gs450 re-build

[pete]

Cool, solenoid's easy, starter's not too bad as you have a spare.

[mlc216]

Well it was the battery. Showed good voltage but it must have not been up to the amperage needed to crank. Bought the tiniest battery I could find at walmart and it cranks and runs great!

Man it sure is nice to finally ride my bike...

[pete]

Good stuff! Glad to hear you can start without bumping it again

[mlc216]

It actually made me feel warm and fuzzy inside when I bump started it haha. Could've been heartburn though.


I rode my bike to work this morning.... and WOW. I never thought a little bike could be so fun. We stayed at our new house for the first time last night and I decided the bike was running well enough that I should give it a go... glad I did.
My commute is 24-25 miles of country back roads. I can go a few different ways, but every way but one has at least 1-2 miles of gravel road that I have to ride to short cut a little. This morning I chose a route that contained about 2 miles of gravel and I was a little worried about it, but I've raced mountain bikes for the past few years so how bad could it be? Actually it wasn't bad at all... It was pretty fun. During the commute I almost ran over a rabbit, dodged a few doves that were taking off, and passed a tractor. There are several curvy sections, but there are also several long straight sections with nothing but pasture on both sides. This little 450 opens up pretty nice! Man I can't wait to go home haha

[pete]

Awesome stuff! Glad you're having a blast

[mlc216]

Haha yeah me too. Rode to lunch with a guy from work who was on his 750 shadow and I was leaving him behind everywhere

[pete]

Well... 750 Shadow = V twin sluggard anyway don't it?

Actually I've always had a bit of a thing for the Shadows ever since they released the 600 that had the softail styled rear end... no idea why...

And yep, I found my 450 had enough get up and go for my liking, it was only sitting on the highway with trucks blasting by that was a problem due to the weight of the bike. I don't intent to be on the highway that much...

[mlc216]

Yeah I'm thinking the chopper stance gives the bike + me a lower center of gravity, because I get blown around less on it than I did on my sv650.

Looking forward to doing a roadtrip sometime in the near future.

[mlc216]

From the ride home

[pete]

Wow I'm jealous... my view during my ride home is usually some smelly person sitting on the train seat in front of me...

[mlc216]

Well it's not perfect... I have to ride east in the morning and west back home in the evening... so if the sun is shining, it's in my eyes haha

[mlc216]

[pete]

Nice... that is such an improvement over how you first got it...

[Woodsy]

hmm thats different

[mlc216]

So yesterday was a wild ride for the 450 for sure. When I got to work I hopped off the bike and my tag/taillight bracket was hanging by the wires. It had broken off from all the bumps and vibrations. Guess I ground the weld out a little too thin. Oh well, I rolled it into the shop at work during my lunch hour and ground the paint off and welded it back on. Well it's solid now. Very solid.
But then, on the way home I stopped in a little town on the way home to gas up and there was a $5 minimum purchase for debit cards. Well there is no way my tank was going to take $4 let alone 5, so I bought a drink and some candy. Went outside, filled up, stuffed the drink behind my jacket that was strapped to the sissy bar and went on my way. Well I reached back to check on the stuff behind me and the drink felt loose, so I pulled it out and put it between my legs and the tank and didn't think anything of it. Well a few miles down the road I look over my shoulder and see a jacket arm flapping in the wind so just as I'm about to slow down and pull over, the rear wheel locks up! Well this is quite the surprise to me as I'm doing 55-60 mph on a country back road. So I'm in a full skid just surfing it back and forth trying not to let it go too far to one side and it finally stopped. Wow a lightweight hardtail will slide a long ways haha. Rocked the bike back, yanked the jacket out, downshifted 5 gears, rolled my jacket up and rode the last 6 miles home without a problem...

The damage...