For a few different reasons, I decided to garage my bike early this winter.

I've got a lot of stuff planned, and a lot that I just haven't gotten around to doing to the GS; including Race-Tech springs at the Kat wheel sitting in my garage collecting dust.

This is my ongoing thread of my progress this winter, and it will document everything I'm doing to the GS. I've got a LOT of work to do, and I'm finally going to be finding the time again to do some wrenching!
It's very exciting 


I've got a ton of stuff planned, but I'm keeping that to myself for now; you'll be able to see my progress here with pictures.




The first step was ditching the F-model farings. I love fared bikes... but the F- farings dont do the GS500 ANY justice. They sort-of make it look like a sportbike... but you put it up next to SS bikes & it just doesnt look right. Suzuki could have done much better I think. A great thing about the GS is it's so damn thin. The farings hide this. I took them off, looked at the GS from the rear, and it was a night & day difference. It is so damn slender and sexy. 

So they're GONE!

well.... in my garage until someone buys them.


With these finally gone I'll be able to do most of my work. My bike is naked right now with the tach/speedo and bars dangling. Finally I can get wrenching on that front end!


I'll give you guys some pics next time.

Naked bikes are sexier.

Nice work.

looing forward to the progress. btw, what is this winter thing you speak of?

Quote from: pantablo on October 07, 2006, 09:38:57 PM
looing forward to the progress. btw, what is this winter thing you speak of?

Cockface!


[that fulfills my daily quota set by Mak...]


I've only got another 2 months of riding this season...

I've got 2 months till the really good track weather. then a few days of rain, then the start of the trackday season again....

I hate you.

not much of an update but I just wanted to throw this out there:

http://stores.sportbiketrackgear.com/Categories.bok?category=%3E+CLIP+ONS%3AWOODCRAFT

These guys have outstanding prices for clipons; especially woodcraft (only $140?!?!). They have another set that rise a pretty good amount for all you F-model riders that are interested. I think they're around $200. Those are pretty expensive though.

I'm probably going to order a set of clipons off this site this weekend as soon as the ebay auctions end & paypal puts the money into my account. I'm gonna call 1st though & see what they're all about, & if they actually have them instock.




The bike is coming along good so far. I'd post a pic but it's pretty much just torn down some. I'm waiting for the farings to go so I can really dig into it. All I really got done yesterday was an oil & filter change. It's so much easier without the damn farings in the way...

Quote from: pantablo on October 07, 2006, 09:49:11 PM
I've got 2 months till the really good track weather. then a few days of rain, then the start of the trackday season again....

getting dam cold in the great white north eh!!!! screw this living in calli 

We had a high of 47 today.  Low near 30. 

Oh, and. . .

naked bikes suck!!!

bah...I ride til there's ice on the road.

Quote from: Jake D on October 12, 2006, 11:18:34 AM

naked bikes suck!!!

get out of my thread 





well one cant hurt. Still just tearing it down...


I wanna get the Race Tech springs in first, and then the fun begins!

...and yes my toolbox is no longer a soggy mix of shoebox/tools in a pile on the floor. 

took the forks off today, only to find that the seals now need replacing too.... crap

Ok a little update.
It's been a few days figuring out what the hell to do with the fork seals. Bikebandit lists fork seals for the 04+ models as $25 PER seal. All older models were about $10 per seal. HUGE difference. Their part #s for each year are so all-over the place so there is really no way of matching the two. My guess was that it's a scam. The forks & internals havent changed in about 20 years to my knowledge. But wtf do I know. I asked here & on the UK site, and got more pushes in the direction that they are all pretty much universal.

So I ordered some seals today from bikebandit for the 2002 model GS. They are listed individually, so the price came out to about $27 shipped. I still think I saved myself $30, but we'll see when they get here. Keep a heads up for some new forkseals in the FS section 

Anyways, the bike is in even more pieces. I test fitted the Katana wheel out of boredom & it was a sinch. I think the difficulty of this mod is about the equivelant of changing the oil.... When I actually get some money I'll go ahead and order a set of rubber. I've got all winter & putting new tires will probably be the last thing I do. 

I also figured that since I was on such a roll ordering online, that I'd go ahead & order a set of these from the website I listed above. I did it over the phone after checking that they were actually in stock, customer service was great, & I saved myself about $8. The woodcraft CFM site lists them in the mid-$140s, and for some reason parts411 has them for about $185

I asked woodcraft about them & they have a 7degree down-angle, which is "ideal for most sportbike racers"   
They're going to throw me over the front end a lot more, but I actually like that. I get more feedback & control out of it, but to each his own....

slow to progress lately. 

unfortunatly working on my bike is on the backburner until I get some critical things done in the next two months. I'm not gonna bore u all w/ the details of my life, but I have been able to get some research done. The headlight is going to be the big mod.

someone in a different forum is streetfightering his 600RR, and is putting one of these on his bike:

http://www.acerbis.com/p107_headlight/3002.html

note: here is a link to all of their headlights/taillights: http://www.acerbis.com/p107_headlight/p107.html

they're pretty neat I guess. Acerbis is primarily a dirtbike company, but this unit us pretty much universal because it mounts onto the forks instead of the steering stem. I figured worth posting here because it IS an alternative. They have a few different styles of headlight assemblies if you check out the site.

Search for acerbis on ebay & you can find pics of them installed on different bikes. I think it's a bit much.... and they're only crappy halogen bulbs. My idea is much muuuuuch better, but will take some crafting to figure out the best way to mount it & protect it from the elements... not to mention get it to work. But more on that when the time comes.

on another note the clipons have finally arrived, but I am STILL waiting for the damn fork oil seals from bikebandit. Once I get those damn seals I can take apart the forks, change the seals, install the race tech springs & oil, and put it all back together with the clipons installed. Right now my bike looks like the above pic, minus the forks, the Kat rim test-fitted, and surrounded by Bud Light bottles...

wow I havent updated this thread in a while...

anyways. since my last post I've moved from a place with a grage, to an appartment, so the bike is at my sister's house about 20 minutes away from me.

needless to say, I dont get to tinker with the bike everyday now... 

spring will be here soon, & hopefully it'll be all back together by then.


anyways, as soon as I got the whole front end together (springs, clipons, etc) a killer deal for this ZX-7 front end landed in my lap:




The forks were set up by GMD Computrack, and it includes the GMD machined triples.
hopefully everything will work out & I'll get it!
plus a penseke race monoshock, and maybe someother stuff.

If nobody buys the bike whole, this guy'll be parting everythign out.

till next time....



... I just noticed from the pic- it looks like this has the Woodcraft split clip-ons as well.... sweet!

Things have been in limbo for a little while, but they should be picking up pretty quickly.

I'm picking up the parts package in VT on Sunday, and will hopefully install it Monday night; we'll see.

I am not getting the Penseke race shock. I think it was an SV650 shock & the owner is keeping it. I do still have my GSX-R rear shock installed.

I AM getting:

-two Bandit 400 4" wheels.
-two ZX-7 wheels.
-one set of very slightly used Pilot Sport Tires (mounted).
-one set of Rain tires (mounted).
-Full GMD ZX-7 USD Front End, wheel to clips w. GMD machined triple trees & SS lines.

crappy pics to follow...

*excited*

Sounds awesome, post those pictures up!

seriously.. I wanna see this new front end!

Ok here are a few pics of the new front end.

I'll start with the extra wheels I got. Two Bandit400 wheels, and one zx-7 front (the other is on my bike). The black wheel is going on my bike as soon as I get it cleaned up some. Lighting in this one sux:



Here is a pic of the top triple that was machined by GMD. Some sticker glue on there that I gotta clean off, but it's friggin sweet. You cant see from the pic, but the steering stem was also custom made, as well as the lower triple:



Here is a close-up of the front. The steering stops on the bottom triple are drilled offset & very much adjustable. The resevoir is a bit banged up, well, the whole master cylinder assembly is; so I'll be getting a new one shortly. Ignition will have to be remounted, as well as the guages. I'll be keeping the stock tach, but getting a cheap digital speedo somewhere:



Front again:



The front fender had a bunch of stickers on it. I got most of them off, but it still needs to com off & be cleaned up a bit:



One of the calipers:



That's all for now