Quote from: MichaelM3 on February 27, 2017, 03:26:25 PM

Also, any thoughts on replacing fuel lines? They appear to be in good condition but they are 10 years old.

I would advise going for the OEM fuel lines. They are not cheap, but they are the right size and correctly flared and high quality. Well worth it in my opinion. They are different sizes on each end. Make sure you get the OEM spring clips to go with it.

The weather was cold yesterday, but it was nice enough to roll the bike out into the driveway to put my new front turn signals on. While I had the fairings off I noticed one of the hoses for the PAIR system was disconnected, so I put that back on. It starts and idles cold much better now, and it's a lot quieter.


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Quote from: user11235813 on March 12, 2017, 12:29:53 AM

Quote from: MichaelM3 on February 27, 2017, 03:26:25 PM

Also, any thoughts on replacing fuel lines? They appear to be in good condition but they are 10 years old.

I would advise going for the OEM fuel lines. They are not cheap, but they are the right size and correctly flared and high quality. Well worth it in my opinion. They are different sizes on each end. Make sure you get the OEM spring clips to go with it.

Thanks for the advice. I don't mind spending the extra dollars if it makes fitting easier and cleaner. As this is a job I'll be tackling myself, the extra I spend on parts is easily covered in the savings in labour costs.

You won't regret it. Every time you take the tank off you'll be happier. FFIW, it's easier to leave the lines attached to the tank and remove them from the petcock, which you can unbolt to make it easier, then pull the hoses through with the tank. I took some shots of what the ends of the OEM hoses look like, they also come with braided nylon protection as well.

Quote from: MichaelM3 on March 12, 2017, 07:58:18 PM

Quote from: user11235813 on March 12, 2017, 12:29:53 AM

Quote from: MichaelM3 on February 27, 2017, 03:26:25 PM

Also, any thoughts on replacing fuel lines? They appear to be in good condition but they are 10 years old.

I would advise going for the OEM fuel lines. They are not cheap, but they are the right size and correctly flared and high quality. Well worth it in my opinion. They are different sizes on each end. Make sure you get the OEM spring clips to go with it.

Thanks for the advice. I don't mind spending the extra dollars if it makes fitting easier and cleaner. As this is a job I'll be tackling myself, the extra I spend on parts is easily covered in the savings in labour costs.

Bah... Idk why but I can't see the pic    Really want to cuz I'm thinking I'll go this route when I replace my lines again this year.

Oh and +1 to user's way of removing the tank and hoses!

Here's the direct link SBW http://s7.postimg.org/q8kq12pmz/GS500_fuel_lines.jpg I posted it previously in a thread about fuel lines.

The tank removal idea I got from a you t00b vid https://youtu.be/jIL0eMzRPF8?t=1m33s

Quote from: ShowBizWolf on March 12, 2017, 09:46:05 PM
Bah... Idk why but I can't see the pic    Really want to cuz I'm thinking I'll go this route when I replace my lines again this year.

Oh and +1 to user's way of removing the tank and hoses!

Thank you!!

It never occurred to the thing that advertises itself as my 'brain' that the fuel lines would be different sizes at the ends. That explains the number of posts on this forum by people having grief fitting generic or after-market fuel lines.

And @user011235813 (should I say Mr Fibonacci?) thanks for the picture. Great work and great advise.

Do you have any more pics of 'em? I'm curious to see what the braided part(s) look like. Added it all into my cart on motosport for payday!

@SBW, I don't have any more photos but I can say that the hoses are bent and reshaped, the braiding is just a nylon wrap sort of like those Chinese finger traps except finer. Another point about the OEM lines with the OEM flat spring clips is that the hoses will fit next to each other at the tank end because the two nipples are very close together. I paid $AUD 150 for a set, you'd prolly pay much less in the USA but you won't regret it.

@MichaelM3, yeah I figured that 'hey this is the fuel hose, do I really want a problem with it'? Fibonacci, you got it. I saw all the difficulties people have had fitting them, but I didn't realise till I installed them how much less hassle it really is. With the nipples at different sizes on end is going to be either too loose or very tight. Plus I find the very thick rubber of the OEM hoses reassuring.

It's not really for my bike, but for me when riding it, I ordered a red AGV K5 Hero and an RST R-16 jacket in black. All in £331.48 

Chris

My new (to me) '01 front end came in, so I removed the damping rods (omg so easy) and prepped them for drilling for the emulator install the next time I'm at work. I also ordered up new seals and dust covers for the forks for when I re-install. Tires and valve tool came whilst I was away, so that's next on the list.

Dropped new tires off at the LMS to have 'em mounted and balanced. Removed old valve shims, calculated new shims and ordered.

- sq

Swapped my Buell over to GP shift.  Because why not?

 Took all my fairings off to fix a crack in the fairing with JB plasic weld and fixed the pushed through turn signal from a little oppsie at a stop sign with some dirt and gravel in the road.  Decided to get the hose and greased lightening out and clean all the road sludge that was hiding as well while they were off.  Cold AF outside.  Was 72 degrees here all last week and today it barely broke 30.  I must be just plain stupid to wait till the coldest day i could find to get motivated.  But, having the day off work made me think I should strike while the iron is "hot".  Or just barely above freezing anyways.

Quote from: Watcher on March 15, 2017, 02:27:32 PM
Swapped my Buell over to GP shift.  Because why not?

Very interesting man. I'm interested to know how you feel about it now and again after using it a while. For myself, I can imagine it being extremely awkward trying to get used to shifting in the opposite direction.  The advantages are clear in certain situations but that would require me to completely rewire my brain,   Would be reallllly weird for the first several rides. Was it as simple as just repositioning your shift rod or a bit more in depth? Very cool mod  buddy   *high five*

Quote from: SirHansford on March 15, 2017, 10:05:23 PM

Quote from: Watcher on March 15, 2017, 02:27:32 PM
Swapped my Buell over to GP shift.  Because why not?

Very interesting man. I'm interested to know how you feel about it now and again after using it a while. For myself, I can imagine it being extremely awkward trying to get used to shifting in the opposite direction.  The advantages are clear in certain situations but that would require me to completely rewire my brain,   Would be reallllly weird for the first several rides. Was it as simple as just repositioning your shift rod or a bit more in depth? Very cool mod  buddy   *high five*

Switching it over was really simple, at least in the case of the Buell because it has a linkage.  All you do is reverse which side the linkage attaches to the shift shaft.  For a GS it would be impossible without also switching to rear-sets, since the shifter directly bolts onto the shift shaft.

How I feel about it?  Meh.  It wasn't that hard to wrap my brain around it, I did have a few mis-shifts and a few 2nd gear starts, but after a couple of minutes around the block I had it figured out.  In an emergency I might naturally default to what I've been using for the past 7 years, but I don't think it's that hard to relearn.

The advantages to GP shift are pretty clear.  That being said, for street strategies it's completely unnecessary and potentially detrimental.  For one, you aren't focused on pure acceleration on the street so knocking 1/10 of a second off your upshift isn't really something you need to be concerned about.  Also, something that probably never happens on the track that DOES happen on the street is emergency stopping.  When you emergency stop, and I teach this to new riders, the easiest thing to process is "Both hands squeeze, both feet press."  Clutch in, brakes on, downshift, all super fluid.  If you have both hands squeezing, one foot pressing, and one foot lifting, it seems less stable and less controllable when your adrenaline strips away your fine motor control.

Reasons to do it:  You track frequently, but infrequently enough to not form a habit, so you mirror your track setup on your street bike to reinforce your track habits.
Reasons not to do it:  You don't track.  Or you track frequently enough to form a habit on that particular riding position and can separate it when riding a more upright bike (maybe), or ride so many bikes so often that it doesn't matter what shift pattern is used, you can handle it.

Drilled the damping tubes in prep for assembly. Just waiting on the rings/seals at this point.

Finished the valve job as far as I can until I track down the last shim. It's in tolerance though, so no worries running it. G/F and I also re-torqued the head...bolts 1-4 were all loose with 5-8 being above spec, so I'm guessing somebody tried to torque them down to stop the seep that was up front. Backed 'em all off and sorted it to spec. Hopefully they didn't warp it.

In the meantime, Amazon was 2 to 4 weeks out on the seal kit, so I bit the bullet and overnighted it direct from AllBalls. Should be here Tuesday. 

I guess my girlfriend's Blast counts as "my" bike since technically I own it...

I adjusted the shift lever so that its in a much better position, but I really fouled up the bolt head in the process . Lever is in a stable spot now, but if I ever need to remove it or adjust it again, I'll definitely need a grabbit or other bolt extractor lol.

Also, I added some seafoam to the tank, sloshed it around and went for a ride. Overall, the bike seems to be running decently. There is a slight oil leak on the rockerbox cover, but nothing drastic.