Hi all,Passed my bike test a few weeks ago and have finally got the GS on the road! I got my 97 GS500e a few months ago, it has 20,000  on the clock. When i got it it was a bit beat up, rust spots everywhere, leaking tank, Breaks were shot, exhaust needed welded, fork seals leaking, carbs blocked with fuel residue, wiring was a mess too. But for £250 it was more that i had expected! I stripped the bike down, which was surprisingly pain free, only 1 sheared engine mount. Once all apart i fixed all the problems, sprayed the frame, and gave it a general tidy up and checked the shims.

Once all back together i took her for a spin, and it ran great! nice power above 4,000 and easy cruising at 60. Being a small bike it felt nimble through the back roads up here in Scotland, but the suspension, or lack of it, was a problem! as im over 180 pounds in gear, the front end would bottom out under any heavy braking and then stay compressed through the corner, any bump would send the bike squirming! so i've put in some home made preloaders, and maxed the back end, which has stopped the bottoming somewhat.

Unfortunately due to the laws here i have had to restrict the bike to 33hp the bike now tops out at 85mph and overtaking has become a real challenge! to help this i bought a 15 t sprocket, only to realise one was already fitted, so i am waiting on a 14 t replacement now.

I have read a bit about the GS and one mod i wanted to try was the ignition advancement, do you think it would make any difference considering the bike is already restricted? and if anyone here in the uk is looking for a 15t sprocket, or restricting plates i can help!

Quote from: lewis lovie on June 23, 2012, 12:58:49 PM
...Being a small bike it felt nimble through the back roads up here in Scotland, but the suspension, or lack of it, was a problem! as im over 180 pounds in gear, the front end would bottom out under any heavy braking and then stay compressed through the corner, any bump would send the bike squirming! so i've put in some home made preloaders, and maxed the back end, which has stopped the bottoming somewhat.

nice restore work. What did you do about fork oil, btw?
I hope you DID change it. If so, what type did you use, and how much did you fill the forks?

Yeah I read that a heavier oil improved the damping so I took out all the black forkoil and replaced it with ~382ml of ~17.5wt oil. I also slipped the forks up in the yokes by 7mm to try and give a little more response from the front. There is a noticeable difference with all this done, but i still find the front end is too soft and not enough compression damping coming into corners.

Looks like you need to just go ahead and do the front springs and the rear shock off a Katana, R6, SV650, what ever you can find in your budget. The suspension made a huge difference in my bike and I only weigh about 150.

Quote from: lewis lovie on June 24, 2012, 05:22:22 AM
Yeah I read that a heavier oil improved the damping so I took out all the black forkoil and replaced it with ~382ml of ~17.5wt oil. I also slipped the forks up in the yokes by 7mm to try and give a little more response from the front. There is a noticeable difference with all this done, but i still find the front end is too soft and not enough compression damping coming into corners.

your issue is hard braking before corners? !

If you're primarily doing hard riding like that, you definitely need to do a spring swap.


For the record though, I used only  (475-(roughly 125) ~= 350ml) of oil per fork, when doing it by the book, and draining out the old oil. If the little gage on the side of the bottle is to be trusted.

 I definitely think i'll swap the suspension at some point. But as i'm new to road riding i'm going to leave it as is for a while, i'm not at the point where i feel it's dangerously uncontrolled, just that it's maybe not running at its full potential.

As for the oil level, there's definitely not too much oil, as there is no sign of hydraulic lock (I stroked the forks full travel off the bike) and a little more oil is useful for providing a bit more ramp up on the compression (with air pressure). I did think of drilling and tapping a Schrader valve into the top cap and using that to provide abit more air pressure, and effectively stiffen the springs . I've seen it done on other bikes but not much about it in here.

I was looking at swapping the front end, it would provide better damping aswell as stiffer springs. Are there any front end swaps i can do without having to change the front wheel?

Meh, just change the springs. It's an easy $100 bit of work for you, andyou'll probably be happy enough.
The other stuff is too much work and scrounging

http://wiki.gstwins.com/index.php?n=Upgrades.FrontForks

I think that just changing the front springs will give you the feel that you want without all the other hassles that can go with a full swap.

Do just the front springs. You'll notice a huge change in handling.
After that, then decide if you need to change anything else.
For most of us, the stock rear shock is fine (unless it is worn out). Changing the rear preload setting may be enough back there.

Do one change at a time. Otherwise you will have a hard time understanding what each thing did - what made it better or worse. You could do 2 things where one made it better and one made it worse --- you would not know which was good and which was bad. That's why you change one thing at a time.