GS(X)-250E Motarding.

[Guest]

Uhm, i wish. Unfortunately a little thing called life gets in the way of these things. Have been busy with my missus going and getting admitted into hospital on Monday night and only coming home today. Should be finished pretty soon as i'm doing errands or bolting to the garage whenever her pain killers knock her out during the day. She's doing alright, though we're both looking forward to her having a reduced dependence on pain killers.

The stand is 99% done, now cocking about with electrics in the hood now, so close, oh so close.

Ouch, that's not good Mike! I hope she heals up real soon...

Life does have a funny way of interfering doesn't it?

 

[mike-s]

Can start seeing the light at the end of the fishtank tunnel. Got only a couple of things to do with the hood, plus some tank tidy-up and it is completely finished. For those that give a damned, read further here. More bike related content to come shortly.

 

[Guest]

Good stuff Mike! I actually clicked the link but it's a no go unless you're a member...

Looking forward to the bike stuff of course

 

[mike-s]

So am I, so close, so freaking close!, try here, no membership req'd.

 

[Guest]

That looks pretty cool Mike, nice work

I'm not a fish guy (cats + fish=...) but that is some nice work for sure

I like how the GS features in the background of some of the pic's too

 

[mike-s]

Thanks, I'm 95% happy with what I've done thus far (there are little things i know now that I wouldn't repeat if i had to do it all again). Also with the GSX in the background it goes to show that it actually IS something i am making and not just taking credit for :dancing:. I'm finishing work in 9 hours, hope I feel pretty good tomorrow and can put in a few solid hours and finish this hood off promptly so that we can get back to our normally scheduled programming by the time i get back to work next Wednesday.

 

[Guest]

Hahaha nice!

Definitely looking forward to resuming normal programming, but point me to completed tank pic's when they're done too

 

[mike-s]

Well as the tank starts nearing completion, I've made room in the garage (i.e. taken a saw & hammer to the old tank stand and reduced it to 30x30cm slices of wood & binned them) and thought i'd try and start the GSX up today for the hell of it.

Bastard wouldn't start, then i used the nulon "start ya bast*rd" starter stuff and got her to fire briefly. I figured what the hey and drained the carbs as i had gone well towards draining the battery and didn't want to have to make an event out of it and charge her again.

Well whadya know, she fired up first try after priming! Next up she coughed and belched smoke like nobody's business as the minor flow of oil down through the valve stems burned away and she goes nicely. Oh and the sawdust that gathered on the engine took a while to burn off too.

Once the tank is gone from the garage (If I'm unlucky this will be next week, if I'm lucky, possibly tomorrow afternoon ) I'll set about blowing the cobwebs away and re-filling the right fork and giving it a test run and see if things work like I had hoped.

 

[Guest]

Well as the tank starts nearing completion, I've made room in the garage (i.e. taken a saw & hammer to the old tank stand and reduced it to 30x30cm slices of wood & binned them) and thought i'd try and start the GSX up today for the hell of it.

Bastard wouldn't start, then i used the nulon "start ya bast*rd" starter stuff and got her to fire briefly. I figured what the hey and drained the carbs as i had gone well towards draining the battery and didn't want to have to make an event out of it and charge her again.

Well whadya know, she fired up first try after priming! Next up she coughed and belched smoke like nobody's business as the minor flow of oil down through the valve stems burned away and she goes nicely. Oh and the sawdust that gathered on the engine took a while to burn off too.

Once the tank is gone from the garage (If I'm unlucky this will be next week, if I'm lucky, possibly tomorrow afternoon ) I'll set about blowing the cobwebs away and re-filling the right fork and giving it a test run and see if things work like I had hoped.

Can't wait Mike, can't wait!

 

[mike-s]

That makes two of us.

 

[Guest]

So is it done yet?

 

[mike-s]

Got ai bit nervous about bringing it straight up and since last night it's been sitting in the garage with 135 litres in it seeing if anything is going to give way. Am thinking i might play it chicken and leave it there for a little while just to play it "safe". Will see though.

 

[Guest]

Got ai bit nervous about bringing it straight up and since last night it's been sitting in the garage with 135 litres in it seeing if anything is going to give way. Am thinking i might play it chicken and leave it there for a little while just to play it "safe". Will see though.

Probably not such a bad idea Mike... I can imagine what would happen if it were to give way under the weight when it's already inside the house...

 

[mike-s]

I'm still here, been busy, just not had much change to do bike "stuff" of late. Tanks upstairs, filled and going through that "cycling" business you need to do before putting fish in there.

Bikes will be attended to shortly, just been ridiculously busy.

 

[Guest]

Know the problem well Mike, looking forward to seeing some pogress when you get there

Mine's nearly done with the essential stuff for rego...

 

[mike-s]

It has been a while as i've let other things get in the way, but i took her out on a test run today after giving it a once over and sorting out the fork leak, though i will admit i kludged it by using atf instead of fork oil to see how it goes before spwnsing a bunch on the right oil. Unfortunately i had overdone it on the preload as it was locking the front end on a small bump. I cut the spacer to reduce their length by 18mm. It still is not quite right, but it is getting there. I am slightly regetting cutting the springs, but might take a further 5mm of preload off and soften it a little further again.

It rides nicely though, and i'm quite happy with how it sits, i just have to try and remember it now sits a good 10cm taller and my foot needs to go a lot further to hit the ground. ill eventually have to get an extension added to the sidestand at some point.

 

[Guest]

Sounds good Mike, glad to hear you got to take her for a run!

Now you just need to share some video for our enjoyment

So what's next? Aside from the side stand is she done? Are you still going to get that sump guard/bash plate done?

Mine's *nearly* ready... so damn close to getting a safety certificate but not quite there just yet.

I've still yet to design and make my bash plate too...

 

[mike-s]

It's a case of "one thing at a time", but i will see it through to completion, don't worry about that.

I've gone and tackled the biggest hurdle of actually getting her on the road. Once i get the correct weight and quantity of fork oil in there and taken a further 5mm off the spacer to reduce the preload & to soften it up from nearly throwing my arse in the air when going over speed bumps at 50km/h to something significantly more sociable, like perhaps a light thump.

Once i do this, I'm going to have to do the fork/zip tie test and basically see how far up the forks i can get the suspension to go & get an idea of the maximum travel we are getting as i suspect the springs were binding before and maxing the travel a good 3-4cm less than it should be capable of.

Sidestand is a must-do item, the bash plate is important, though I'm going to hold off on sorting that last one out until all the other functional stuff has been completed to my satisfaction.

 

[Guest]

That all makes sense Mike... gotta get that critical stuff done first then you can worry about the niceties...

 

[Woodsy]

i believe you are due for a picture in this thread............ lol