(Kerry !) is that your surname dude ?

Quote from: Garethbourne on November 21, 2007, 02:42:07 PM
(Kerry !) is that your surname dude ?

Nope ... that would be "Burton".  Both of which show up in various place names and histories in the UK I imagine. 

Kerry, the biting point on the GS's clutch is real low, bike starts to pull away just after you releas the lever a a lttle, would that be an ajustment do you think ?

I've always had to ease the clutch out slowly and keep up the RPM's, and that's even on mine which puts out about 49hp to the rear.  It's not going to rocket you anywhere but it's fairly quick and the handling is great on tight canyons. 

Quote from: Garethbourne on November 21, 2007, 03:04:29 PM
Kerry, the biting point on the GS's clutch is real low, bike starts to pull away just after you releas the lever a a lttle, would that be an ajustment do you think ?

Hmmm ... define "a little". 

The Haynes manual has you set the clutch lever freeplay (as shown below) to somewhere between 10 and 15mm.  As I recall, the Clymer has you measure the gap at the other end of the lever instead, with a measurement of something like 3 or 4mm.  (Sorry - my Clymer is currently on loan.)

Of course, this check is done with the bike off.  Over the 10-15mm range you should feel NO resistance from the actual clutch mechanism.  As soon as you do, that's where you take the measurement.



If you need to adjust the freeplay, you can refer to the (pretty poor) 1 minute video on my website, or you can probably find some great GStwin posts with a search.

restricting the lil GS is retarded, which is why I love Cali no inspections for motorcycles and no restrictions  .

think i have sorted out the clutch, slackend the cable of, then undid the lock nut, and turned the screw in the centure until it met resistance, then backed it of a little, tightend the lock nut back up, and adjusted the cable, now the clutch lever is about 2 thirds of the way out when it is fully engaged insted of about 5 mm from the bar grip ! not to sure about the best way to test clutch, so i warmed up the motor, and put the front wheel against a wall and  i got no clutch slip, ( lots of wheel spin, lol) but no slip, so it cant be to far out now, right ?
All i need is the bloody rain to stop for a while so i can give it a good run,

Could it be your bike is running lean?


I tired riding my bike with a K&N airfilter but with stock jets and the engine would not go past 6,000RPM

how is the progress? did you figure it out?? did you fix the problem with lack of power??

Hi, not sure whether I have been giving the GS a fair chance,the last parallel twin I road was a CB 400N and that was many years ago, but I always seem to remember it as been a nippy motor, back then, having said that, we do tend to remember selectively, lol , I remember getting an RGV 250 about 5 years ago, and I thought to myself, wow, it will be just like going back to my college days, but after owning the RGV for only a few months, I soon started to remember all the shaZam! that comes with having a two stroke motor, lol. most of my bikes have been 4 cylinder 16 valve motors, and in the case of the FZR it had 20 valves, admittedly most have been twice the size motor to the GS, but I did have an old GPX 400 and it went very well, top speed around 115, but it got you there very very fast, with surges of power at various rev ranges, the GS I suppose is just a sporty looking commuter, so expecting it to have any va va voom, is a little optimistic, lol

The GS is fast , but not compared to other sportier bikes , it's got healthy mid range but having 2 valves it lacks in the top end .

People tend to get bored with it's engine on the straights without realizing the real fun in the twisty stuff , it is a commuter basically

but one with a stiff frame , get suspension sorted and it becomes a real corner carver.

You had an RGV250 so you know how to carry corner speed with 2 strokers, so you do with GS although it's a 2 valver instead 

I've been riding mine for 7 years now , and although I want something faster ,every time I ride it I have tons of fun,

you just have to keep it in good shape   

Thought about getting new front sprocket with I extra tooth on it, to give the GS a little more top end, but you are right it is a good bike for the corners.

110 MPH is not enough top end??

by adding one tooth in front you will totally kill the acceleration plus you won't be able to utilize all range of RPM. Usually people go down 1 tooth on front sprocket to get quicker acceleration and to be able to use whole RPM range.
just my $0.02
KaMeL

I have a kawasaki zxr, and as everyone knows kawasaki's are all about top end. Nothing exciting happens till about 10k rpm but then it tears along at light speed up to the 14700rpm redline. I love my bike because its light and flicks through corners quick and grips the road like nothing else but i must say its really useless for commuting or riding round the country roads by me. Its great when you get on the fast B roads its where it should live or on a race track, but its not got enough torque for riding the windy backroads.

Top end isn't fun, its not useable and you have no torque going up a tooth. Im hoping to swap my bike for a Supermoto or Duc Hypermotard because that ladies and gentlemen, is where its at!

Hey, how's it going, right, I rode the GS this morning and at about 145 MPH it starts to splutter, then I have to shift into top gear, is that the rev restrictor kicking in, lol, only joking!!!(be lucky if the GS gets you to three figures!!!)
I have noticed that when the motor begins to scream, if you hold the throttle open  for just a little longer, it seems to change engine tone and you get a slight boost in power, does that sound about right, for the GS?

Ehh nope, GS has a pretty flat power delivery without any bumps through out the rev range ,

so make sure your valves are good ,valve adjustment makes immediately noticeable difference,

once the valves are in check you can start blaming the carbs for any irregularities 

There is a little valve noise, bit like a very light metallic sound, but as I say it is very very light noise, anyway I thought the valves where hydraulically operated and adjusted themselves, for so long, then you needed to buy valve shims. I think the biggest issue with the GS is the fact it only as a 4 valve head, even the old CB 400 N had a 6 valve head, lol,