A project's never really "done" right? 

Looking forward to the update!

Is there a reason you go with fixed colour LED strips and not RGB ones

I hooked these up to my bike and they work fine
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/5050-RGB-5M-300-LEDS-SMD-LED-Strip-Light-12V-Waterproof-24-KEY-IR-Controller/331314589180?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
since this would allow you to change the colour when you feel like it with a simple button press.

For me it is mainly a safety thing aswell, because Australian city and suburb drivers are blind 90% of the time in daylight, and once it's dark it got to 99%

Thank you for the link! That's a good price. I did consider the color changing ones.

Idk if it's the minimalist in me or what but I knew there are colors I'd never use and I didn't want to be bothered with the controller. One year for Christmas my parents bought me a remote start for my car... and I returned it because I like to keep things simple. I know I know, I'm strange...

The price is a huge factor too. It may not seem like that big of a difference, but I'm a single homeowner with 4 cats and 3 vehicles... and sometimes money gets really tight (like this year I had to put a grand into my van, a over a grand into my house, and over $500 on vet expenses and my main refrigerator finally wore out). $10 makes a big difference to me.

I guess the last reason is that I like the 2835 chip style. When I do a search on eBay for that chip style, waterproof, color changing/rgb, US only, the price goes up even higher than the ones you have.

I know what you mean about blind drivers!!
Do you have a lot of people out after dark there?
Luckily for me, when I leave work to go home at 3am, there aren't many people still out usually... but in the winter months when it gets dark at 5pm, or when my shift starts at 9:30pm, that's a different story smh.

Early morning trips to work, can be pitch black at times. I try and leave before any real traffic comes, so i'm normally at work an hour early.
If I leave 10min later, the amout of stupid people on the road at that time increases dramatically (most of them are still asleep at the wheel)

I can understand about the money issues and only trying to spend money where you have to.
Sometimes though just ebaying it from cheap places and just waiting for the long shipping time is a massive advantage to save some decent money if you aren't in a hurry to change stuff.

Btw how have you wired up your LED's, I've basically created another wiring circuit, using a relay to from the ignition so there is only power on the circuit when I've got the Key turned, and the other circuit has it's only little fuse box for future things i may want to add. (all looks really janky though  )

It's amazing the difference a bit of time can make, I know what you mean... it's crazy! It can be like that here too.

You know what, I honestly can't remember the details about how I have them wired up LOL. It's been 3 years since I did them and most of the wires aren't visible with the plastics and the tank on etc.

I have 7 strips total right now, one under the headlight, one on each side of the frame above the engine and 2 on each side following the tail section/inner rear fender of the bike. Once I remove them, I'm going to simplify it to just 4 total.

I do remember I wired in a fuse for them... and made it so I can turn them on or off with a rocker switch I put on the bars, whether the key is in the bike or not.

show can you just build another gs so we can experience the magic all over again

Awe cbr thank you!! 

I did manage to paint the other windscreen black on Friday and I installed it yesterday. I also made some brackets for the hand guards I bought years ago. Gotta get some pics tonight or tomorrow.

I am liking the windscreen. Thinking of painting the other one silver and giving it a go sometime... but for now, I like the black.


The piece of load bar I used to make the headlight brackets and heel plates came in handy once again! I decided to use it for the hand guard mounts.

I'm satisfied with how they came out. They are not super pretty, especially because I'm not a huge fan of bar ends... but I bought the ends years ago and they have just been sitting.

This way is IMO much better than the brackets the guards came with (they attached to the mirror mounts).

sweeet,...are the guards for freezing air or road meteors or ?

I like the black,..winning

Nicely done Showbiz!!!

The handguards on the 450 have been extremely helpful in two ways for me... preventing car mirrors from catching my brake lever when they decide to change lanes while I'm filtering (fortunately not very often) and they definitely help keep the icy wind off your fingers in cooler weather.

Thank you I love that I get ya posting up outta the TF Pete

Road meteors !!!! Yes!!

lololololol

And to guard against wintertime bugs!

Seriously though, I did notice a difference the one winter I used them. Keeping that cold wind off my gloves (both my regular ones or the heated ones) helps a lot when it's >30F.

Hahahaha yeah there is a world outside of TF 

I just don't know the 500's well enough to contribute usually, while a lot of the motor is in common with my 450 that's about where it ends 

Hand guards are a must! Already had them save my fingers from being removed when a Jeep Wrangler backed into me.
They also let you install Hippo Hands. The #1 best piece of kit for winter riding (even better than heated grips).

I like that your windscreen is blacked out but your hand guards are transparent. Keeps 'em guessing. Like maybe you have eyeballs in your knuckles.

I finished up the lights a couple weeks ago and I'm happy with the result. I wish they were a little more bright yellow and less orange but hey... the price was good and they will help with visibility.






The gauge bulbs... well, they were certainly worth a try, given the price. They'll do for now... but after the holidays, I plan to order the better ones from SBL. I'm glad I gave them a shot though.


I also did a thing and sold my heated gloves. I liked them and really wanted to "get used to them" but they were just too bulky and the batteries hurt my wrists.
After looking into heated grips, I found these and figured, based on the reviews and the price, "why not" ?
https://www.amazon.com/Iztoss-Motorcycle-Electric-Warmers-Handlebar/dp/B018K5XYPE/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=iztoss+heated+grips&qid=1575540960&sr=8-3

My wonderful brother ended up buying them for me !!

I've only gotten to ride with them once so far, in ~40F temps omw home from work last week... so hardly enough time to give them a proper review... but I'm glad I have them... and I love the design with the switch/control built in. I want to ride and use them more but we've been getting snow the past several days SMH!!


The only issue I ran into while installing these was stopping the new throttle tube (and grip) from continuing to rotate forward once installed in the killswitch/starter housing. The diameter of the new tube's flange is slightly smaller so it didn't catch on the bits. I bet I could have worked out a different way of solving this but at the time, drilling a small hole into the housing and winding a screw in for a "stop" did the trick.

As always,..good stuff!  What's next show?!

Excellent work Showbiz, glad you're looking out for your safety on your night travels!

No need for heated grips where I am but they sure do seem like a handy addition in the cooler areas of the planet 

Nice job there ShiwBizWolf. My gs500f is a work in progress.  I've put a set of perelli sport demons on and changed the rear wheel to 130x80x17. Has given the tyre a bit rounder profile which makes for a really even tip in when cornering. It's also lifted the rear by about 5mm.
Changed out my parker and headlight for Leds, massive difference. The headlight is pumping out 5000 lumens now!
Also changed the speedo and tacho lights to led. Went for a bright amber colour which is quite visible but easy on the eye for night rides. Have bought a set of racetech straight rate .95k fork springs and will be getting an r6 rear shock as well. Also have a set of oggy knobs to put on and have done a full service. Only problem I'm having with my beastie is that it "stutters" at around 5000rpm under full throttle. Can't quite figure it out yet but I'm hoping it's that the carbies just need balancing. Other than that it's a great bike. Will post some photos of it soon.
Love the underglow job by the way.

Thank you Ledian! Hope you got those springs installed and found the shock you wanted.

Finally, I swapped out the gauge bulbs. Back to the good ones from superbrightleds!


Also, even though I was happy with the increased lean angle on the side stand with the SV shock, I could swear over the past ~6 months or so, the stand developed a kind of extra "flex" when settling the bike down onto it. After searching about it here and finding a few threads saying it's normal and OK, it was still unsettling to me.

I don't weld, having only seen it/learned it 15 years ago in high school shop class... and my Pap was the welder in my family but he passed around that same time so I never got to learn from him ... so this project I had a friend of my dad help me with.

I purchased a used stock GS500 side stand off eBay for $10 and asked to have 1" welded into it, right above the foot. Didn't want to mess up the positioning of the spring mount or the heel bar. Then I had a slightly larger (wider) foot cut from ~1/8" steel and had that welded onto the foot. (I'll still always have my puck with me though). Finally, my dad heated it with the torch and we bent it ever so slightly to compensate for the lean so the foot would rest flat on the ground.

I painted it and I'm happy.

Nice work ShowBiz! Looks like a real neat welding job there too 

I'm not a very good welder, but I know how to grind 

One tip on the sidestand I've been given is that the pivot bolts tend to wear and contributes largely when a bike seems to be leaning more than ever. I need to look into that myself on the 450 as I've noticed the stand has a lot of sideways movement now. It's only 38 years old now, no idea why it might be a bit worn out 

Hi ShowBizWolf, hi guys. Yes I have got the r6 shock and have installed it as well as the racetech .90kg/mm fork springs. Wow what a difference! It's a whole new bike now. I have also got an LED upgrade tail light with integrated indicators and brake light coming for it and a set of led flowing water style indicators as well. Once I have installed those I will look at a good exhaust and put the k&n air filter in as well. I'm hoping to get a set of jets from Buddha to match. Once that's done it will be finished. (for now!😂) I'll add a photo. Its the best I can do at the moment as my phone takes photos in a really high resolution format and the page won't let me add most of the pictures I have.