I am starting to be a bit more mobile now. I can walk a little bit without the crutches which means I can carry things again. On Wednesday I thought I would do some simple maintenance tasks on the GS like lubricating the cables. The clutch cable was easy: I move the plastic cover out of the way, turn the adjuster so the slot is facing up, pull the lever in and as I release it I drop oil on the exposed cable. I do that a few times and repeat the process in between doing other things.  The switchblock has to come apart to oil the throttle cables which I have done 5 times on this bike and I have had to pull it apart twice to service the starter button. I just couldn't get the JIS scewdriver to engage the screw heads at all this time. I grabbed the RD400 mirror I have been using as a mirror_on_a_stick for thirty years and couldn't believe what I saw. It looked like someone had taken a drill to the screwheads! Why? Since it is only me that works on the bike it was my problem to deal with...
I added some more oil to the clutch cable, took all the fairings off, loosened what handlebar controls I could and rotated the bars forward as much as I could. It then occurred to me that maybe someone had used a phillips head bit in a drill or impact driver to wreck the screwheads. Why? Hotwiring a motorbike doesn't happen at the killswitch...  I could use a vice grip on one screwhead and luckily it was when whoever was tryng to undo the screw that it was wrecked but the other screw is in a bit of a recess so no getting a vice grip on it. I hammered a screw bit from a variety pack I have in as best I could and with a 3/8th socket on it, pushing as hard as I could, I got it out.

On Friday I went for coffe and pastries with a friend and on the way home dropped in to my favorite nuts and bolts store. I showed the lady behind the couter the two butchered screws and asked for 4 zinc socket head bolts in each length and ten nuts saying the shanks can't be longer but if I have to cut the thread to length that's ok, fully expecting to have to cut them. Ten minutes later she came out of the dark recesses of the store room, plonked a plastic bag of shiny bolts on the counter and asked if it was cash or card. I told her cash and while she was putting my purchase into the system I checked the bolts out. It had taken her ten minutes because she was looking for a perfect match for each screw. I don't know how they make any money with people like me shopping there which is why I always buy more than I need, it came to four hundred and forty five cents. As always when I shop there I was very happy.

I'm off to add more oil to the throttle cables now.
    Happy holidays

I'd think that the started button has got stuck. I recently took my switches apart (delaing with a non start issue when hot, was the trigger coils) And I has surpised how manke the switches were , grease all gone etc etc. BEware sml balls to be lost if not carefull

I know I replaced it, but starter relay?

I pushed the bike out of the living room to test the jets. When I tried to start it. nothing. Just spun without turning over.  I tried it a few times. Fourth try, I let off the starter button. It kept spinning. Flipped power switch, kept spinning. key off, kept spinning. I had to disconnect the ground. to stop the starter. I reconnected the cable and tried the starter again. Same thing. Kept spinning. Wash,rinse, repeat. Ive spent 2.5 years building this bike. Im at the end. Now this!
                                HELP

Quote from: crispy5 on April 09, 2025, 06:04:45 AMAdded stock muffler.

Sent a PM about the muffler!

Quote from: DarkCyDE on December 08, 2025, 05:29:21 PMCheap ebay car fart can. Its providing no back pressure, thus running like chit.
Nice ride. How well does that 140/80/17 clear the rear brake rod?

Mike

Mike, appreciate your input - if it's just cheap eBay junk then I think I'll start looking for stock mufflers. No use trying to slap a band-aid on it if a better and easier fix exists...

Per your question, I don't think I have a pic of the brake rod to show but I haven't noticed any issues thus far. It rides pretty nice and I'm happy with it - it's my first bike so not much to compare it to though! Hoping to put more miles on her in the spring once I've dealt with the gremlins.

Thank you again for your help : )

Cheap ebay car fart can. Its providing no back pressure, thus running like chit.
Nice ride. How well does that 140/80/17 clear the rear brake rod?

Mike

Hi again...so, as always, the more I fix on my bike, the more problems I find...I've honestly been ignoring the exhaust up til now but I'm wondering if it might be contributing to some of my issues. The bike is overly loud and not in a good way- it honestly sounds kind of like a Harley and pops and farts a lot especially on deceleration. I'm just wondering if anyone might know what kind of exhaust this is or how to make it quieter/less awful sounding.. I'm totally down to replace it too, depending on price/noise/etc. Ideally, I'd love to make it as quiet as possible, but for right now I'd just be content finding out what it is so I can research how to mitigate the bad sounds it causes. Thanks

Glad to see a 2025 post! Hopefully you can cobble one of the 500 lugs back together soon

Couldnt wait on an answer so I just went ahead with jb stick grey.
Will let you all know how it turns out
Mike