Hello everyone, NICE SITE!
My name's Bobby. I've ridden motorcycles and ATV's since 1972, but all has been off-road except for a short stint during the early 80's with no license and a hard tail chopper. :icon_mrgreen: My last bike was a 1994 Suzuki RMX 250 dirt bike, which I rebuilt from the ground up. But unfortunately I had to sell because I have had a broken back and loose strength in my legs, so I couldn't do the kickstart thing anymore. (It's a bummer having to get someone else to start your bike all the time!) Anyway, with the rising fuel prices I wanted to buy something more fuel efficient for commuting and the possible local site seeing adventure, and happened upon what I feel was an excellent deal.
I just bought a 2004 GS500F with only 580 miles for $2500. The story from the seller was: he traded it from a guy that had bought the bike for his wife. The first ride she turned it over in a gravel driveway and wouldn't ride it anymore. The few miles that were put on it were him basically trying to get some use from it, and then the used car dealership I bought it from rode it a few times until the sticker died in 11/2006. It has some slight cosmetic damage you can see up close, from where the lady turned it over in the gravels. So far, I love the little bike. Although, my riding has been limited to a 1-1/2 mile stretch of secondary road by my house. (I've only today passed my learners permit, and have yet to tag the bike).
I stopped on the way home when I bought my bike the other day and put a few gallons of fresh fuel in it. After getting home I rode it for 15-20 minutes. At first it seemed to idle way too high, but after a while it came down to about 1500 RPM. Then, after re-adjusting the idle, it went back up to about 2000-2500 RPM. I readjusted and have it idleing around 1200-1300 RPM, but I've yet to ride it for an extended period of time since. I want to try and run it a little more and then flush the tank, and clean the carbs because the bike has set since 11/2006.
But as for now, I notice a miss, or rather, a lag or flat spot, right around 2000-2500 RPM if you are just cruising along and nail the throttle.
Any suggestions or thoughts as to the cause of this??
Thanks!
hnh
Clean the carbs. Also, while you're in there, you might as well rejet them, since the bike is jetted lean from the factory. Welcome to the forum! There's a link to the rejetting tutorial, but I don't know where it is.. I'm sure someone else will chime in..
Thats gotta be the bargain of the century, 580 miles?? I have done more than that over a weekend!! nice one pal :thumb:
You want to keep the revs above 3000RPM when you ride these bike otherwise you get that lag/miss fire feeling. Notice the readline 11000 so try to keep the revs up, it aint a harley.
Ohh and dont ever rev the thing past 10K because peak power is at 9000 and all you are doing is put more stress on the engine for no more power
sledge-
Yep, I feel I got a bargain!
coll0412-
Thanks for the advice! Actually, I went for a ride this evening, and did just what you said. I kept the RPM's around 4000 and the bike done great. I couldn't believe the difference. I was just kinda babying it before, not being used to it and all. I felt lots more comfortable with it today.
NiceGuysFinishLast-
Do you have any suggestions concerning the jet sizes I should re-jet my carbs with?
hnh
Dude, sounds like you might not need a carb cleaning, you just weren't wringing it out. Powerband doesn't really kick in until 5-5.5K, and doesn't stop till 9K.. wring her out!
as for rejetting, go to the FAQ section, click on the "Gs500 faq website" thread, and go to the wiki, there's a table there to show you how to rejet.