Just got a GS550E with some issues...

[Nerobro]

well, i'm quite sure my carburator vents are open and clear... They have no hoses on them.

As for the vacuum line and the gas line. I tried replacing those a week or two ago, and I managed to not find a suitable source of fuel line. Everythign at murrys had something like a 1/4" thick wall and the stuff that's on the bike is more liek 1/8" wall.

[lhanscom]

Just find the right size ID, the wall thickness doesn't matter. Any auto parts store should have what you need.

[Nerobro]

They have the right ID stuff. But it's a pain to try to fit to the bike.

so we have a new gripe. IT seems like my kickstand leans my bike about twice as far over as it should Last night my bike (very slightly inclined driveway) drooled gasoline from the carbuator vents, all over the left side engine case peeling the paint off of it.

Has anyone else had a simmilar issue? I'm going to be carefully checking the kickstand mount tomorow to see if I can hunt down the problem. My first hunch is that it's pivot is worn to heck. And at 56k miles I"d probally not blame it.

[Nerobro]

Well, I have bought a few new parts for my bike. I bought the slotted rotor from a 82 gs850. and I bought the caliper from a 83 gs550es Because one piston on my rear caliper is siezed. I also bought a GS550 front wheel with a drilled brake rotor on it. Evidently properly drilled due to all the chamfered holes in it.

I was intending on putting the drilled rotor on my back wheel with the GS550ES caliper and bracket. I discovered tonight that the 83 550 uses smaller diameter brakes. about an inch smaller. *shrugs* My plans foiled.

tomorow I'm mounting my slotted rotor on my front wheel. there's a local machine shop that I"m going to court about having my drilled rotor turned down to fit the 83 rear caliper and bracket. So long as their quote is low enough that is. If it isn't, I'll be searching for a GS550ES brake rotor ;-) The 83 caliper is lighter and smaller. The disk will be smaller, and lighter. And the bracket is smaller and lighter. Mmmm the wonders of lowering unsprung weight. :-)

I bled my brakes tonight. My front is much firmer. And I find that very reassuring. no matter how hard I try I can't get the lever to the the grip. That's about perfect in my mind. That's how I would setup my bike brakes.

My rear brake... well was very ineffective before. Now that it's been properly bled I can actually lockup the rear tire. I had never done that on my bike before.

I now have more braking power than my tires can handle. That is my definition of "enough" braking. This makes me my bikes ABS system ;-) and I'm entirely ok, and cappable of handling those duties.

First timer suggested that I take apart, and rebuild my gascap. I'm fairly certian that my gascap is making a very good seal and is causing my bike to die on occation. Opening the gas cap, and leaving it loose allows the bike to start quickly and take off again after it dies.

Both of my rear turn signals cracked off. I"m replacing them with longer models and will be mounting them on rubber bushings this time. The length, and rubber should get togother to dampen out much of the vibration that was causing the bulbs to go out, and the housings to crack.

I also have a new tail cowl coming. My current one shakes in a scary manner. I think it needs some bracing. it would appear that the tail lost a lot of stiffness when the effing po removed the rear fender.

This bike diary is getting a bit long ;-) but talk about documentation!

[KEITH KRAUSE]

I just wanted to say something about drilling the rotors.
DO NOT CHAMFER THE HOLES. If you used a sharp bit, the holes will be clean. One of the benefits of holes is they help stop galling by scrapping the pad clean. Chamferring the holes ruins this cleaning action.

[Nerobro]

they were done properly. "I" didn't chambfer them. It's the way they came.

[KEITH KRAUSE]

they were done properly. "I" didn't chambfer them. It's the way they came.

I read what you said. I did'nt say you did the work. Your rotors will still work. I'm just telling others that the holes should not be chamfered or de-burred in any way. A clean, straight hole, works better. If you're saying they should be chamfered, then that's your opinion.

[Anonymous]

The way you have to open the gas cap to keep it from stalling is a symptom of a pinched vent line. Should be an easy fix.

[Nerobro]

I think my gas cap is supposed to be my vent... At least there is no obvious vent for my tank.

[KEITH KRAUSE]

I think my gas cap is supposed to be my vent... At least there is no obvious vent for my tank.

Your gas cap has a vent in it. If you take the cap off and shake it, you should hear the ball rattle around. If this vent is gummed up, you'll get fuel starvation. Carb cleaner with a spray tube will clean the vent assembly well.

[Nerobro]

Well then, that's a project for tomorow night. Cleaning the gascap. As a note, mine can not be disassembled. :-/

Okey, so saturday skreemer and I went to joe nardys to change tires. We did that. And did that relitively quickly when you think that 2/3 of the people there had never changed a tire, or taken the front wheel off a bike before.

Joe was unvbelievably helpfull, and helped skreemer try and lighten his clutch cable. (Skreemer replaced his clutch tonihgt and it's much much much much lighter.)

Changing the tires on my bike was a good thing... But a bad thing as well. My bikes steering became heavy and sluggish. My old rear tire was a 18/130-90. My new one is a 120... I gained quite a bit of rake. That would definitely explain the sluggishness. Tonight I slipped my tripple trees down my forks. I didn't move them far. just 1/4" this time. I will probally go another 1/8 or 1/4" before the ride this weekend. What I really liked about the bike was it's light, and quick steering. Which is definitely lost with the tire change.

I also trimmed my fender to look stockish again. :-) It now clears my tire properly and looks good doing it.

I bought some of the non dot taillights this weekend, and I got them installed tonight. The difference between the dot and non dot tailights are.. get this.. a reflector. they're still bright and effective so I'm not concerned. K&S can bite me at this point ;-)

While at joes we tried fixing my kickstand. IT lets the bike lean over far enough that the carbs leak fuel out the vents. Not a good thing! And switching to the smaller tires, and lifting the forks in the tripple trees makes the bike a whole heck of a lot harder to get onto the center stand.

the tab on my frame that the kickstand mounts to is worn into a triangle shape. the fork on the kickstand was worn into a v. We bent the top of the kickstand nearly back into line. the sides are now parallel. that was only partially effective. I think it might be time to install a setscrew to take up the slack in the kickstand pivot. Otherwise it will need some welding to build it back up and then some grinding to bring it back into shape. This is just not a pretty situation with the kickstand.

I have my handguards installed. And I'm waiting for a new tail cowl and speedometer cable to come in the mail.

While removing my front wheel this weekend for the tire change, I broke my spedometer cable. So I am spedometer and odometer less for the moment. And all the math I used to have to figure out speed is screwed up because my rear tire was changed :-) The smaller rear tire DOES improve acceleration though!

My bike has an intermittant knocking sound. It comes and goes... I"m hoping it's valvetrain related. :-) if it's not... well... then I"m glad I have roadside assitance with progressive.

[80gs1000e]

While at joes we tried fixing my kickstand. IT lets the bike lean over far enough that the carbs leak fuel out the vents. Not a good thing! And switching to the smaller tires, and lifting the forks in the tripple trees makes the bike a whole heck of a lot harder to get onto the center stand.

I used to have trouble with my centerstand until Joe showed me the proper way to do it..........now the 1000 is EASY to get up, before I was struggling with the 550. You know, these "old guys" actually know a thing or 2!

Glad your ride/rides are coming together.

-D

[bwringer]

If your speedo is driven from the front wheel, then a larger or smaller rear tire won't have any effect on accuracy.

However breaking the cable during a front tire change definitely will...

[Joe Nardy]

You know, these "old guys" actually know a thing or 2!
-D

Yes we do! Like how to use our new high tech cell phones!

Joe

[Nerobro]

If your speedo is driven from the front wheel, then a larger or smaller rear tire won't have any effect on accuracy.

However breaking the cable during a front tire change definitely will...

That's EXACTLY the problem :-) My brain is trained to see certian rpms at certian speeds. But with the smaller rear tire that's all thrown to the wind.