$50 modification thread

[kilog55]

someone (sport bike rider friend) told me when carving a turn to push on the bars the opposite way into the turn said you can take it at a higher speed and cut it faster.

not too sure i want to go messing around in a turn but in a way it seems logical.

i want to change out my bars but im not sure what would look/feel right

[makenzie71]

Countersteering applies no matter what kind of bars you have.

[atb1998]

counter steering

Actually you slightly tap the front brakes to load up the front suspension, then use the counter steer method. The pressure applied is very slight. There have been numerous books and videos done about proper cornering andling techniques. There is one by Lee Parks that comes to mind. "Total Control Street Riding Techniques" Also your line of sight is VERY important. You will go where you are looking. Unless you are going in too hot. a friend with no roadrace experience can blow away most riders in a corner on his vrod, including me. Most riders don't even come close to the capabitilites of their bikes handling, including me. Especially most sportbike riders

[kilog55]

yeah i know about the line of sight one and that is very true i noticed if i see a crack or hole in the road and see a way to avoid it i automatically adjust with little movement on my part t avoid it. what i hate is when they have sections of the road that are joined like a joint on the highway cause that is kinda freaky when you hit em and "jump"

[greg78gs750]

what a great thread, +1 on many of the simple ones, like stainless allen bolts, new cables, etc. i would add this, though maybe not so much a mod, but....

valve clearance check and carb rebuild. cheap and necessary on most gs's that have not been babied like ours have. thank you robert barr!

[atb1998]

cheap mod

DON"T use steel wool to clean up chrome as it will scratch it. This will will be especially noticeable on large surface areas. Go to a paint supply store and buy bronze or copper wool. Will not scratch chrome

[biker_guy]

Filling up the tank is less than 10 bucks. Makes my bike go faster and I don't have to push it. I can ride it up hills not just down. And it takes less time to get where I'm going.

[kilog55]

better ground and power cables shouldnt run over $50

[lostsoul74]

I'm a huge fan of SeaFoam additive for carbs and motor. Add it to your gas or oil and it really does work. Some forum recomended it a couple years ago and i tried it on a beater katana i had gotten for a few hundred bucks that sat for many years. It wasnt clogged to the point that it couldnt get any gas, but enough so it wouldnt run. threw half a bottle in the tank and tried to start it a few times to let the stuff get into the carbs. Came out next morning and bike started right up. Sometimes it works, sometimes not, depends how bad the carbs are clogged, but i'm a big fan.
I also use Muriatic acid for rust, same stuff you clean concrete and tile with and can get at any home depot or like, works great on old tanks and stuff. Remove the petcock first as it will eat the filters that are corroded with rust. I just dump some in, swish it back and forth, and in under 15 seconds ALL the rust is gone. You should seal it afterwards, but good enough for me, and i just dump some more gas in and swish it and dump it out to remove any residue. Havnt used it on chrome yet but i dont see any reason why it would have any issues with it, it's a very mild acid but has a great chemical reaction with rust. if you really want to know how it works on chrome let me know, i've got a junk parts bike i'll pour some on. Best part is you dont have to do anything but just let it sit a few seconds, no scrubbing or steel wool or anything. it's cheap, maybe 10 bucks a gallon.
I also use citris paint stripper in a can you buy at home depo/lowes. does a good job cleaning up an engine but not over powerful to hurt stuff like rubber or frame i get a little over spray on.
Anyone got any easy chemical ideas for brightening up alluminum without having to work your ass off?? I tried bright jelly but wasnt impressed, my 400 grit sanding spongue does a better job. just looking for clean/bright, not show quality.

[850 Combat]

Get rid of that gap between your tail section and the back of the seat.

Just remove the seat and bend the seat pan down by pulling it over your knee or standing on it.

It will stay if you don't use the seat for putting the bike on the center stand or for pushing it up a truck ramp, etc.

[Nessism]

I'm a huge fan of SeaFoam additive for carbs and motor. Add it to your gas or oil and it really does work. Some forum recomended it a couple years ago and i tried it on a beater katana i had gotten for a few hundred bucks that sat for many years. It wasnt clogged to the point that it couldnt get any gas, but enough so it wouldnt run. threw half a bottle in the tank and tried to start it a few times to let the stuff get into the carbs. Came out next morning and bike started right up. Sometimes it works, sometimes not, depends how bad the carbs are clogged, but i'm a big fan.
I also use Muriatic acid for rust, same stuff you clean concrete and tile with and can get at any home depot or like, works great on old tanks and stuff. Remove the petcock first as it will eat the filters that are corroded with rust. I just dump some in, swish it back and forth, and in under 15 seconds ALL the rust is gone. You should seal it afterwards, but good enough for me, and i just dump some more gas in and swish it and dump it out to remove any residue. Havnt used it on chrome yet but i dont see any reason why it would have any issues with it, it's a very mild acid but has a great chemical reaction with rust. if you really want to know how it works on chrome let me know, i've got a junk parts bike i'll pour some on. Best part is you dont have to do anything but just let it sit a few seconds, no scrubbing or steel wool or anything. it's cheap, maybe 10 bucks a gallon.
I also use citris paint stripper in a can you buy at home depo/lowes. does a good job cleaning up an engine but not over powerful to hurt stuff like rubber or frame i get a little over spray on.
Anyone got any easy chemical ideas for brightening up alluminum without having to work your ass off?? I tried bright jelly but wasnt impressed, my 400 grit sanding spongue does a better job. just looking for clean/bright, not show quality.

Some caution is in order if you use muriatic acid; depending on concentration, it can be very strong and harsh. Phosphoric acid is far more agreeable for use on most cycle parts, such as cleaning out a gas tank. Oxalic acid is next in line and works well to remove rust...Muriatic is the most harsh.

As to Seafoam, it works great to get small amounts of crud out of the carbs but it should not be used in lew of doing a proper carb teardown. Our GS line of bikes left the factory about 30 years ago, and all those carb O-rings are hard and brittle. Seafoam will not change that. Do a proper carb rebuild with new O-rings, and then use Seafoam as a maintenance item if you don't ride the bike enough to keep the carbs clear.

[GS-ESW]

No money nutty-mods for GS-1100-E

Collapsable-cane holder:

Cut and cupped ignition cover from old TV repair device:

[mmmansur]

Paint and polish those tired alloys (way under $50).

[lostsoul74]

Well i really wish I would of takin before and after pics. I made the comment earlier about the Muriatic acid, I had heard of it before on previous cycle forums, and I use it on the job all the time to clean crete and tile. Perhaps what you buy at home depo or other hardware store is deluted, but i dont find it harsh at all, I dont use gloves or anything, though if you do have cuts or anything it will mildly sting.
I had a 50 dollar parts gs750 bike i bought, was complete, guy died in early 90's and bike sat outside for X amount of years. It was pretty rough to say the least, headers were real bad, and springs were worst, forks and exhaust and everything else was pretty bad generally too, not anything I would of even attempted to try to save. But after posting that reply, since my previous trials with Muriatic acid were just for tanks, i decided to pour some in a spray bottle and go around and spray everything. I learned before when cleaning tanks that if it sits too long, like 10 minutes, then it would eat the plastic and soften the rubber of the petcock, but this stuff works fast, swish it back and forth in a tank for 45 seconds and all the rust is gone. So I tried a trial attempt to see how this would work on the rest of the bike, i used a spray bottle figuring i didnt just want to dump and soak it on things like spark plug wires and tires, etc.. etc.. but once i got spraying it didnt matter, and purposefully sprayed some on to see the effects.
The difference was amazing, within 30 seconds everything turned rust color and started dripping off, within about 1 1/2 minutes the entire bike looked brand new, sprayed it off with the garden hose and was just amazed, again, really wish I would of takin before and after pics. While the acid itself is not very strong, it has a chemical reaction with rust and instantly removes it.
I will say this though, dont leave it on chrome longer then 2 minutes, spray and rinse it off fairly soon, i'd almost suggest 2 applications to be safe, and at around 10 bucks a gallon, no reason not to.
If it sits on the chrome longer then 2 minutes, there will be some mild discoloration or spots. Areas that I sprayed first like the headlight and gauges that sat in the sun while spraying the rest, ended with a slight spotty discoloration after sitting there 2 minutes. Would of been perfectly fine if I had a bigger sprayer and sprayed everything quickly and then sprayed off after 1 minute, but i just used a little spray bottle laying around and took too long to spray the bike. it was a little hair spray bottle, a bigger bottle with bigger sprayer would of been more idea for quick application, or even better yet one of those yard sprayers that you pump would of been perfect.
It had a twisted chrome set of highway bars on it that were absolutely shot, 100 percent rust, after i rinsed the bike off, it litterally looked like i just installed them new. Springs were nice and bright again too, unbelievable.
Now, there is some negatives to this, Again, you dont want it to sit too long, keep your applications within the 1-1 1/2 minute mark and rinse off. Make sure you dog doesnt lick up the water either lol. But it's not that potent and after being deluted with water anyways, it's fine.
Keep in mind after the application and it has stripped the rust, those areas of rust are now left exposed to the elements. After the bike dried off and sat in the sun all day (we had a great warm sunny day up north here). After several hours sitting in the sun, you could see a light rust color appear in the problem areas. I'm not complaining, it looked 400 percent better then what it was, but I'm thinking theres some sort of substance I could of sprayed the metal with to help reseal it. I'm almost thinking a can of engine bright cleaner on everything would of left a small film which the metal would of absorbed and helped sealed. I guess a light clear coat would also work, but i'm sure theres something easier that the metal would absorb to help absorb and seal it. Perhaps some of you have an idea. Again, it still came out 400 percent better, but it litterally looked like new after original spray down before it sat unsealed in the sun.

just hte heads up since i figured i'd try it out and let others know.

[reddirtrider]

Hey lost, what's it do to aluminum?