I just bought a 2005 gs500f with less than 3k miles, after riding about 300 miles or so the second day of having it, I noticed that there was something leaking pretty heavily out of the fork seal while on the highway, after pulling off I realized the problem, is there a guide to changing them? Perhaps a video?

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Welcome to the site!

You can try searching here on the site for a how-to, and YouTube for videos by BaltimoreGS. And it might be a good time to upgrade fork springs as well if you still have the stock springs inside.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cSYiIl8gQk

Quote from: Big Rich on August 20, 2015, 12:02:43 AM
Welcome to the site!

You can try searching here on the site for a how-to, and YouTube for videos by BaltimoreGS. And it might be a good time to upgrade fork springs as well if you still have the stock springs inside.

Does that raise the height of the bike? I can only tip toe it right now, I'm 5'2 with a 25.5" inseam.

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It won't actually raise the bike per se. Stronger springs will support the weight of the bike and you more while you're on it, so it won't sag as much. And there are ways to lower a bike for a better fit if you don't like it.

5'2", huh? If you're light weight, you might not really need new springs.

I'm about 185# and when I put in my 0.85kg/mm Race Techs, I definitely noticed the front end angled more vertically. I also noticed the reflection from the high beams a tiny bit more.

Chances are, if you're light weight like Rich says, there's not that much sag in your front to begin with, so properly adjusted new springs won't make a huge difference in overall height. But at the same time, if you are light weight, you may honestly not need much stiffer springs than stock.

Do you notice the front end bottoming out often? If you are on the borderline, I'd consider saving the cash for springs for later and just put in slightly heavier for oil now and maybe a couple washers to increase the preload a bit.

Quote from: Big Rich on August 20, 2015, 02:13:55 PM
It won't actually raise the bike per se. Stronger springs will support the weight of the bike and you more while you're on it, so it won't sag as much. And there are ways to lower a bike for a better fit if you don't like it.

5'2", huh? If you're light weight, you might not really need new springs.

I don't mind it being at the height it is, if it raised any, I would have the problem, on hills, backing it up, etc. I'm 135lbs.

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Both my forks were leaking bad. I did follow Boston's video. Very helpful btw. Since it's not my track bike I just went with trans fluid cuz it was sitting on top of my tool box. It didn't raise the bike any.

A quick search on the forum shows the stock spring rate is .60, and if you head over to www.sonicsprings.com they have a spring rate calculator if you want to figure what would be "perfect" for your weight and riding style.

But like I said, you might be just fine as is.

Welcome to the site and congrats on the bike!!

I would tend to agree that you may not need to swap out the springs. I weigh 127 and with new fork seals and 20wt fork oil (stock is 10) it made a nice difference and I am happy with it. The front doesn't bottom out on me anymore woot!

Anyone have any idea where/what kind of fork seals I need? I have between searching based on the model of bike but everywhere keeps changing the model to '01.

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Since I have an 02 GS I just bought my fork seals from an online Suzuki dealer.  The 01-02 seals are different from all other years.  At that time Suzuki listed one number for 89-00, another for 01-02, and a third number for 04-09 models.  Now they list one number to fit all but the 01-02 models.  Not sure about the aftermarket seals but the 01-02 must be least likely to fit any other model year.

That is odd.... I just searched for the seal on Partzilla.com, and they spec the seals for 01-02, but said they fit on later GS500'S outside of the US:

http://www.partzilla.com/parts/detail/suzuki/SP-51153-26F00.html

Also shows the 2014 GW250 as using the same fork seal.

The 01-02 models were the first GSs to get the shields that extend up from the slider to protect the tube from splattered bugs that damage seals.  The 04-06 were the newer Spanish design fork assemblies and parts fiches show different ones for US and for non-US.  The US assemblies use the seals like I described above with all the same except 01-02 but the non-US assemblies use the same seals in the 04-06 as US uses in the 01-02.  Looks like another case of Suzuki using up parts on hand in some models and not others?  If you have a US bike buy the oem parts the fiches listed for US models.  If you buy aftermarket, good luck on GS fork seals.

On that GW250 you mentioned above Rich, it came out heavier than other current 250/300 models more like a 500 weight and we speculated at the time that the frame/chasis were designed for their next 500.  A future GS500 replacement maybe?

I ended up getting the seals from a shop about an hour from my house. I tagged along with a friend who was already heading up that way. Replaced both yesterday, it was a lot more simple than it seemed!

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