So the front tire is a Dunlop Elite Sp S compound 110/80 V 17, load range: B
And the rear tire is Kenda Challenger 130/90-17 Load range: C.

Would a safe bet just be to get 110/80-17 in this guy to sort of match the rear? http://www.bikebandit.com/kenda-k671-cruiser-st-motorcycle-tire 

Was looking at the wiki and a lot of recommendations have a 140 for the rear, is there a benefit to that? Though they also tend to lean towards 110/70 instead of 80 for the front.

-Wright

Quote from: Wrightboy on May 04, 2011, 10:59:36 AM
Wow, thanks for all the input everyone. 
I'll be heading over to the Schwab this afternoon and hopefully get that tire taken care of today.

Trying to find a new cover, think I might have one lined up.
And I'll change the oil change as soon as I get the oil and filter lol, same with the chain lube.

The only thing left that I'm still nervous about is the tick/hiss in the engine. No one's really said much on it, so I'm assuming this is just kinda normal? I poked around on youtube but I couldn't ever find one that really had the same noise, but I don't know if that's because mine's just old, or the audio just wasn't picking it up.

Anyway, thanks again kinda put me at peace of mind. 

Thanks,
-Wright

Two common issues on GS bikes that make a tick or clacking sound is the valve lash and cam walk.These engines are fully mechanical.The cams press on valve shims and buckets causing valve tap.The other issue is the cam walking around in the head.It causes a bit of a top end knock but so far there seems to be no failures because of it.The only thing locating the cams are the timing chain gears and their side clearance to the cam bearing journals.

Quote from: Wrightboy on May 04, 2011, 12:46:27 PM
So the front tire is a Dunlop Elite Sp S compound 110/80 V 17, load range: B
And the rear tire is Kenda Challenger 130/90-17 Load range: C.

Would a safe bet just be to get 110/80-17 in this guy to sort of match the rear? http://www.bikebandit.com/kenda-k671-cruiser-st-motorcycle-tire 

Was looking at the wiki and a lot of recommendations have a 140 for the rear, is there a benefit to that? Though they also tend to lean towards 110/70 instead of 80 for the front.

-Wright

My old tires were a matched set of Kenda K-671 tires.They are good tires but wear fast.They're also not a very sporty tire.There meant for smaller over seas standard and cruiser style bikes.I really prefer radial tires and the K-671 are bias ply,not that it is a bad thing,just personal preference.

Quote from: kman on May 04, 2011, 07:22:28 AM
3rd is the only gear you should have acceleration in at 60

That's not correct at all. 4th gear will easy cruise you around at 37mph (4,000rpm) and get you to 87mph (9,000rpm). So it Definitely will have acceleration at 60mph - as can be seen on this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pXUfvzSx2k of a GS passing by using 4th gear - and even 5th gear! (Speedo is in kilometers. Divide speed by 1.6 to get miles.)

@Writeboy The engine itself doesn't sound out of the ordinary. I can detect a kind of hiss, as you describe. When You listen to it, where does it sound like it's coming from? Do you have a can of WD40? And before you do your oil - and - filter, read up on it here to make sure you do Not accidentally break off any bolts.

Michael

Quote from: mister on May 04, 2011, 05:28:48 PM

Quote from: kman on May 04, 2011, 07:22:28 AM
3rd is the only gear you should have acceleration in at 60

That's not correct at all. 4th gear will easy cruise you around at 37mph (4,000rpm) and get you to 87mph (9,000rpm). So it Definitely will have acceleration at 60mph - as can be seen on this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pXUfvzSx2k of a GS passing by using 4th gear - and even 5th gear! (Speedo is in kilometers. Divide speed by 1.6 to get miles.)

@Writeboy The engine itself doesn't sound out of the ordinary. I can detect a kind of hiss, as you describe. When You listen to it, where does it sound like it's coming from? Do you have a can of WD40? And before you do your oil - and - filter, read up on it here to make sure you do Not accidentally break off any bolts.

Michael

Holy crap, that's incredible. Yeah there's no way my bike could do that lol. Even at 37mph in 3rd the engine doesn't really respond to the throttle, gotta be doing more like 43-45 if I want to keep accelerating on the switch to 3rd. I wish I could make a vid to show you guys but I have no idea how they have those camera bolted on lol.

Well I went and fired it up to try and hone in the hiss a little more. Made a new noise, to see if it was warmed I tried giving it a little gas, got a big crack that sounded like it came from the engine then it died. Turned it back on, choked it for another minute and it was fine (besides still giving the huge bangs on decel lol). But the hissing seems to be coming from around the spark plugs. Not like around the plugs themselves, but that upper block area. Just sounds like an aerosol can being sprayed inside a big empty pot.

I have WD40 and PB blaster...should be good to go.

-Wright

A quick thought... do you have an air filter?

Lift off the seat and look under the tank. You should see an airfilter there. Best to eliminate this first.

Do you know where the carbs are in the bike?

Michael

Quote from: kman on May 04, 2011, 07:22:28 AM
3rd is the only gear you should have acceleration in at 60

My GS500's must be some other type of bike. I can be going 60mph on the highway in 6th gear and accelerate. Maybe not going up a mountain, but within a couple seconds I am going from 60 to 75 in 6th gear (on level ground)

acceleration is kind of a relative thing.  Once you are at 60 or over none of the gears are going to pull like first does.  Before you say there is not enough acceleration though, you need to be in the right gear.  You should pick up some speed when you hit the throttle in any gear, at any speed below 90-100 depending on wind as long as the rpms are over 3K or so.  I guess I should have said something more like, "you shouldn't complain about your acceleration unless you are using the right gear."

Quote from: mister on May 04, 2011, 05:59:03 PM
A quick thought... do you have an air filter?

Lift off the seat and look under the tank. You should see an airfilter there. Best to eliminate this first.

Do you know where the carbs are in the bike?

Michael

I do, they are just emgo'es pod air filters (props to Buddha for telling me what they are) and I've got a post if the sale sub forum looking for a stock one.



Also, I'm a little confused as to the whole air/fuel mix screw. Is there one on each carb? or is there like a main one? (noob question ) If it's one per carb I think I have virgin carbs that would have to be drilled lol.

This is the idle adjustment screw. It may or may not be bronze colored on yours mine looks like white nylon/plastic

I have a sneaky feeling, if the Hiss isn't from a lack of airfilter, or not properly sealed airfilter, it'll be coming from here. So examine this area Real close. And this is where the WD40 comes into it - with the bike running, spray some WD40 onto the carbs and see if the engine changes note.

Michael

Quote from: mister on May 04, 2011, 10:38:37 PM

This is the idle adjustment screw. It may or may not be bronze colored on yours mine looks like white nylon/plastic

I have a sneaky feeling, if the Hiss isn't from a lack of airfilter, or not properly sealed airfilter, it'll be coming from here. So examine this area Real close. And this is where the WD40 comes into it - with the bike running, spray some WD40 onto the carbs and see if the engine changes note.

Michael

I've been playing with the idle adjustment screw, fired it up tonight and for some reason the bike would randomly rev itself up to around 3.5k and just sit there, no clue why. Was curious about the mix screw to see if I couldn't richen the mix a bit, but it looks like they're filled with some copper or brass or something.

Is there a certain place around the carbs I should be focusing? like the seam around float bowls or something? I'd imagine some might get sucked into the intake so it would change tone then.

-Wright

Pod filters will sound like they hiss as they are sucking more air than an OEM filter. Does the hiss get louder when you rev the bike? If so I am betting it is your pod filters and it is ok.

Quote from: Twisted on May 04, 2011, 11:59:26 PM
Pod filters will sound like they hiss as they are sucking more air than an OEM filter. Does the hiss get louder when you rev the bike? If so I am betting it is your pod filters and it is ok.

You are right about better flow with most after market filters... BUT the hissing isn't really an effect of the increased flow. Stock air boxes are designed very carefully after lots of research, to cancel out unpleasant/unwanted engine noise (like hissing) and all that noise cancellation is lost when you switch to pods.

Quote from: Wrightboy on May 04, 2011, 11:23:51 PM
I've been playing with the idle adjustment screw, fired it up tonight and for some reason the bike would randomly rev itself up to around 3.5k and just sit there, no clue why. Was curious about the mix screw to see if I couldn't richen the mix a bit, but it looks like they're filled with some copper or brass or something.

Is there a certain place around the carbs I should be focusing? like the seam around float bowls or something? I'd imagine some might get sucked into the intake so it would change tone then.

-Wright

Adjust your idle speed when the engine is hot.  Proper idle speed is around 1100-1200 rpm if I recall. It's been a while since I read the specs.

On USA and Canada carburetors, the "idle" (slow speed) air mixture screw is covered with a brass plug.  It is easy to drill (carefully) and pull this plug out, then you have access to your slow speed mixture screw.  Check the wiki for more information on how many turns out (from fully in) and then adjust to suit.

Hissing noise is probably not a concern.  Do spray some WD-40 on the carburetor boots where they join the head and see if the idle speed/noise changes.  If so, then you have an air leak here and can replace the boots.  Otherwise, I'm not sure I'd bother with anything else.

Warmed it up, went out and sprayed it with WD40...no change. Even shot a little starting fluid around with a fairly steady engine. Every now and again it would raise a little, but it would raise up and stay up, which doesn't seem like it would be the fluid, as it would just be a tiny burst then back down to null.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid, really tried to focus the hiss and really I guess it's just more a "sshhhhhhhh" coming from the top of the block with the cylinders, could just be the sound of metal moving?

The ticking though is definitely coming from the bottom inside the black crank case. Like if you put your ear against it you can really feel it. Would this just be the cams rocking around? Hopefully the 300V motul will quiet this a little when it gets here?

So I'm shopping around for tires, figured I should probably try and get both a new front and back. Budgeting around 150$ for the process, but I'm not really sure what sizing I'm after. The wiki says the stock sizes are 110/70-17 front, 130/70-17 rear. But then when they're reccomending tires it's all 110/80 front, 140/80 rear. Would it be safe to mix a  110/80 front with a 140/70 rear?

Was looking at these guys: http://www.bikebandit.com/kenda-k671-cruiser-st-motorcycle-tire But they don't have a 140/80 rear.

Or at the recommendatory of one of the members I could get these pretty cheap, but again the front has 110/80, and the rear is 140/70
http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/3/31/401/18726/ITEM/Shinko-SR740F-Front-Cruiser-Tire.aspx
http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/3/31/401/18727/ITEM/Shinko-SR741-Rear-Cruiser-Tire.aspx

Thanks,
-Wright

This is an air-cooled bike, and it is noisy.  All kinds of mechanical noises come out of 'em where "modern" water cooled bikes are much quieter, in part because of the water jacket and the lack of those deep cooling fins.  If it's a problem, it will show up with other symptoms, too. 

Some of us old-timers like the mechanical noises.  It reassures us that all the parts inside are still moving 

if you are planning on switching back to the stock airbox there is no need to adjust the idle mixture screws.

Quote from: kman on May 05, 2011, 02:39:25 PM
if you are planning on switching back to the stock airbox there is no need to adjust the idle mixture screws.

Yeah hopefully not much longer before I can get one, but I keep having a this hunch in the back of my mind that when I was talking about it he said something about removing "all the emissions crap". Haven't really spoken with him since so I haven't been able to confirm this. Maybe I'll find a large stick and see if it slides down there 

That was my only other reason for wanting to adjust the mix. That and I keep reading that suzuki ships them lean, so I figured it probably couldn't hurt.

-Wright

the idle mixture isn't going to hurt your performance though, the jets determine the mid and high range mixtures.  I would just leave it alone unless someone has messed with it before. 

I don't recall that you said the jets were changed.  If not, it is running pretty lean with those pods.  That would cause "hanging idle" (search).