BOUNCY ON THE INTERSTATE !

[adam]

HEY, MY NAME IS ADAM, I JUST BOUGHT A 81 GS450 L . MY QUESTION : I KEEP BOUNCING OF MY SEAT WHILE GOING OVER THOSE SPEED BUMPS ON THE INTERSTATE/ HIGHWAY AND I'M WONDERING IF I CAN SIMPLY ADJUST THE SHOCKS OR SPRINGS OR WILL REPLACING KEEP ME ON MY SEAT ?

[Jethro]

24 year old shocks can suck bad. You probably have little or no dampening left in those shocks. You can replace the dampening fluid in the forks (and you should), but the rears aren't rebuildable. My 83 1100 has the original shocks, what I did was crank the heck out of them, making them as stiff as can be. Then I rebuilt the fork with new fork oil and progressive springs. It still sucks on the highway when I'm leaning and go over a bump, but it's good enough to ride. Can't make these old girls perfect, but you can make them a little better.

[Billy Ricks]

How long since the tires were balanced?

[bjrehill]

I would adjust the pretension on the rear shocks and change the fork oil. It is amazing what new oil and properly balanced rear settings can make.

[adam]

thank you all very much for the input and

a glance at my owners manual revealed that i could adjust the shocks with a spanner wrench. I forgot to mention this bike only has 9999 miles on it . It was at the stiffest setting so i knocked it down two clicks to C position . Right in the middle. It then did exactly what I wanted it to do for legal riding on the interstate. 100 % better. But I've got the fever now so I'm tempted to get new shocks and springs. Got new cafe style bars and a seat from a gs450 T ! I'll post some pictures as soon as I do it up. Beware of 2 ft. tall women in large SUV's !

[adam]

reply

I dont know when the tires were balanced last. Does not seem to need but then again i'm not a mechanic. But the last time I noticed there were some of those little weights on the wheels.