Ive been looking at various mods to do to my bike to get it set up  ready for summer

Firstly my bike will need a set of new tyres by early spring and was looking at a 120/70-17 for the front and a 140/70-17 for the rear my question is will these tyres fit the standard rims and will it handle better than on standard rubber or will it make the bike handle fruity?? and finally will the  120/70-17 tyre catch the mud guard??


Second im looking at the katana 600 rear shock conversion . Is it literally a straight swop for the gs500s shock?? Is the centre stand still usable ?? as i heard it raises the ride hight? And what  are the pros and cons of this mod??


Third gs500f headlight on a 05 naked . Im from the uk so have no idea what brackets were used and if the actual headights wiring is plug and play with both headlights??

And finally is there a full stainless steel bolt kit for the bike?? Rusty bolts look wank and i want to swop them all to stainless to better the apearance of the bike.

Cheers in advance for your replys

Anyone

Ive been looking at various mods to do to my bike to get it set up  ready for summer

Firstly my bike will need a set of new tyres by early spring and was looking at a 120/70-17 for the front and a 140/70-17 for the rear my question is will these tyres fit the standard rims and will it handle better than on standard rubber or will it make the bike handle fruity?? and finally will the  120/70-17 tyre catch the mud guard??
Seems some people change tire size, but stock size rides really well.

Second im looking at the katana 600 rear shock conversion . Is it literally a straight swop for the gs500s shock?? Is the centre stand still usable ?? as i heard it raises the ride hight? And what  are the pros and cons of this mod??
Someone else can say. But first change the fork springs. That will improve the ride more than changing the rear shock. If you change the shock and leave the crappy OEM springs in the front, you'll be nose diving a lot.

Third gs500f headlight on a 05 naked . Im from the uk so have no idea what brackets were used and if the actual headights wiring is plug and play with both headlights??
OEM headlight brackets for the 7" round headlight are readily available. Check your local bike breakers for a set. Brackets from any year GS500 will work.

And finally is there a full stainless steel bolt kit for the bike?? Rusty bolts look wank and i want to swop them all to stainless to better the apearance of the bike.
Check ebay. There are a couple guys in the UK that have SS bolt kits for the GS500.

Cheers in advance for your replys

Kat shock is drop in. If you are under 200 lbs the R6 shock is the softer of the two common shock replacements. Kay shock holds up really well with heavier folks or when riding with a passenger + luggage. The katana was a heavy bike after all.

Mm yup. .. I'm about 295 lbs geared up now.... and have a Kat shock,  initially had it preloaded to 5 .. too stiff for my taste. . Now on 2 and it's silky... might go 4 if pillion? ... stock shock was always on 7 ans still sucked!

I reckon if you are under 250lbs and regular solo rider then go r6 shock.   The Kat one is great! ... but bloody stiff!

sent by willpower and a phone

Oh and as addy said. . Forks! .. sonic springs! ... richDesmond owns sonic springs and can sort you out perfectly!

sent by willpower and a phone

So recap


Stock tyres best  but if i want to go up in  width by 1 size for both wheels would it be direct fit with no mods?

Katana shock is best for me being over 250 pounds geared up.
Uprate front forks as well as change shock.

Gs500f headlight fits onto the standard round headlight brackets??

Cheers

Quote from: Crasm on February 25, 2014, 06:52:45 AM
Stock tyres best  but if i want to go up in  width by 1 size for both wheels would it be direct fit with no mods?

From what I've read on these forums, most 140mm wide rears will fit without mods; 150mm will fit, but you need to bend the brake torque bar a bis so the tire will clear.

Quote from: Crasm on February 25, 2014, 06:52:45 AM
Gs500f headlight fits onto the standard round headlight brackets??

The F headlight housing is designed to attach to the front cowling with 2 screws.  I've seen some threads where people used the F housing on a naked front end; but they did have to do some modifications to the housing to secure it.

Quote from: Crasm on February 25, 2014, 06:52:45 AM
Katana shock is best for me being over 250 pounds geared up.
Uprate front forks as well as change shock.

Gs500f headlight fits onto the standard round headlight brackets??

Upgrade springs - mandatory.
Rear shock: optional. I run all my bikes with 0.85 Sonic Springs in the front and stock rear shock.

F headlight mounts to the fairing with at least 4 screws on plastic tabs. That does not mount well as a naked bike headlight. To go naked you can get stock headlight brackets and a stock (or aftermarket) headlight that mounts on the stock brackets for a 7" round headlight.

You'll have to get a bracket that can be bent to fit the GS500F headlight. You will also have to drill two holes into the headlight so that you can mount it to the brackets.

I can provide pictures if you need them.