How Many Repairs?

[Kerry]

In the spirit of the How Many Mods thread, I'm curious about what kinds of REPAIRS people have done on their own bikes.

I know the illustrious racers among us have taken the whole bike apart many times and put it back together (or left a bunch of stuff off).  I'm looking not for BLING value or weight savings, but what kinds of problems you've had and been able to overcome.  (Racers included!)

I tend to focus on people's questions as they come up - I lose track of the cumulative repairs folks have done on a single machine over time.

========================

I guess I'll start.

Except for periodic maintenance stuff (replacing oil & filter, tires, sprockets and chain, brake pads, broken cables) the only big REPAIR job I can think of was when a connector got corroded and caused my bike to run on 1 cylinder.  That one took months of on-and-off troubleshooting to figure out....  :x

[Ed_in_Az]

Due to the intermittent dimming of the lights, I've replaced both the regulator and stator on my GS. It seems  to be fixed.

By the way Kerry, how long should I expect brake pads to go ?

[scratch]

Do you mean, besides fork seals? Because I would consider those a wear item, like tires.

[mwdbruno]

I've been very lucky...all the work I've done has been "personalization" and routine stuff (oil, fork seals, tires) outside of replacing the stock petcock to correct the fuel starvation problem I had.  In the process of that I removed the secondary fuel switch and the CA emissions can and lines.

[Kerry]

how long should I expect brake pads to go ?

Depends on the brand, composition ... and your riding style, of course.  My OEM rear pads lasted nearly 16,000 miles and the front ones nearly 17,000 miles.

I replaced the OEM front pads about 1,000 miles sooner than I needed to.  The EBC Kevlar front pads I replaced them with need to be replaced soon.  They're currently at ~13,000 miles.

For others' input, see the thread How long do brakes and tires last?.

EDIT: I got the mileage figures all wrong from memory.  The corrected numbers are from my records.

[mp183]

Had to fix oil leak, one of the side gaskets, forgot which one.  
Had to change o-ring where the tach goes to the engine to stop oil leak.
Nothing else besides tires.  Rear lasted about 9,500.  Front 15,500.  Second rear was also changed at 15,500.  One instrument bulb.  Still have original brake pads and chain.  I ride the shaZam! out of it.   Quick starts and downshift into every gear on the way down.  Crawl in traffic in the mornging into Manhattan.  Indicated 90 mph on the way back home on a short stretch of the NJ Turnpike.  The thing is made to be ridden.   If you remember that you got it to ride you won't dwell on the small things.

[The Buddha]

OK tires, chain, sprokets, fork seals, brake lines, pads, discs, cables all of them, battery, bulbs, all of them as well, and all wear items like shims, then tank rust... cured by slicing a hole in the bottom and sanding it, stator coil, starter to see if that was bad, turns out the starter clutch was gone, clutch push rod, left case, all body panels, crank trigger, intake manifold, cam chain tensioner, front and rear wheel bearings, exhaust gaskets ... that's all comes to mind...
Cool.
srinath.

[Kerry]

... that's all [that] comes to mind...

That's OK Srinath.  We'll still let you hang around with us.  

Really - they don't call you the "guru" for nothin'.  Just about no matter what it is, I guess you've "been there, done that".

[yamahonkawazuki]

k7n pod filter, 140 mains, 37.5 pilots, 15t front sprocket both tires, forks, fender,oil change, windshield,police horn (as soon as i can find place to mount) bout it for now

[dgyver]

I seem to keep rebuilding things before they have time to wear out. Besides the base gasket leaking (damn coppercoat) and the right side case leaking, I have not had any repairs. Oh yeah, one of the connectors was corroded and caused intermittent spark.

[EvilScooby]

I dont know how many repairs I need yet, I just got my 95 GS in good running condition. I bought it from a guy who left it sit for 5 years in his garage, only 877 miles on her.
I haven't really taken her out yet. just got the title set and registration today, getting my temp moto license tomorrow.  yeah!!!

[pantablo]

On my 2001 gs500 I blew a fuse once due to running a higher wattage headlight bulb...

[Kerry]

On my 2001 gs500 I blew a fuse once due to running a higher wattage headlight bulb...

I think I remember that one!  Something about the GS500E having 2 fuses, and bumming a ride home from ... Manjul?  And then realizing that the second fuse was a spare, and ... I can't remember how it all ended!

[stephan]

I don't know if you'd call all these repairs, but in my mind, my suspension was shot and needed replacing.  I guess it's a mod/repair!

Changed rear shock to a '03 Katana shock.
Upgraded to progressive front springs
Replace oil seals and put in 15w oil
Epoxied flyscreen
Tighteded up gauge cluster - it shook when I hit bumps
Replaced front pads, nigh unto metal they were!
Fixed bent turn signal
Attempted to repair small tear in seat - need to revisit soon

That's about it, but I'm sure there'll be more in the future!  

[pantablo]

I think I remember that one!  Something about the GS500E having 2 fuses, and bumming a ride home from ... Manjul?  And then realizing that the second fuse was a spare, and ... I can't remember how it all ended!

2 fuses...yep. We only found one. The spare. Thought it was the live one. Would have had a great ride that day but instead we wasted hours on that only to have to go home pillion on Manjul's bike. Over an hour by freeway.

That day was a gstwin group ride too. There were a dozen members or so doing Ortega Hwy...grrr. Pkaaso was great-went back with his truck and took it to his house. Fixed it then drove it to me! Great bunch of people here I tell ya!

[wasabi_peas]

I'm looking not for BLING value or weight savings, but what kinds of problems you've had and been able to overcome.  (Racers included!)

I think we're all missing the point here.  Kerry just used the term "bling" in a post.

:dunno: Am I too new here to be giving Kerry a hard time?   :mrgreen:

[Kerry]

I think we're all missing the point here.  Kerry just used the term "bling" in a post.

Yeah, I could feel the limb bend underneath me when I typed that one....

:dunno: Am I too new here to be giving Kerry a hard time?   :mrgreen:

Not if you ask me!  As long as it's good-natured, bring it on!  

[gs500fromnb]

I dont know how you guys ride...

but I have to change my bt45's at 4500-5500km for the rear and 10000-12000km for the front. At 5500km, my rear is close to bald on the middle.

My bike is now at 22000km (a 2003 model) and still on original brakes. I've had a head gasket leak, and just now a oil pan gasket is slowly leaking. Other than that... no repairs, just regular oil change and maintenance.

[Pkaaso]

Pablo, you had to bring up the fuse thing again.  I had hoped it was forgotten.  A lesson well learned.

For those not familier with this one...  Pablo's bike just died.

We pulled out the fuse at the start of Ortega.  It looked perfect, tested good too.  What we missed was the fact that the fuse we were testing was the SPARE fuse locaced in the rubber housing the holds the WORKING fuse.  It sure did look like a socket.  We pluged it back in (what a laugh) and it still didn't work.  Oh well, lets ride and tow it later.

I seem to remember someone there saying:  "There is another fuse."  And, I remember completely ignoring them.  And, that's the lesson learned.  

I have dissmantled and reassembed several bikes now.  I have gotten into just about everything except for splitting the cases and doing the bottom end.

I've got a bottom end that's going to the machine shop soon.  And, I have an old blown motor that I think I'l split when I get the chance.

Rashad is the MAN who split a thousand cases.  Or aleast split ONE case a THOUSAND times.

And yes you must have at least a THOUSAND posts before you can mess with Kerry.  

[octane]

Replaced leaking left side case cover gasket (man those old gaskets are a Buddha Loves You to get off!!

Replaced leaking valve cover gasket

Had a problem with speedo bulbs blowing too often (I'd go through 3 or 4 a season) Solved by removing the speedo and replacing the whole front end with a gixxer unit  :mrgreen:

Replaced exhaust with V&H (original rotted from the inside out at the lowest part of the pipe...bike lived outside for a few years)

Replaced gas tank (original rusted and leaked in the lower corners)

That's really it for problem repairs. The rest has been maintenance: chain, sprockets, brakes, etc.