Here's the progress so far... (it's always a work in progress)






Hopefully they aren't to big. It's late and I don't feel like resizing them...

Here's what I started with a year ago:


Here's the link to the progress photos:
http://www.bikepics.com/members/AvusBlueGS/92gs500/

Whaddya think guys?

The paint looks good.

No fork brace? The factory one is a joke, and you've obviously gone fenderless, but no fork brace at all?

gorgeous!   

WOW looks great !! 

Great color to go with the black frame.  Looks great!

Quote from: DoD#i on August 11, 2008, 07:16:09 PM
The paint looks good.

No fork brace? The factory one is a joke, and you've obviously gone fenderless, but no fork brace at all?

yeah how come, or is that part of the work in progress. if not, id suggest bolting one in place, ( at least a brace that is)

I think the paint looks great! 

...and I think I want your seat!

That seat is a Corbin, and I also have one. It's fabulous!

Does corbin still make seats for GS's? What can happen with no brace at all?

Looks nice!  That seat looks uber comfy.  Might want to paint the crank case cover.  Other than that it looks good.

love the color. looks great.

Very nice bike. I like the paint, the seat and the bars. Very well done.

Mad props! that is a gorgeous bike.  Im really diggin that seat.  And fork brace......me thinks one is needed. May get a little twisty up front.

The 'fork brace' is coming guys. It is still painted the color of the ugly blue 'ghost flames' on the old paint job. My next project is to take apart the front forks, install new seals, paint the lower tubes (as paint has chipped off of them), paint the fork brace, reinstall and be done with the front end.
I'll also be powdercoating the control levers since I don't like anything shiny.
I have bar end mirrors on order, and I'm thinking about new pegs since the right foot rubber thing is falling apart. Either I'll buy all new pegs or I'll duct tape the broken one with some black duct tape. I haven't decided yet.

And my 'last' project for the bike is to rebuild the engine when it needs it. When that happens, I'll repaint the whole engine from the side covers to the little fins to the silver valve cover. And yes, it'll be all black.

I'll keep posting pics when I make more progress.

Nice job MH. Keep it going.

Err, no turn lights?

Fork seals. Yea make sure your forks dont ahve any rust spots or other pits in them ... cos if they do, you might as well save yourself the effort of doing seals, it will leak in minutes anyway.
Cool.
Buddha.

Quote from: SecondsFromTheFall on August 11, 2008, 08:42:12 PM
Does corbin still make seats for GS's? What can happen with no brace at all?

Corbin might ... however I would urge you to find a suzuki Gel seat. The passenger seat too is great on the factory one.
The forkbrace limits how much the left fork leg will get shoved forward under braking ... making the bike turn left ... not having it can make it wobbly under braking.
Cool.
Buddha.

Quote from: The Buddha on August 12, 2008, 07:53:07 AM
Fork seals. Yea make sure your forks dont ahve any rust spots or other pits in them ... cos if they do, you might as well save yourself the effort of doing seals, it will leak in minutes anyway.
Cool.
Buddha.

Surprisingly, this bike has no rust. It's a garage/cover baby and it was just rebuilt completely two years ago. Unfortunately, not to my liking.

As for the fork 'brace'. It's just a thin piece of metal, theortically, it can't do much. And as such, I haven't noticed any weird dip/dive/turning/wobbling since I took it off four months ago. No biggie.

And I don't have turn signals because the turn signal switch on my bike sticks. For instance, if I signal left and then I try and click it back to the middle, the right signal turns on and then I click it back to the middle and the left signal turns on. I dealt with that for a half mile once and I had the signals off the bike the next day. Plus, the over riding factor is that they are UGLY.

I would also measure the forks and see what the diameter is, cos yes seals can leak for no good reason, but usually when the sliders wear ... that's when they leak. I measures several and they all are under the 37 ... so no clue what it supposed to be and how much the seals can compensate for wear.
Cool.
Buddha.

Yes, Corbin still makes seats for GS500s -- pre 2000, that is.
Here's the site:
http://corbin.com/suzuki/gs500e.shtml

$329 plus shipping.
Not cheap, but worth it, though they take some time to break in well.

Trwhouse