ShowBizWolf's 1998 GS500E

[ShowBizWolf]

Not much going on here but I did clean/lube the chain, wipe off some of the road salt and remake the one bracket for the belly pan yesterday.


Also a fun thing to note... more frequently lately each time I get geared up to take the bike out, my one kitty Haste jumps up on the seat. I think she's been working on her riding posture Looks good!!!

[cbrfxr67]

Bad kitty!

You're bike's so clean show,..!

[Big Rich]

 

Just wanted to stop in and see how your GS was doing - not that I'm surprised. Hope all is well Showbiz.

And hi to everybody else! Haven't forgotten about you guys.

[ShowBizWolf]

Thanks cbr!!! You know me, I try to keep it as clean as possible.

Big Rich!!! It's great to hear from you! I was telling someone at my work not that long ago about my tank bag and how I saw it first (on your bike). Got me thinking about how I hadn't seen ya post for a while so I checked to see when you were active last. IIRC it had been a long while. Everything is good here, thankfully! I hope all is well with you too How is your bike? Anything new?

[Big Rich]

My life got really......hectic for a while. But everything is settling into a "new" normal. Which is good! My GR needs a little TLC - weeping oil around the head cover, replaced the CCT with a manual one, pipes are rusting, etc, etc, etc. Haha

Couple weeks ago my son and I were talking about TMNT and I told him I know the girl that made the Van. He didn't believe it actually existed..... but a quick Google search later and he got to see it.

[ShowBizWolf]

Oh gosh. Life certainly does have a way of doing that sometimes... but I'm very glad to know you're OK

Heyyyy that's awesome about my van! I gave it a lot of TLC last summer... cosmetically. I had a birthday party to do with it in September and had to undo 9 years of PA winter... ah.. "customization" lol... you know how that goes

If you're on facebook, check out the van's page. It's "Johnstown Turtle Van" ... lots of pics from parties and whatnot.

[The Buddha]

Not much going on here but I did clean/lube the chain, wipe off some of the road salt and remake the one bracket for the belly pan yesterday.


Also a fun thing to note... more frequently lately each time I get geared up to take the bike out, my one kitty Haste jumps up on the seat. I think she's been working on her riding posture Looks good!!!

OOoooo Cute calico. We had one that adopted us for ~1yr when her prior human lost her husband and she had to move in with her son who had some aggressive dogs. She was called stretch. Knowing her, she'd have bossed over the aggressive dogs very aristocratically making them glad they had such a wise "leader".

Anyway she "went away" ~1yr (thanksgiving 2017) after she adopted us. Never to be seen since.

We got a grey tabby April 2018. Who's now chewing her tail, chewing her back and watery left eye - and she's a young'un. 3-4 yrs max.

Cool.
Buddha.

[ShowBizWolf]

Thanks Buddha. She's my world. Last summer she had to have some dental work done and she's also now on prescription kidney care food. Her numbers were on the high side of the normal range and after a year of being on the food, her numbers are normal again thankfully. I hope your tabby is still with you/doing well?

I haven't had anything to update since my last post until a few months ago. The clutch cover gasket on my bike started leaking (not bad for still being the original) and I bought a new crank shaft seal to install as well. That is all now done.

Pic of the old gasket:


I decided to also do an extensive cleaning/detail, exhaust polish and routine chain maintenance. I still can't say enough positive things about the Yoshimura STAIN-Magic. I now couldn't find it for less than $50 and I had to get it shipped from Japan but I tried some other products (like Borla's stainless polish/cleaner) and I was very disappointed by comparison. My original tube of YSM was enough to do 3 complete polishes and I still have a tiny bit left.




Not bad for the exhaust being 10 years old now.


Last thing I had to do was reinstall the belly pan. Yeah that went well 


Popola to the rescue. Definitely didn't want to attempt this on my own.


Drilling into the center of the bolt was going nowhere with brand new Harbor Freight bits. As soon as we switched to an old bit I had in my drill basket, it worked a treat and the easy out did its job.


While I was looking up the part number for a new bolt, I discovered that motosport, partzilla, ron ayers and Suzuki parts direct all have the same error. That clutch cover takes 12 bolts that are the same and 1 that is shorter. All the diagrams show that the shorter bolt should be in the spot where I broke one. That is incorrect... the shorter bolt goes into the hole that is at the front-most part of the cover. I'm glad I figured that out before I ordered a new bolt that would have been wrong, based on the diagrams.

The replacement bolts (I got a spare) showed up on Saturday but unfortunately, the eBay seller made a mistake... the listing had the correct part number I need but the bolts that showed up are clearly much smaller overall. I ordered another 2 from motosport earlier, which is what I should have done in the first place.

Once I get them, I can finish installing the belly pan and be ready for Thunder in the Valley Motorcycle Rally at the end of the month.

[Bluesmudge]

Wow, that stainless polish really did the trick! Your exhaust looks amazing. I have some SS polish for my kitchen sink...this makes me think I should try it on the bikes with stainless or chrome pipes.

[ShowBizWolf]

Thanks Bluesmudge. I never even thought about trying a kitchen sink polish. What kind is it? I have stainless sink as well and even though I keep it scrubbed, I wouldn't mind if it was shinier

[Bluesmudge]

The stuff I have is Franke brand, which is the brand of my sink. Its called Inox Cream (Inox means stainless in Italian).
I haven't made it through the whole bottle yet to then try any other products but I doubt its substantially different than any other SS polish. It doesn't do anything about deeper scratches but otherwise gets the sink back to the factory looking finish.