Hey all thank you in advance for helping out...
I have a 2004 GS500F and I would like to try to get some more HP out of it. I don't wanna spend to much money on it, because I plan on trading it in a couple months. I am mechanical so I can work on the bike myself, I just don't know what is the best course of action. Maybe a combination of cheap mods might do the trick...
Any advise would be helpful.
THX again!
:woohoo:
Putting a 15tooth or 14t front sprocket will give the illusion of more power at slower speeds, but expect higher rpm's and less top speed. Can be done for <$25
The only way to get more real horsepower as far as I know is with an high flow air filter/new exhaust/rejet but that is costly and only gains 5hp if you are lucky. Not worth it in your case.
If you are going to get rid of it soon just ride it and enjoy.
Also consider holding onto it, the GS is a great bike that you might miss.
Search this forum for 78mm wiseco pistons. Going overbore to 541cc is the cheapest $/hp but it's still significant money. Easiest is the filter/exhaust/jets combo mentioned above. Even with ALL of these mods you'd still be looking at 5-12hp probably.
If you need more than that, you need a new bike.
trading it in in a few months = leave it alone and save that money for your next bike.
Keep the bike and learn to ride it.
Quote from: Roadstergal on February 10, 2009, 09:20:13 AM
Keep the bike and learn to ride it.
That and buy a hot looking set of leathers like R'gal here has. Especially if you're a hot chick. Now if you're not, find yourself a hot chick - you know hot chick dig bikers. So yea, that's the bike's first purpose.
Cool.
Buddha.
There really isn't that much to get power-wise. Certainly not cheap power-wise, and anything expensive is much better done by selling the GS and buying something more powerful.
Of course, if you are calling yourself a "newbie", you might want to take Roadstergal's advice to heart. She knows a thing or two about going fast.
From what I know of "newbies" and "more HP", "go faster" and "crotch rocket", it's usually a short trip from the new super-duper bike to the craiglist posting of bike parts for sale and sitting around in bars telling people how dangerous those scary death machines are, and you'll spend the rest of your life running bikes over while texting and shaving as you pilot your volvo/hummer around town (after tanking up at the bar) so you feel safe...
Plenty of power in a bone-stock GS500 for me.
Keep in mind that you'll probably get more money selling the bike stock than with a lot of mods. You may get a couple hundred more but generally you lose money with mods because the people willing to pay top dollar for a bike want it stock, most likely so they can modify it and further lower it's value :icon_rolleyes:
And yes hot chicks dig bikes, except guys dig bikes more, so when ever you stop you're more likely to get a group of guys saying nice bike than a girl going nice bike. And if you're a guy riding a Harley more than likely you're skinny and the chick behind you is fat. :icon_lol:
They harley guy is fat too. And yes the beeeyach is also fat. But in their defence the weight is required to keep parts from falling off at suck a rapid rate. The extra blubbery load absorbs vibrations between the layers of fat. There is then the obvious advantage of the extra width that the parts will hit and give you a fleeting chance to catch them before they are gone. The sharp parts will also stab and get trapped in the layers of fat. So its a requirement.
Cool.
Buddha.
Timing advance is free! (If you've got the tools) But only helps at low rpms...
http://gstwin.com/diy_timing_advance.htm (http://gstwin.com/diy_timing_advance.htm)
not sure the timing advance works on the new motors. but i might be wrong
Quote from: The Buddha on February 10, 2009, 09:37:47 AM
Quote from: Roadstergal on February 10, 2009, 09:20:13 AM
Keep the bike and learn to ride it.
That and buy a hot looking set of leathers like R'gal here has. Especially if you're a hot chick. Now if you're not, find yourself a hot chick - you know hot chick dig bikers. So yea, that's the bike's first purpose.
Cool.
Buddha.
+1 on both counts.
if you think you've used up the learning on a gs, you're way wrong. check the track forums, people rock 250's like you wouldn't believe. a gixxer is only going to spoil you with TICKET power.
yes, buy leathers. they'll save your ass. and your wallet. $400-1000 for a leather set is NOTHING compared to the cost of skin grafts.
all this is advice with your best interests in mind. none of it sarcastic or belittling. :)
Quote from: LucPro on February 10, 2009, 03:05:31 AM
Hey all thank you in advance for helping out...
I have a 2004 GS500F and I would like to try to get some more HP out of it. I don't wanna spend to much money on it, because I plan on trading it in a couple months. I am mechanical so I can work on the bike myself, I just don't know what is the best course of action. Maybe a combination of cheap mods might do the trick...
Any advise would be helpful.
THX again!
:woohoo:
I'm with everyone else, learn to ride the GS better. If you feel you've squeezed every possible ounce of performance out of it, do some suspension mods. Learn to ride the GS well and you'll leave the squids on bigger bikes in the dust in the twisties, which is where it really counts. Anyone can twist the throttle and go really fast in a straight line, but can you make it go around corners?
Don't you think that if there was a fast, cheap, and easy way to make extra HP that Suzuki might have chosen to do it?
Just sayin'....
Quote from: trumpetguy on February 10, 2009, 11:11:19 PM
Don't you think that if there was a fast, cheap, and easy way to make extra HP that Suzuki might have chosen to do it?
Just sayin'....
common sense trumps again :)
Just go with a smaller front sprocket. She'll accelerate real well with it.
Save your cash for a faster bike.
You cannot easily turn the GS500 into a SUper Sports bike.
Quote from: 5thAve on February 10, 2009, 05:23:19 AM
Search this forum for 78mm wiseco pistons. Going overbore to 541cc is the cheapest $/hp but it's still significant money. Easiest is the filter/exhaust/jets combo mentioned above. Even with ALL of these mods you'd still be looking at 5-12hp probably.
If you need more than that, you need a new bike.
You all talk like 5-10 hp isn't that much. That's a whole 10-20% more! What kind of h p do u all try to gain?
Ready for the facts... ok, here.
1. The bike's suspension is NOT CAPABLE of properly handling half of the power it makes STOCK. Go ahead, bring it to a track or fast twisties and you'll get your ass handed to you.
2. The 'cheapest' exhaust is 290 bucks. Vance and Hines, get one. Bikebandit.com
3. Anything done to air intake or exhaust you MUST, MUST, MUST re-jet to match. Don't cut corners.
4. Free and cheap will, again, give you the illusion of fast. Smaller front sprocket, 2 washers on the needles. 20 bucks = wheelies and burn-out city... but you'll only hit 105 tops.
Do things right or you're gonna get hurt... do things fast and you're gonna die.
If you wanna do a big, one-lump-sum buy of parts here's your grocery list:
Bikebandit.com
1 Vance and Hines SS exhaust
1 K&N Lunchbox Filter
2 140 Mikuni Main Jets (check for fitment on our carbs)
2 Exhaust gaskets
E-bay:
2000-2007 Katana 600 Rear shock.
SonicSprings.com
.90 Springs
2 bottles of 15w oil
These parts can be installed (all at once if you want) in 1 day... At most, 7 hours if you know what you're doing.
In your case... you might want to bring the boxes of nice, shiny new parts to a local shop along with your bike and have them put everything in for you...
Installing "parts" doesn't make your bike fast... TUNING WHAT YOU HAVE makes it fast(er).
Regardless of what you install you also have to consider the following.
- Front and rear shock sag.
- Carburetor Balancing/Syncing
- Fuel/Air Mixture
- Plug Chops and Jetting combos
- Tire pressure and chain tension
- Gearing
Half of this stuff you don't have tools for... I guarantee you. So a shop is your best bet to get everything dialed in.
Basically, you want a fast GS the right way? You're going to have to spend about 500-1000 bucks.
have fun.
How about that ignition advancer mod? Would that work with everything else stock guys?
Quote from: SecondsFromTheFall on February 27, 2009, 04:13:36 AM
How about that ignition advancer mod? Would that work with everything else stock guys?
You'd notice that more on a fully modded bike to take advantage of the performance gained. Otherwise it may just add a tiny bit to low-end.
I could be wrong... I don't screw with timing or internals... the timing is set by the factory.. as long as the internals of the motor stay factory, so should the timing IMHO.
Quote from: Danny500 on February 27, 2009, 02:52:09 AM
Ready for the facts... ok, here.
1. The bike's suspension is NOT CAPABLE of properly handling half of the power it makes STOCK. Go ahead, bring it to a track or fast twisties and you'll get your ass handed to you.
2. The 'cheapest' exhaust is 290 bucks. Vance and Hines, get one. Bikebandit.com
3. Anything done to air intake or exhaust you MUST, MUST, MUST re-jet to match. Don't cut corners.
4. Free and cheap will, again, give you the illusion of fast. Smaller front sprocket, 2 washers on the needles. 20 bucks = wheelies and burn-out city... but you'll only hit 105 tops.
Do things right or you're gonna get hurt... do things fast and you're gonna die.
If you wanna do a big, one-lump-sum buy of parts here's your grocery list:
Bikebandit.com
1 Vance and Hines SS exhaust
1 K&N Lunchbox Filter
2 140 Mikuni Main Jets (check for fitment on our carbs)
2 Exhaust gaskets
E-bay:
2000-2007 Katana 600 Rear shock.
SonicSprings.com
.90 Springs
2 bottles of 15w oil
These parts can be installed (all at once if you want) in 1 day... At most, 7 hours if you know what you're doing.
In your case... you might want to bring the boxes of nice, shiny new parts to a local shop along with your bike and have them put everything in for you...
Installing "parts" doesn't make your bike fast... TUNING WHAT YOU HAVE makes it fast(er).
Regardless of what you install you also have to consider the following.
- Front and rear shock sag.
- Carburetor Balancing/Syncing
- Fuel/Air Mixture
- Plug Chops and Jetting combos
- Tire pressure and chain tension
- Gearing
Half of this stuff you don't have tools for... I guarantee you. So a shop is your best bet to get everything dialed in.
Basically, you want a fast GS the right way? You're going to have to spend about 500-1000 bucks.
have fun.
I appreciate the help. I think the modifications I am going to do are a K & N Lunchbox and a rejet. Those are pretty cheap upgrades for some extra power... I think I can also modify the exhaust I already have.
I want the bike to appear as stock as possible so when I go to sell it, it looks as stock as possible.
What advantages does adding the katana rear shock have?
Doing the suspension is only beneficial if you're going to do a TON of mods to the bike and expect it to behave properly.. in your case, don't worry about it.
Um... if you're going to sell it... then here's what you do.
RIDE IT.... THEN SELL IT...
If you wanna do the mods anyway, just KEEP the stock air box and filter and the stock jets... that way, when you sell it you can put it allll back together stock and say bye-bye... then put the jets and the K&N for sale on here.
Quote from: Danny500 on February 27, 2009, 10:39:15 PM
Doing the suspension is only beneficial if you're going to do a TON of mods to the bike and expect it to behave properly.. in your case, don't worry about it.
Um... if you're going to sell it... then here's what you do.
RIDE IT.... THEN SELL IT...
If you wanna do the mods anyway, just KEEP the stock air box and filter and the stock jets... that way, when you sell it you can put it allll back together stock and say bye-bye... then put the jets and the K&N for sale on here.
That's what I will end up doing. I always do that anyways with all of my vehicles. It ends up paying off in the end. Besides I may not even have to switch them back if I can get someone that doesn't know much to buy it any ways. If I only do those two mods then it will 'APPEAR' stock. I don't really want to modify much more than that. I think the stock equipment makes it look kind of hard anyways.
Thank you for the help all...
P.S. Where can I get a set of decent jets that I will be happy with?
Quote from: LucPro on February 28, 2009, 12:39:16 AM
P.S. Where can I get a set of decent jets that I will be happy with?
Buddha.