Somebody backed into my GS500f today in the parking lot.  I was not anywhere nearby luckily for me.  They took off.  Now I have a bent fork. 

I'm so pissed.

Ugh...sorry to hear this. 

I don't suppose there were any parking lots with video cams around? 

No luck on the cameras.  Plastic seems ok.  Front wheel is definitely not in line with the bars.  Ins. co will be checking it out on Monday.

Hope it's not totalled.  I don't really want to have to search for another bike again.  Just want to ride. 

Though if they do end up replacing the forks, maybe I can get them to slip in some progressive springs?  Would be nice to reduce the dive under braking. 

Hopefully the bars just went a little off center...that's what happened to my GS once, and it was just a matter of re-centering them. 

Quote from: viggen on June 23, 2010, 09:25:43 PM
No luck on the cameras.  Plastic seems ok.  Front wheel is definitely not in line with the bars.  Ins. co will be checking it out on Monday.

Hope it's not totalled.  I don't really want to have to search for another bike again.  Just want to ride. 

Though if they do end up replacing the forks, maybe I can get them to slip in some progressive springs?  Would be nice to reduce the dive under braking. 

You could change the FE entirely, maybe it's a great time to start modding your bike even though it sucks not to ride.

Peace,
Syzygy

Pandy, does that mean that the bars slid to one side or the other in the clamps?  It seems like the whole bar is turned, I wonder if that is what happened?  Would like to believe that, but I think that the top triple was also "off" when I was going straight. 

Syzygy,

Seems like FE swaps tend to require a lot of changes to the bike.... I'm not afraid of changing clamps/forks/brakes, but wouldnt want to mod the frame at all.  Not sure where the posters who called this approach 'involved' were coming from mechanically.  I havent worked on bikes much but have some car work experience from the saab.. Bolts are bolts and lb-ft are lb-ft, right?

I should probably just search rather than ask, but I'll ask anyways and you guys can ignore me if you want to   What is the advantage of changing forks vice just adding the progressive springs and cartridge emulators I've heard so much about?

Thanks,
Ed

PS Saw a nice looking SV650SF for sale that would make a great replacement if the GS gets totaled.  Actually, I guess I wouldnt be 'that' disappointed

Screw progressives, just get stiffer straight-rate sonic springs; they're cheaper and better.  If you're willing to drop a load of cash on emulators, you might as well just save up a little bit longer and do an entire front end swap.

Its poss` your yokes have twisted from being inline with each other,slacken off and try to pull straight.
Combo Jay

When the GS500 falls on one side it almost always puts a twist in the fork assembly.  The bar end hits the ground and stops and then the weight of the bike hits the fork turn stop and stops hard and twists the bar/fork assembly.  Simple fix, just loosen up everything and it all pops back in place.  Rarely anything ever bent except maybe the bar end weight that hit the ground. Loosen the fork triple clamp bolts, the fork brace, and sometimes it's necessary to also loosen the nut on top of the steering stem.  Not going to tell you how many times I've done that but it works.  Even worked on a buddy's SV1000 when he twisted his fork assembly going down when he rear ended me.   

Wow, that's excellent news!  I think the person backed into it from the front while it was parked, but since the bike was stationary, maybe they didnt actually bend anything?

Definately gonna have to give that a try asap.

Thanks GsJack! 

Quote from: viggen on June 22, 2010, 07:41:32 PM
Somebody backed into my GS500f today in the parking lot.  I was not anywhere nearby luckily for me.  They took off.  Now I have a bent fork. 

I'm so pissed.

On july 4th 2006 it happened to me too ... luckily I was near by, caught them, her insurance paid me for the bike. I only got a dinged up tank, some cracks in the guages if I recall. Maybe a busted T/S and scratched engine/side cover. Dont recall, cosmetics I'd call it.
Cool.
Buddha.