Quote from: Beelzeboss on August 08, 2018, 03:25:56 PM
IMG_20180808_184545 by jones_fli, on Flickr

R6 shock swap, new front pads and rotor, new chain and sprockets, loosened the over-torqued head stem bearings

That would take me a working week to do. 

Quote from: Toner on August 08, 2018, 05:35:44 PM
That would take me a working week to do. 

Haha, not if you had access to the workshop I work in

I spent about 4 hours including cleanup doing it all, and it would have been faster if I'd read directions about how to do the R6 shock swap before starting

Figured it was time to register here after using the information on this site so much over the last few years!

Yesterday I swapped my shock with an R6 shock. I put progressive springs in the front just under a month ago and that really made me realize I needed to upgrade the rear suspension as well. I wasn't bottoming out my forks anymore, but the rear was mopping through corners, chattering around, and acted like a pogo stick over bumps. I'm not heavy enough for the kat shock, so I originally wanted to get a stock shock in good condition, but ended up finding a really good deal on an R6 shock from 2011.

It turned out to be quite a hassle, but I got it in! It rides amazingly to be honest, super steady in the corners, very comfortable over bumps, and the rear doesn't wash out on me anymore.

Quick snap I took yesterday after my short test ride (about midnight at that point, sorry for the lack of focus):



No idea what the settings are on the thing, I just pulled it out the box that was shipped to me and dropped it in without changing anything. I'm planning on taking it to a suspension specialist to have it set up correctly for my weight, but it's already amazing.

I attempted yet again to fix my stripped right hand control, this time with brute force success. I drilled the holes a little larger and filled them with JB Weld, then drilled and tapped again. Then of course as before, the screws pulled the JB Weld out of the holes. The moral of the story is JB Weld won't stick to whatever kind of plastic this handlebar control is made of.

So, drilled holes all the way through the handlebar control top side with a 1/8" but then threaded in a #8 screw that is about 1/4" longer than the stock screws and even though it looks slightly less than perfect, it works and for the first time the RH handlebar control can be properly tightened onto the bar.

It's the little things in life

Finally got around to doing my own 'fenderectomy'.

I replaced the existing license plate bracket with an aluminium version that I connected to the mud-guard to hold my aftermarket mini short stem indicators.



In my bike's typical rusty fashion, I had to make use of my new Dremel to cut the nuts off the original indicators to get them out, then sketched out a shape I liked and trimmed the fender too.

Some soldering (the new indicators wires weren't long enough...) and re-fitting later, and it was done! Very happy with the result and keeping some of the fender keeps my big UK number plate rigidly attached.

Is that a UK plate?
I suggest you refit the reflector.
You might get a pull from a grumpy copper and will definitely fail the next MOT if you dont.

Quote from: sledge on September 02, 2018, 11:42:54 AM
Is that a UK plate?
I suggest you refit the reflector.
You might get a pull from a grumpy copper and will definitely fail the next MOT if you dont.

I've got one of them small round (20mm dia), adhesive ones from Halfords that's about to go on the plate.

They're supposedly MOT compliant, but I never had any issues with the same on my old bike anyway.

Discovered how many parts on the rear wheel are actually silver, instead of black! Finally got around to pulling it off and cleaning up the dire mess. There was a thick layer of chain lube all over the left-hand-side hub and that weird white chain grease the P.O. used. Hopefully it will take at least a few weeks to turn black again.

Used my new battery power pack to jump start the bike.  Didn't realize that  I turned the key too far  and left the lights on and drained the battery.  Took a short drive around the neighborhood to charge the battery a little and make sure the oil gets a good run thru the system since its still sitting till I get time to take the safety course before I get the DL endorsement. 

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

Quote from: KHnTX on September 17, 2018, 04:05:15 PM
Used my new battery power pack to jump start the bike.  Didn't realize that  I turned the key too far  and left the lights on and drained the battery.  Took a short drive around the neighborhood to charge the battery a little and make sure the oil gets a good run thru the system since its still sitting till I get time to take the safety course before I get the DL endorsement. 

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

I've contemplated sabotaging the parking lights myself, after leaving work and going to my bike only to find they'd been left on for 8+ hours. Luckily the bike started ok, but man is that a stupid idea. In my opinion, it should be the other way around - parking lights and then lock.

Quote from: Kookas on September 20, 2018, 01:03:10 PM

Quote from: KHnTX on September 17, 2018, 04:05:15 PM
I turned the key too far  and left the lights on and drained the battery. 

I've contemplated sabotaging the parking lights myself

Forgive me since I haven't owned a GS in years, but shouldn't it be fairly obvious when the lights are on?  Doesn't the dash light up too or is it just the taillight?

Regardless I've never accidentally left either of my GSs in Park (any of my bikes for that matter).  I think part of it is a key handling technique; I don't constantly push down as I'm turning the key, I push it enough to get it to start turning then I just turn it.  The detents are extra easy to feel when you are gentle.


My Monster actually has a "lights on" indicator on the dash that comes on both in the Park and On positions, super obvious if it's in Park.  I always thought it was a good idea for that, though it's rather annoying because there's constantly a bright green light on my dash at all times when the bike is on.  It's like having a second Neutral light that never goes away, and of course the Neutral light is right next to it and is the same color...

No dash lights come on. Just very dim tail and headlight.  Out in the bright sun very easy to miss for me.  And it was my ignorance as I was not aware the lights came on if the key was turned too far when getting to the lock position.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

I put on a new rear tire today.

Best thing I can say is it was a success.

Replaced chain and sprockets. DID 520 chain and JT sprockets.



made up these to pop the link in (using a vice) which worked quite well.

yesterday: tightened loose lower rear shock bolt, re-adjusted clutch. Might test-ride this afternoon if the rain holds off.

Meanwhile, I'm ramping up my shopping for a replacement for the ol' GS. If this goes anything like my previous motorcycle search, I'm anywhere from 2 to 20 years away from making a decision.

The heated grip on the throttle tube was getting loose so I stuck some gorilla glue under there. Also going to hook up a USB port today so I can stop worrying about my phone's battery when I have no idea where I am - anyone know how many lugs on a battery terminal is too many? I've got the bike stuff directly on them, and then on top of them I've currently got 2 - alarm and heated grips. The USB is going to be a third.

Theres no real limit to the amount of leads, so long as you don't draw too many amps at one time.

Might want to put a fuse in there somewhere if you are just lashing accessories direct to the post.

Quote from: tobyd on September 30, 2018, 10:28:23 AM
Might want to put a fuse in there somewhere if you are just lashing accessories direct to the post.

Fortunately all the accessories have their own fuses. I would like to do the whole wiring into an ignition live thing for the grips + USB but have no tools for splicing nor any idea about where stuff could be spliced into without replacing wires so for now everything is piled on top of the battery.

Kookas, if you're worried about over-taxing the charging system, you could swap (if you haven't already) as many stock bulbs over to LED bulbs as possible.

When I had the OEM headlight on my GS, I swapped the bulb to LED... and I also did the gauges, dash indicators (except the one for the signals) and the tail light bulbs. Didn't wanna get into all that fuss with the turn signals but all the other bulbs I swapped and I'm happy I did.

I have a whole bunch of notes and numbers and math regarding this kind of thing (from when I was figuring out if I could successfully swap to the gsxr headlight with two different bulbs)... I should type it out and save it... maybe the info could help when a topic like this comes up.