Hey guys,

I just thought I would introduce myself shortly. I am a Hungarian guy, who lived in Ireland for quite a while. I bought a 13 year old GS500 there with only 6700 miles, used it for commuting and then decided to take it for a bit longer spin. My original idea was to go to Japan through Europe, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, up to Russia somehow, etc.
I was struggling with documents and waited for too long until the winter arrived, so anyways, I am on my way to Nigeria now, in Spain right now

I have a few problems with my GS and I have been searching this great forum for the solution for a while, so be prepared, I might come up with some questions.

In the meantime, here are some pics, you can find more on barothi.com.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/randomway/

Your going to ride a 13 year old GS how far  ?

The brand new seats are terrible, I would hate to think what an old one would be like 

Hope you have a great trip, doing something like that would be awesome.

I've already gone from Ireland through France, Spain and the Alpes to Ukraine and then back to Spain... about 10k miles overall. I put another 10k on the clock in Ireland. No, my seat is alright, the bigger problem is in my neck and wrist on the clutch side. Otherwise it's as good as a 15 grand tourer, only slower

Anyone knows if there is a replacement clutch lever that's not standing out that far so that it wouldn't hurt my wrists that much?

No big problems so far, other than it stops when it rains (my right hand engine cover is broken and water gets in to the pickups I think)... and it runs out of fuel (or feels like it) when going up on a slope on highways or anywhere fast ... it could be a petcock issue as far as I've read up on it so far.

I am riding it off road now in Spain every day, and no bother... as long as there is oil in this thing, and there is no rain, it doesn't stop. 

I'm not sure about a clutch lever with a shorter reach, but when I also thought mine was too far so I put a zip-tie around the clutch lever perch, and it blocked the lever from being able to extend completely when I let it go. Then I had to readjust the clutch cable accordingly, but it worked great. With that rubber boot covering everything you can't really even tell it's there. A small piece of metal wire would probably work just as well.

if you can pickup an sv650 perch you can get an ASV adjustable one

I have some wrist problems, too. I rotated mine up a little and it helped a lot. Loosen the bolt that holds the perch to the handlebar and rotate up or down until it feels better.

Grip the tank with your knees and tighten up your stomach muscles to take the weight off your wrists.  I know we can not do that all day long, but it helps.  In addition to adjusting the clutch perch and clutch cable slack.

Welcome!  Have a good trip!

those are some beautiful pictures randomway.  The photos in the wicklow landscapes were rich in colors

You sir are a very lucky man. Those are some beautiful places you have been on your GS. Thank you for sharing the awesome photos with us  

Good luck with your trip and take care.

Thanks folks!

Yeah, I will try moving the perch around and that zip tie trick sounds really good. A mechanic thought that he would "fix" the big freeplay in the clutch, I have this pain since then... and I just realised that it's since the adjustment.

Anyways, the bike has bigger problems. I think, the exhaust valves are tight or one of them at least. The bike is idling rough and sometimes you can hear a short pssfft sound intermittently instead of the normal burning. The last time I checked the valve clearances, the exhaust ones were already tight but there was still some clearance left... it could be time to change the shims there.
Also, the exhaust note is more and more throaty. The exhaust was hit in an accident, could this be the muffler moving around or holes getting bigger on the pipes? Or could this be an air leak somewhere in or near the carburettor? How would I check if the carbs need rebuilding? I also noticed that the bike runs very lean (leaner than when I bought it). I've read something about washers to be put in, but I need to search for a good description with pictures so that I won't make more mess than use.

It's a headwrecker. Any time I take it to a mechanic, they just look at me. They want me to tell them what the exact problem is, there is no one that would have a look and figure it out.

And just one more question if you don't mind. In Africa petrol will be much worse than here in Europe. Is there anything I should change on the carbs beforehand to prepare it for the shock?

I want to tour like this some day. Judging from the pics of the female and some of your other friends, i'm guessing you are travelling on the bike and they are following you in a caravan or something..(?)
Very nice pics btw.... i'm an amateur photographer myself.

They say the GS500 carbs are set lean from the factory (atleast in the US). With different quality gas from all the different petrol pumps you refill at, it is only natural that your carbs get dirty with regular use which, in turn, makes your air-fuel mix increasingly leaner. To deal with that issue and bad petrol in general, I think a few ounces of a high quality fuel additive (eg:  Techron Concentrate Plus, in the US) and then some fuel stabilizer (US eg: STA-BIL) every tank should keep that motor running good.

If you haven't done valve adjustments recently,try to do it ASAP. It is probably the cause for your tight exhaust valves. Run the exhaust valves with maximum recommended clearance (ie., cam to shim) or a bit over max and it will virtually eliminate the need for the ridiculously frequent valve adjustment schedule recommended by the factory.

As for the levers, you should be able to solve that easily with adjustable levers which bring the lever closer or push them further out compared to stock.

Quote from: randomway on November 24, 2010, 01:35:41 AMAnyways, the bike has bigger problems...The bike is idling rough and sometimes you can hear a short pssfft sound intermittently instead of the normal burning....Also, the exhaust note is more and more throaty. The exhaust was hit in an accident, could this be the muffler moving around or holes getting bigger on the pipes? Or could this be an air leak somewhere in or near the carburettor?

Have you checked to see if you aren't just missing an exhaust header bolt ? Maybe the bolt loosened off somewhere along the way, or the header bolt broke.

I had that happen on a Suzuki VX800 and it did what you are describing - rough idle, strange pssfft sounds and louder exhaust noise.

@tb0lt: No, I am riding alone, no support crew I meet these people in different buildsites. I do voluntary work on the way through www.helpx.net. This way I can settle down for a while in each country and meet the locals and others without spending much.

@SAFE-T: Jeez, there are so many problems on the bike, that I forgot to mention that one One of the exhaust header bolts are snapped into the block (I bought it like that) and I couldn't do anything about it. So that could make the pssft noise.  I asked my brother who is an engineer and he wasn't really optimistic about taking the bolt off, he thought it would be better just leave it as it is for the being. Would this cause the engine to run leaner?

I actually took the bike apart today and had a friend around. It seems that the wiring to the right ignition coil is not perfect, the resistance on the secondary circuit (the one that you measure at the spark plug lead) was much higher than it should have been (190k). I took the tank off this evening, just waiting to get the light back in the morning and I will check the resistance right at the coil. The pickups read 280-290 when cold, I assume that wouldn't change when the engine gets hot... or should I check them hot just in case?

Just to know, what happens if I don't adjust the exhaust valve clearances? Since the tank is already off, I will check them tomorrow and take it from there. The problem is that the nearest mechanic is 20km away and I don't have the tools to replace the shims.

Thanks for the help and comments so far, this site is brilliant!

Having valve clearance too tight will damage valves and seats quickly, leading to expensive cylinder head work. Better to run them a bit loose rather than tight, especially the exhaust valves. A small amount of work adjusting now saves you $$$$$$$$ later!

Thankfully the valve clearances are still within spec and the ignition system had no faults. All I could find was a lot of dirt and loose rubber seals in places. I just pulled rubber gloves over the ignition coils and insulated some places with instant gasket. I think, water just got in and that's why I had problems in rain.

Taking off the tank was really useful. I found that one of the caps on the carburettors (the ones where you connect to balance the carbs) were missing. I put a small stick in and hey presto, the bike runs great!

I got the idea about this cap from this forum by the way.

if you are losing fuel at high speed, just turn it to prime so the flow is not impeded by the vacuum vavle