... to a new GS500, that is! So I got my bike back from the shop today, with the new tires (it took a while cuz there was a shipping error), and then went on a mad wrenching rush. Installed a Katana shock, a 15 tooth front sprocket and a Wileyco exhaust with Srinath flange in about four hours. My thoughts:

Avon AM51/52 tires: Wow. I haven't even been on them long enough to get the preservative gunk off, but the difference in handling was obvious and immediate. Everyone should get off those exedras as soon as possible!

Katana Shock: it's from a '96 model, so kind of old... It's a bit stiffer than then stock shock, though not terribly so. But the character of the travel is different. It feels similar compressing it, but it's more controlled when extending again. On the road, the difference is subtle but there. You don't think to your self "wow, this is handling great" but you do notice just being more comfortable on the bike. It's a little higher, and a little tippier on the sidestand, but the difference is only half an inch or so and nothing needs to be changed.

New sprocket: call me crazy, but I can barely tell the difference. I think doing four mods at once is making hard to distinguish between the effects of each. It's certainly pulling well, but the difference is kind of subtle. (By the way: I remember looking into the sprocket change a few months ago and seeing someone talk about changing the chain tension by sitting behind the bike and pulling the rear wheel while pushing on the swingarm arms with his feet... maybe it was Kerry? Anyway, I found that those two nuts on the back of the swingarm move the tire forward and back as you tighten and loosen them. Noobs like me looking into a sprocket change would do well to notice this rather than become a contrortionist trying to pull the tire by hand (which I did at first...))

Wileyco: well, it was a pain in the @ss cutting the pipe, cuz I did it with a dremel and it's not easy to make a clean cut with a dremel while the pipe is still on the bike (I didn't take the headers off). But that was the hard part. Once I had a clean cut I then got everything on pretty easily. The angle is nice, it fits well. As for the sound: this exhaust is loud. Honestly, it borders on too loud. It's also incredibly low-pitched, hitting notes similar to the hip hop bass lines coming from the blinged out SUVs with spinner rims driving up Fulton St near my apartment.

I never really understood people complaining about how quiet the GS is, cuz it always seems loud at highway speeds... but last week I ended up riding behind another GS (I think it was red, in Southampton, don't know if the rider's on here) and I realized that as loud as the bike seems to me, it's just the engine. The stock exhaust makes almost no sound whatsoever, it's like a scooter exhaust. Well, no more. I think I dig it. It makes it all the more likely that people won't realize it's just a 500... If I had an F nobody could tell.

One big question about the Wileyco though (assuming anyone's read this far): when the bike's on, I can feel air coming out the side of the exhaust. It's nothing to do with the flange; it comes from where the ends of the exhaust are riveted on, in the factory. Did I get a bad Wileyco?  Can other people with wileycos feel this area for puffs of air to see if this is normal? I like my new bike and I don't want to think there's something wrong with it...  

Quote from: miloWileyco: As for the sound: this exhaust is loud. Honestly, it borders on too loud.

One big question about the Wileyco though (assuming anyone's read this far): when the bike's on, I can feel air coming out the side of the exhaust. It's nothing to do with the flange; it comes from where the ends of the exhaust are riveted on, in the factory. Did I get a bad Wileyco?  Can other people with wileycos feel this area for puffs of air to see if this is normal? I like my new bike and I don't want to think there's something wrong with it...  

You think the GS is loud with a wileyco then you should drive or ride in my my car....  nice and mellow until 3500 rpm then shift at 7200 and you can't hardly hear a thing.  did I mention the windows were up


My pipe also leaks a little between the rivets.  Try putting your hand over the tip then feel.

Quote from: miloI remember looking into the sprocket change a few months ago and seeing someone talk about changing the chain tension by sitting behind the bike and pulling the rear wheel while pushing on the swingarm arms with his feet... maybe it was Kerry?

I remember writing about a similar (but opposite) technique for when I need to loosen the chain (because I cranked on those tightening nuts a little too much).  But it involves trying to hold onto the bike (so it won't fall off the centerstand) while I kick the tire to move the wheel forward again.  AFTER I have loosened the tensioner nuts, of course.

Congrats on the "multi-mod" session.  

Yea it will spray your swingarm with carbon, and no the flange isn't above leaking either ... I welded and ground them, many many imperfections and that gasket can only do so much ... it will spray a bit of soot everywhere, and will clog with soot and pretty much stop spewing it ... and yea wileyco rivet holes too ... As long as your gaps aren't big enough to stick a finger through (sorry airbrush) You'd be fine.
Cool.
Srinath.

Ah, that's right Kerry, I got it backwards.

The flange is fine and the gasket, while cheap-looking, is doing its job. It's just the end caps where the rivets are in the pipe itself. I figure either a) it's normal for the design of the pipe and happens on all of them, or b) it's a defect, and why I got the wileyco so cheap in the first place...

It's been riding fine for the ten miles or so I got to do last night, so until things start turning black or exploding I will assume it's okay.  

Forgot to note: I dunno why, maybe because I put a longer, stiffer shock in at the same time, but my centerstand didn't have to be removed. It hits the linkage at the bottom of the shock and never gets closer than an inch from the chain. It has a disconcerting tendency to tap my left heel when I'm riding, but it doesn't seem to be in any danger of getting in the chain's way.

That hitting your left heel is what is wrong ... a swatch of rubber tire where the thing hits linkage will take care of that. Removal of centerstand, is like burning your house down due to a fly getting inside.
The black soot ... yea it will soot up for a few days and then clog up enough and stop.
Cool.
Srinath.

I'm going to weld a stop onto the flange for the center stand.  I can't stand it bumping the bottom of my shoe.