes me lean more towards keeping the pan on.

@Sarasi, yes, those verifications should be gone for you now
Thanks for the compliment! I never was one for belly pans either tbh. Last year some time, a group member suggested it to me and at first I dismissed the idea... but then the more I thought about it, the more I thought one might look good with the nose fairing.
Seat cover... do you mean like a seat cowl? I started making my own a couple years ago and still have the fiberglass shell... but I ended up abandoning that project. I could always look into it again some day!

[Sarasi]

Yes, like a cowl! Although I'm getting unsure about it now that I'm taking a closer look at your pics. The rear fairing on your model is quite different from mine and looks a bit more squared, in which case I think a cowl might make it look more alike a lego block than balanced out, maybe. It's hard to imagine one on your bike, for me.

The underlying idea was that I love the tail position on your bike. It's absolutely sexy, but the front gets all the attention in the first look right now, due to the belly pan and the nose fairing.

[ShowBizWolf]

I just got done searching everywhere for a pic of when I was making that cowl and I found nothing

Yeah the earlier rear plastics ('89 to '00) are a different shape than the later/newer ones. The cowl I started did make things flow well but I just decided there were other things I'd rather be working on lol... there's a thread here on the forum I used as inspiration (but it was for the later style plastics) ... http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=48791.0

And of course the wiki link with some options I considered: http://wiki.gstwins.com/index.php?n=Upgrades.RearEnd-CowlCover

Right around the time I put the fiberglass cowl shell up on the shelf, I found this nifty little tail bag for cheap, which kinda looks like a cowl. I made my own elastic straps which went under the seat rather than around the whole tail of the bike (what the straps that came with the bag were supposed to do). I ended up selling it to a member here on the forum cuz he liked it so much with the straps I made!


I'm glad you love the tail posture. I know the signals mounted up on the side fairings can remind a person of Shrek LOL but I like 'em there anyways.

[Sarasi]

Ha, that looks a lot like my tailbag!  I bought mine that way, luckily, so no mods done on that (other than to sew a harness for it so I can carry it around like a shoulder bag, because it zips off the plate that's strapped to the seat).

Making a cowl seems like a crazy difficult task to be honest, but that might just be because I've no idea what fibreglass is other than dangerous for your lungs and apparently in my helmet.   

Yeah no I don't mind the signals there! I've been struggling to decide what to do with mine. I would like to cut a bit of the fender off, but I might just stick to cutting off a bit of the bottom and leaving the sides, so I can also leave the blinkers. Dunno yet. I like your solution though.

[ShowBizWolf]

It has been a while since I've done anything to my GS besides wash it and enjoy riding it. Here's a pic from earlier this year after a nice wash (cuz almost everybody loves pics)...


For a while now though I've been tired of the windscreen and also the purple and green LED strips. I honestly don't even know why I chose purple and green.

Blue is very common and so is red so I didn't want either of those... sure I'm a girl but I didn't wanna do pink... white is kinda boring... orange with the black on my bike would have always reminded me of Halloween lol... so maybe just by process of elimination ? Idk.

But anyways, those colors are going away and I'm looking forward to it.

I have a clear windscreen that I installed for a moment but then switched to the purple/blue/chrome one. Tomorrow I have plans to paint the clear one black and then install it maybe Sunday.

I work 2nd and 3rd shifts and ride at night frequently so underglow for me is more of an added safety/visibility thing rather than just a novelty thing... so I was trying to think of what color to switch to. I've always loved the GS in yellow... and I like yellow and silver... plus I live in western PA and love Pittsburgh sports... and my bike is technically black so...

Yellow it is 

A couple days ago I bought new LED strips: (They are the same kind as before so I know what I'll be getting and they are inexpensive.)
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Multi-Color-Flexible-Car-Motorcycle-Truck-Boat-LED-Light-Strip-Waterproof-12V-US/253273278832?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=552412971152&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649

And some bulbs for the gauges: (These are gonna be an experiment for sure because normally I get my bulbs from sbl.com but I'm on a really really tight budget right now.)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JR6IKYQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And some of these because the wire on those LED strips is super tiny:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RY243D9/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Sooooo if all this works out, I'll have changed out the gauge lights, LED strips and windscreen for under $10.

Just gotta wait now until November some time for the stuff to get here LOL!

[cbrfxr67]

Love seeing your posts show!  you have one of the best looking gs's out there,.....