New member: Wow, what is with those questions?

[Cedardrew]

Hi guys. New member here from Australia. My first post has to be about how frustrating that bloody registration process was. Some of those questions were impossible! It took me about 10 refreshes of the questions to actually get four I could answer.

Question: What does the petcock control? Answer - Fuel flow, fuel, petrol flow, petrol, gas flow, gas - Nope, all wrong...

Question: What ignites the fuel in the cylinder? Answer - Spark plug, plug, coil, ignition coil - Nope, all wrong...

Question: How many petcocks does a modern GS have? Answer - 1, 2 - Nope, both wrong...

Anyway, the questions need more than one answer is correct because guessing the exact wording is frustrating and I almost gave up. It wouldn't surprise me if many people have had to give up and move on.

Anyway, I made it so here's my intro.

I'm onto my second GS500 (naked) which I'm building up as a custom. I've built two as customs before, one of which was for a friend. I find this bike to be a great platform because it doesn't take a huge amount of modification to get it looking pretty unique and it's one of the more higher capacity learner approved bikes here in Australia. I love the Scrambler style which is what I built my last one into and will be doing the same again with the new one. I've attached two photos of my previous build, which sadly I sold before getting a good chance to use it. The next build I'll be making sure I get some good use out of it.

*Seriously... having trouble with the questions again just to post this. This is very frustrating. How many petcocks. One? Incorrect. Two? Incorrect.

[brucedavidculver]

Welcome!  As a relatively new member as well I'm 100% in agreement on the questions...lol.  They do go away after a certain number of posts however... 15 maybe? 

Awesome job on the build... that is a sharp looking machine.  I've done a few myself and have a build thread up right now.  Props to you for reusing the original grab bar... that looks great.   I've never done that on a build but it is the perfect fit (kinda wonder why I never thought of it now that  I see it).  I may have to steal that idea for my current build.  Love the Shinko 705s! 

How about a build thread of your own for the new bike?

[ShowBizWolf]

Welcome to the forum and thank you for fighting through all of that!!

First, I don't know who typed in the acceptable answers to the questions. Years ago when I joined, I remember having an issue or two myself. I am not sure why they are so difficult.

Second, I DO know that semi-recently, we had a run of spammers/bots that joined the forum and were posting ads and garbage... and the questions had to be "beefed up" because of that.

Third, they used to go away after 5 posts (Tard Farm and Test sections don't count)... but I've gotten the impression that it's now more than that. Hopefully not 15!

I'm sad that it has to be that way because I'd love to see more traffic and activity on this forum... but even on the GS500 facebook group, there have been grumblings about "how hard it is to join the forum" and I've heard/read about how "forums are dying off" etc.

I don't know if there's a happy medium or how to fix it all but... I'm just glad you (and any new people) join and post

[herennow]

Good looking Bike,,

Do you not have trouble plating it? My friends in Oz tell me that changing exhausts from non standard is a big NoNo over there?

Cheers

BMF

[The Buddha]

Wow, those tires - are they trailwings ? On my Yamaha scr 950 the TW's basically seem like 1/2 way worn with 8k.
Simply put, those things wear like they're made of steel.
Cool.
Buddha.

[mr72]

what blows me away is that you actually attached an image!

anyway, are those Shinko 705s? what size? tubeless? and where did you get the front fender?

[pliskin]

Ditto, with the pics....when did we start needing to sign in just to view pics in a post? I see nothing until I log on. Dumb

[peteGS]

Hey mate, welcome! Nice looking GS, good job!

Where in Aus are you? Brissie boy here.

[Cedardrew]

To answer all the questions, I'm a Brissie boy and exhausts are fine in Australia unless you get a nasty cop onto ya. Heaps of people run aftermarket exhausts without issue, but there are the unlucky ones who get pulled into a Department of Transport stop and stung for non-compliance. Generally, the actual Police don't mind.

The tyres are indeed Shinko 705's. I believe they come in both tube-type and tubeless form, although I can't remember exactly what mine were as it was about three years ago now since I built that last bike. Incidentally, I'm now running a set of Dunlop Trailmax on my new build which are tube-type. I'd have preferred tubeless as they're a lot easier to fit, but I have the new ones on there now without issue. I'll start a build thread and post photos in there.

The rear grab bar is drilled and bolted to the back of the frame from where I cut it off. I kind of came up with the idea when trying to think of a way to clean up the rear end and I reckon it looks great. I'll be doing the same thing on my new build I think.

The rear fender is the front fender chopped down, and the front fender is a replica XV250 fender which can be found cheap on eBay from China. It has been mounted above the fork brace as these chunky tyres clear the brace, but don't fit inside the stock fender.

Anyway, here I go with the questions again... I figure I should be able to memorise them soon enough.

[peteGS]

Ok cool so that's four of us local Brissie lads now! We definitely all should catch up for a ride at some point. See this thread here: http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=72870.msg879653#msg879653

Looking forward to the build thread! I'm in the currently slow process of refreshing my 450 at the moment.

[Endopotential]

Welcome to the forum!

That green color scheme looks great in the middle of the eucalyptus trees.

The only thing I can help with is "sparkplug" as one word 

[dylan13nnn]

Im only answering this now as i couldn't be bothered earlier due to those stupid questions... mine finally disappeared.. hang in there.
Wanted to say you did an awesone job on that scrambler. I love the rear end and reading your previous post it sounds like you chopped and bolted and didnt have to manufacture and weld up the subframe us that correct ??. Curious about the seat is it a custom job or one of those ebay universals cos some of them chinese cafe and tracker seats look very good if you can suss the mounting of it... good job anyways

[Joolstacho]

That's a real cobby-looking GS there mate, nicely done.
I like that you haven't gone 'over-the-top' with the conversion. Many people overdo the styling, just to be different. But no need, as you have demonstrated.
Yeah-naah cool job.

[thatshitcray]

Also in Brissy!

Hey Drew what size trailmax were you running? And does anyone know what the deal with running back tyres on the front is, is this bad or just a little bit bad?

... Admins need to do something about these fkn questions.

[MaxD]

That is a beautiful customization job.  I love that natural leather seat, and the tactical military style colors go great with it. 

If it is not strictly a scrambler, the below link shows a build with some good ideas.

https://adventure-motorcycling.com/suzuki-gs500r-overlander/

I'm a relative rookie at motorcycling with only about 20,000 miles logged.  I find I get a ton of great advice on this site from the more seasoned members, especially on the mechanical work that I am inexperienced in.  So, I expect you will like it here, Drew.

[thatshitcray]

If it is not strictly a scrambler, the below link shows a build with some good ideas.

https://adventure-motorcycling.com/suzuki-gs500r-overlander/

Hey! What a coincidence, so Drews latest GS he sold introduced me to the world of customized GS' when I was looking for one. Now I found one that overlander from the link is where I'm taking inspiration from.

I'll post more here so not to hijack this thread further. http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=73368.0