Quote from: voughtcorsair on September 22, 2025, 05:25:47 AMGood morning,

Just picked up my '02 GS500 a week ago and she's been having nothing but problems. At first, she wouldn't start (charged battery) then would stall almost immediately at idle (cleaned carbs, put floats as high as possible,) and now it over-revs at random - talking a random climb to 6-7k RPM in first/second gear without touching the throttle. Idles really high (hangs?) and then will slowly come down in RPM. Seems like some kind of leak. Ordered new gaskets for the bowl since those were disintegrating & today will be readjusting throttle cable and setting floats to 14mm. Any other things to check on if those ideas don't work? I just wanna ride this thing before it gets too cold! Thanks in advance for any help

What do you mean by "put floats as high as possible"? Your float adjustment should be to a factory specified level. You even mention that a bit later.

Also, is your bikes operation and sound normal, or are there obvious clacking noises? If your bike sounds normal, there's probably nothing wrong with it.

Quote from: Bautitz on September 20, 2025, 04:11:41 AMHi everyone!

The idea of rebuilding the engine myself comes from a lack of money for labor costs, so I won't be able to replace the engine if it breaks.

I believe no one is born knowing how to do anything – it's all about practice. So, the plan was to follow the manual, watch videos, and take advice from all of you here in the forum. If I spend money on labor to have someone fix it, I won't have enough left for parts.

The issue with my bike is a bit of play in the crankshaft. I'm not sure if it's intentional or not, and I don't know if it's possible to fix it without opening the engine. I've attached a video so you can get an idea.

I was planning to open the engine and take the parts that need to be measured to a machine shop. I believe they have all the necessary measuring equipment there, as I don't have anything myself.

Just to give you an idea, the labor cost they're charging me here is equivalent to about 1/3 of the bike's total value. With the parts included, I think it could go up to 2/3.

Thanks!

It's hard to tell from your video, but is the play in the crankshaft side-to-side or up-and-down? I believe it's normal for there to be some transverse (side-to-side) play, but if the play is up-and-down, your bearings are shot.

Quote from: herennow on October 19, 2025, 11:12:19 AMSorry to hear that, good luck getting it all back together. Are you OK?

 I had a front ender when someone cut me off. I got new forks, sidestand, footpeg mount handlebar etc slowly for ebay ad got it back together.

So far I am 13 weeks on crutches with a badly broken tibia, suprisingly there was very little other damage.
There is an OK motorbike wreckers near me that I'll hit up for the parts. I do like to see and touch what I am buying before handing over cash...

Cheers

Just glad you survived even if your bike didnt fare so well.
You might want to take a hard look at the frame as well. Best of luck with your repairs

Sorry to hear that, good luck getting it all back together. Are you OK?

 I had a front ender when someone cut me off. I got new forks, sidestand, footpeg mount handlebar etc slowly for ebay ad got it back together.

I was trying to avoid an accident happening in front of me and ended up clipping the back corner of a tip truck. The bike and I went down and under the front wheel of the tip trucks trailer and were dragged down the highway.  The back wheel is buckled and gouged, the axle head is ground down, the swingarm is crushed at the ends and bent, there's some plastic damage and the footrest hanger and shifter are bent from the trailer wheel rolling on them.

At first I thought the exhaust was bent into the wheel but when I could move around a bit again I put the bike on the center stand and it was obvious the swingarm is bent.



I am suprised the rest of the bike is ok. Front wheel, forks, handlebars, engine and frame are unscathed. The bar end mirror doesn't have a scratch on it. So with a replacement swingarm and back wheel, some hammering and plastic welding it should be ok for the road again. I just need to be a bit more mobile to start that.
Meanwhile if someone around South East Queensland has a back wheel and/or/ swingarm or a parts bike I know a bloke that's looking

Cheers

1/4in vac line, Autozone, etc...

If anyone has a set please let me know. Located in the UK. For the GS500F specifically. Tried contacting megacycle cams after i heard someone say they are still doing the odd bits and pieces but no reply.

I am rebuilding my 2006 gs500 and i have almost everything ready except for the vacuum line. I do not have one and the part is discontinued, and I can't find it for sale anywhere. Is there some adapter I can use? What can I do?