I like my gs. I love it except I'd like a little more power.
So heres the thing. I know its a great beginner bike since I've been riding it for about a month now. But I can already feel the urge to have something more powerful gnawing at me. I definitly won't look to get a new bike until at least September.
However, I'd like to know now, since I don't think it'd take too much more to satisfy me, if the GS can be made to be more than its stock power. And I don't mean 1hp, I need to be able to feel it so when i crank the throttle at 70mph I can feel the bike accelerating faster than my 4-cyl mazda ;). So what is everyones advice here. Is there any modifications that are more cost effective for getting more power compared to just upgrading to a sv650 or gsx-r?
IMO, not really. Short of increasing the displacement with overbored cylinders/pistons or turbocharging :cookoo: there is no really effective way to increase power. A smaller front sprocket and rejetting can improve power delivery though. The best idea is to ride the GS a lot, learn the basics of safe motorcycling and maybe take it to the track so you can see what the baby G can really do.
Yep, trying to squeeze enough power out of the GS will get expensive and time consuming. Even doubling the hp you will be at a stock SV. Better off with a bigger bike. The GS is really fun on the track, more fun than a bigger bike.
Bored in a month?!?! Get off the superslab and find some technical roads!
^ditto. After month you still have no clue how to ride.
lol...i've been riding more than a year and i still don't know as much as i'd like about riding. Take it to the curves and then see how bored you get:)
that first month is about when you get past the initial fear and anxiety of riding in the street, and thinking about what all your limbs are doing...in other words, now that you are feeling "bored" and needing a little more power, THIS is the time when the real learning begins. Keep the bike at least till sept if not longer, then upgrade. and in the interim, dont waste your time trying to squeeze more power out of the gs. the only way to "feel" like that is to drop a tooth on the front sprocket.
Pablos a bit easier than me. I say keep the bike the full season...that's an entire year. Step up not before then...and then only to something akin to an SV or Bandit 650.
I know the GS is slow for a bike, but it's plenty quick enough for me for now... I'm keeping it long enough to go straight to a brand spankin new GSXR750 comfortably :icon_mrgreen:
Could be a while... :cookoo:
g6
ive been riding now for 20odd years and had my licence for over 12, ive had much bigger and faster bikes, but there is nothing wrong with the little gs, although i ache for more power at times, you just have to be more technical with it knowing when to let off and put the gas back on in the corners, ill go as fast on the gs (if not faster) than pritty much all bigger bikes in the corners, and it'll still get to 120 on the straights, albeit a lot slower to get there, hold on to the wee gs its reliable, easy to ride and will let you learn and be forgiving when you make a chicken up. and you will!
if you havn't already :icon_mrgreen:
Modding the GS is something you do for the love of wrenching. As mentioned before, rom a cost analysis perspective it is much cheaper and faster to pick up a stock SV or GSXR.
If your real concern is the 70mph roll-on power, you want a supersport. The SV650 is every bit as quick as a supersport up to maybe 40 or 50 mph, but it quickly gets tapped out. High speed accelleration like you are describing is better suited to a GSXR.
Having said that, wait minimum 6 months and several thousand miles of riding experience before you get one. Managing all of those extra horses and the peaky power-band can be a huge distraction from all of the other attention-sappring tasks involved in riding, and it takes a little more experience to operate one safely.
im personally am going to wait at least 3 more years so i can pass down my bike to my lil bro and i have enough experience to get my ninja. and like metntioned before there are a couple of mods u can do that can give un in a grand total of 45hp versus stock 40, which should be a diference for a beginner.
ps. out of curiosity what mazda do you have that accelerates faster than ur bike?
I urged for more power on GS after a month or so, but then i started feeling pleasure as i saw myself handling the bike better and better. There is really big space to grow as a rider.
If you ride only highways, maybe you bought the wrong bike in the first place.
95% of my riding is in the big city, so GS is almost perfect for me. For ultimate city terrorism i will get me a black 2003 SV650 naked in a year or two. Then i will be unstopable. :icon_twisted:
It only accelerates faster at the high speeds (70mph+), but its a '99 Protege ES. Low speeds the GS would kick most consumer cars butts I'd think.
Don't take what I said out of context either. I didn't say I'm bored with it already. But I can tell that I WILL be bored of it in the future and hence why I asked if I should even bother modifying the GS.
Since I don't know anyone around here who has a motorcycle or specifically a GS I'm kind of turned off to doing the rejet on my own.
I don't ride on highways all the time. I take the bike around the outskirts of Savannah, but theres really nothing out there in the middle of nowhere, georgia. If you've been to Sav you'd see what I mean. Its either 4-lane downtown type roads with lights every couple feet or its 2 lane highway through the middle of nothing. Maybe I'm missing something though...I've only lived here a year and not gotten out much.
Its not so much that I want a GSX-R kind of power where I can pull a wheelie by barely turning the throttle. I just want to feel the g-force when I accelerate. I get no thrills from a constant speed really unless i'm doing some fun turns.
Dude. You live in GA. You're like, a half day's ride from Deal's Gap and the mountains. Go ride up there, it's awesome.
Hey dracflamloc... What year is your bike? And... What maintenance/adjusting needs to be done to it?
You don't need to shift until redline... Find the power and stay there... 8-9K is great.
Like the others have said, find some real roads... I've been riding my GS for over a year, over 6k miles on it, and I'm not bored. It'll do 100 (even with a 15t sprocket), but it comes alive in the twisties...
Unless you're dragging parts, you're not riding the GS 100%... (and even then, it's still ~80% :icon_razz:)
If you want to go really fast in a straight line, take up bungee jumping.
So it's alright to cruise at 8-9k?
Maybe thats my problem...
But anyway, I had asked on the forum once what the gap was but nobody responded... Where is it and whens the best time to go?
There is a redline for a reason :icon_mrgreen: You can ride all you like up to the redline and your still in relativly safe terratory. They test these engines for months on end running at the redline to check for wear and tear and damage etc.. Thats why the engine is bomb proof.
My zxr400 redlines at 14500 rpm and the real powerband is from 10k upwards.
Well sure I know its there but I know if I ran my car at redline all the time it'd hate me and break down :icon_lol:
[g
Yeah I was feeling the same way (kinda bored) until I discovered the power band. Don't be lazy, use the transmission. If I'm going 70mph and I feel the need to pass someone real quick-a-like, I go down to 4th (no kidding) and twist it to hell. Run out of revs (at 10.5K) go up to 5th. You wouldn't know your Baby G can make that sound, but it makes it and in a couple seconds you can't find that fool you were passing. Top speed is in 5th (in my experience, not enough torque in 6th... maybe after a rejet, but I haven't done it), so don't worry about 6th until you're done being an @$$hole. :)
In other words, ride the hell out of it before you declare it dead.
Follow the advice you hear here. I bought a GS500 after I had a little bit of experience on another bike (that died). I rode it for a season, several thousand miles, twisties, street riding, long trips. After the winter I sold it to another newbie and moved on. I am riding a supersport now, but put a lot of thught inot it before picking it out. I'm on a Daytona 675. I have over 1000 miles on it safely. You definitely want to get as much experience on the GS as you can. It will only make it better for you in the future. It will help you in bike control, both moving and not. Damn near any bike you get after this will be physically larger and all the lessons you learn on the GS will save you from dropping your new toy. I know it helped me!