So I saw this gs500 on craigslist, and I thought, "man, why does that bike look so much more badass than my gs500?" 





At first I thought, it's gotta be the chopped rear, but then again, there's lots of chopped rear bikes that don't look that good, so it couldn't be that.

Then I noticed that the front forks were dropped a bit, and the front fender was removed (both things that I have thought about doing before, because I thing it just looks better).

But after comparing it to this picture, I'm convinced that the main reason the bike looks more badass is that the front turn signals have been removed.




So, in a roundabout way, I guess my question is, who has removed their front turn signals, and what, if anything, did you replace them with.  Pics are always helpful, too.

 There are tons of lower profile options out there for turn signals. I believe Buell turn signals are one of the easier ones and they look pretty good.

If you're gonna remove them, make sure you know the laws in your state/country. Here in Virginia they're not required, but I'm sure in other states they are.

I used these Bikemaster turns front and rear. You can barely even see them.

 Are the Bikemasters a simple replacement? I suck at electronics and looking at wiring diagrams, but I'd love to get some of those.

Plug-n-play. They have the correct metal connectors on the ends. I didn't even have to remove the headlight housing, just the actual headlight to access the wires.

 Just to be sure, are they one of these models?

http://bikemaster.com/led_signal.html

or one of their universal ones?

No, there are incandescent. Part number 26-6010:
http://bikemaster.com/mini_stalk.html

Got them here:
http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/1/4/70/14875/ITEM/BikeMaster-Universal-Ultra-Small-Mini-Stalk-Turn-Signals.aspx?WT.ac=SLIsearch

dont forget the red calipers. red = super sporty

pretty much the cheapest performance mod out there.

Looks to me like someone got 1/2 done and put it in the garage to finish later !!.


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Sad. 

One wonders why someone took a perfectly good bike and went to so much work to turn it into a POS.

Quote from: Funderb on October 07, 2012, 08:19:06 AM
... pretty much the cheapest performance mod out there.

Don't want to argue, but it's well-known that riding without a helmet makes you go faster -- don't even have to buy the red  paint  .

It's also almost completely blacked out, which always looks pretty awesome IMO, too.  But that would way too much work I think.

There aRe cheap, black and low profile...

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.ca/viewitem;PdsSession=3cee2a4113a0a47a12343c24fffe375f?itemId=290756638009&index=2&nav=SEARCH&nid=87140272196

Quote from: adidasguy on October 07, 2012, 11:23:21 AM
Sad. 

One wonders why someone took a perfectly good bike and went to so much work to turn it into a POS.

Different strokes. I think it looks awesome.

side note: you have to be careful with your blinkers, in florida, FDOT requires that blinkers be at LEAST 9" apart.

Its a weird ass law, but a jerk cop can bust you for it. Keep state and local laws in mind when customizing.

I think my favorite is the speedo cable just laying on the floor beside/underneath the bike.

Side note to adidasguy: I'm with you, but without a chain, that thing isn't going ANYWHERE under it's own power...

Let's not overlook the MISSING fork brace on that turd; best way to make the handling SUCK without covering the tires with lard. I've installed a fork brace on every street bike I've owned since 1983 (thank you, Telefix!), but the jerky-boys remove them out of ignorance or stupidity, which proves that they're only posers. Many of them putt around pretending to be bad-ass bikers, but they only fool themselves; you can't ride a motorcycle anywhere near the limits when the forklegs aren't working together.

Back in the day, those old (heavy, ugly) steel motorcycle fenders functioned as fork braces, which I learned the hard way. Running my SOHC '76 CB550 in a practice session (in 1982) without the front fender (damaged in a crash) nearly spit me on my head, scared the cr@p out of me, and taught me a valuable lesson. I went back to the pits and borrowed a fender from a guy who had ridden his CB550 to the track that day; I finished installing it just before the race started, placed fourth (behind three SOHC CB750's), then returned it to the owner so he could ride home safely. The guy who loaned me the fender was the cousin of the guy I passed in the last corner (riding a '79 SOHC CB650), and he got an earful about not "helping the enemy" in the future...

The GS5 fork brace is cheap and better than nothing, but a good rigid brace stabilizes the front end and allows the GS to be ridden closer to the limits. You can run a GS without a fender, if that floats your boat, but at least have the sense to install the fork brace and allow the forklegs to work together, not fight one another. I realize that most people don't know sh!t about the basic laws of physics, but fork braces are there for a REASON...

In the same vein, there is a damn good reason why front brake calipers are now mounted BEHIND the axle; look at the original 1969 CB750, or the original KZ900, or indeed ANY front-disk brake equipped bike of that era and you'll see that calipers were mounted in FRONT of the axle back then.  One of the claimed reasons for this was to aid in cooling the brake by putting it into the airstream, but it wasn't long before racers began switching the fork legs around so they could mount the brake behind the axle, which greatly improved handling. We take front caliper placement for granted now, but it was a subject of much bench-racing 40+ years ago. One bunch insisted that the brakes needed to be in the airstream AHEAD of the axle for better cooling; we can all see which group prevailed in the years since then.

Don't get me started about homogenized milk...

Another sidenote to adidasguy: Want to loan me a running GS for the next five years? That's probably how long it's going to take me to rebuild mine and get it back on the road, due to an extreme shortage of disposable funds... never mind, Seattle is a LONG walk from here, and I'm a tired old man with athritic knees...

Hmm. "Why does it look so good?" 
Presumably because you were drunk-craigslisting, stoned-craigslisting, or you have terrible taste.

If the latter, you too can ruin your perfectly decent (I presume) bike - or make your horrible bike more horrible until it meets or exceeds this POS's level of excrescence. Or you could do the entire community of GS fans a huge favor by buying the massively awesome bike advertised and selling yours without first ruining (oh, wait, I mean "massively awesomeizing") it, thus limiting the number of perfectly decent bikes that get ruined, since that one is already F.U.B.A.R. (Fantastic Unbeliveable Bike All Righty, I mean, perhaps.)

You should come out money ahead, too. That will help pay for the tickets. No brake light either, always a winner. 

maybe it looks bad ass/custom because of the backwards mounted front tire?
inoperable brakes?
missing shifter?
missing chain?
incredibly uncomfortable seat angle?
red necked sub frame?
red necked tag ( lol hanging off exhaust pipe?)?
or any of the other 20 missing maintenance items like greasing the wheel bearings ... stem bearings.... swing arm pivots..... you know, stuff that takes more time and knowledge than a can of flat black.

I think the bike looks pretty good.  What's the Craig's List link?  How much are they asking?