Has anyone considered starting a GS500 shim exchange? (or should I ask the obvious question first, IS there a GS500 shim exchange?) (( Is he named Kerry? hahahaha))
I've pondered it, and think it would be a good idea. Enough of us out here with a couple shims in hand gathering dust. Maybe most of your shops carry them, and offer some sort of rebate. My local dealer (says) that they don't carry them, and that Suz parts take about 3 weeks to get lately.
If I could figure out a shipping method that costs less than 10 bucks, maybe it's a reasonable idea. Heck, if I could do it at no expense, I don't think my wife could argue me volunteering to have a little tupperware container full of shims somewhere.
Would enough people be interested for me to post a "PLAN" for group review?
:thumb:
Considering basicly same things, only using a sorting tray for screws nuts and bolts, i have a Digi vernier caliper that messures in .in, and mm, so i can clean up the ones with abit of surface rust and still accuratly messure, and label each shim . abit of wire wheel and 1000 grit and WD-40 has brought back many a shims for me. i have about 4 engines worth at this point.
I would be up for this. I have two bikes that use the same shims, I will not go too far out of my way looking for them, but if I happen upon them, I would enjoy shareing them to help keep the price resonable.
Don
'83GS450LD
'91GS500
:mrgreen:
Well, here's what I thought would work out:
To start the supply, anyone can send shims to the exchange in the spirit of goodwill and starting something good. In exchange, they receive a "shim credit" for each shim they send in. In the beginning, this will mean a lot of people sending in their spare/unused shims as insurance for future shim needs. The system will not be capable of doing exchanges until a reasonable supply is obtained.
Once 10-20 people have sent shims in, there should be a reasonable variety available.
Now, for operation.
As shims are obtained, we maintain a simple website table which lists available shim sizes.
Knowing that it's painful to have your bike open for a while and wait, I propose that people request shims and send payment (to cover mailing and envelop only) to the exchange using something like Paypal. To keep the risk low, nobody can request more than 4 shims at a time. Further, they agree to send their shims in trade within a reasonable period.
Since it relies on the honor system, maybe we can make this service available only to those who have > 5 or 10 posts on GStwin, so we don't have random people "collecting" shims. It's no guarantee, but this whole idea is honor system anyway.
Maybe what we can do is have the payment be slightly more than mailing and envelope material costs, to cover lost or damaged shims, and the occasional ;) dishonest GS rider.
Now, if for some reason this idea doesn't work out and the exchange has a supply of shims to disperse, we'll have to consider that many credits will be worthless. We can try to send back shims in the original sizes if possible to the contributors with remaining credits (if the contributors are willing to pay the shipping as with any other order) But the people getting this started have to consider it a donation and hope for the best, in case the inventory falls below the credit amount, due to loss or fraud.
It seems like even paying postage both ways, people would be paying less than OEM prices + online store shipping prices, especially for multiple shims.
Also, it would be nice if the person managing the exchange had a micrometer and posted shims by their *measured* sizes.
I'm making this sound more complicated than it should be:
1) check page for shim availability
2) "order" available shims using online payment method to cover shipping+handling
3) immediately send original shims in for credit.
:dunno:
i wanted to do this for jets too, but didn't seem to be any real interest at the time.
Well in about a month, i'm going to get my own domain and web space to create my own site. I'm a professional web developer and it wouldn't take much at all for me to create a couple of pages where GS'ers could view the available shims/jets/what-have-you. I could also create an administrative back-end to allow a few designated people have access to the data to keep it up to date.
Just let me know, i'll watch the thread.
Only one question... What's a shim? :lol:
small, flat, round piece of metal that sits on top of your valves under the cam. replace them to adjust your valve clearances
Ah, to be young again, and entrepreneurial! :lol: :cheers:
Interesting. I had thought of this, too. I was going to nominate myself for the west coast, also, because I work in a warehouse in the shipping department, so I know alot about shipping and tracking UPS and FedEx.
http://www.gstwins.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6477&start=20
I was going to get either a box from Suzuki or one of the large distributers like Hap Jones, Tucker Rocky or JC Whitney.
OK I have ~ 10 shims. They seem to be all I need. After my next valve adjustment ... due anytime cos I have put 1000+ miles on the bike after the valves started clacking... and dont even ask at 45K miles they clack as low as 500 miles after adjustment. The key is to ignore it till it starts hammering., which I am just begining to hear. I'll commit the sizes I dont think I need to the kitty. Good idea wasabi_peas... we could split it up into zones too... no sense sending shims clear across the country ... all it takes is a few spares to keep the bikes happy, we'll add in the shims to a kitty, and the members of each kitty can send it back and forth... ok in a total emergency across kitty sharing is allowed, but normally sending shims closer is easier and quicker. Needless to say I'll be in the same zone as bluknyt, werase, dgyver and JamesG ... so the rest of y'all can suffer... just kidding... may be too hard to keep track of the zone business. Just make a kitty and I'll send. How is that...
Cool.
Srinath.
Quote from: jiggersplati wanted to do this for jets too, but didn't seem to be any real interest at the time.
OK jet exchange doesn't make much sense though, cos 125 and 150 are the mains for 99%, 40 pilots are it for 100% and they cost $2-3 at the store... no real reason to swap them cos the aren't a maintenance item. Put in 150's and you are on your way to gas guzzling nirvana...
Cool.
Srinath.
Jet question, Jet question:
Which jets are we to be concerned about the bleeding / non-bleeding issue???
Which one do we want, bleeding / non-bleeding???
Non-bleed pilot jets. Only pilot jets come in bleeder or non-bleeder types. Well,... and needle jets, but we don't mess with those much.
I only have 3 shims and I think they're all 255's.
that settles it. a shim exchange is a good idea.
I just put 2 255s on my bike, which I purchased, and then gave Kerry 2 of my 3 265s.
I think that leaves us with 1 265, 2 260s, and everything else in the bike.