• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

Recommendations, boring, ballancing

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
Had it out yesterday, Pulls better now.

The front gets really light when shifting from first to second :P

I'll try and get a driving video this week.
 
I've been meaning to get a video but my camera couldn't handle it and finally died :P

Now I have a go-pro to try it with.

I've put about 130 km on it so far and I'm playing with the jetting a little more...

It originally felt spongy in mid range. Now I've cut 1/2 inch off of the springs and raised the needles 2 notches. I can't raise the needle any more than that without fouling plugs. I'm thinking of dropping it again and just messing with the springs and slide hole.

Result so far: Wheelies in first gear and clutch slips when pulling from 5-8k in any gear. Launches off of speed bumps :P

So I'm looking for heavier springs for the gs500 clutch I have in there.
 
Awesome! I gotta see video of this :D

One thing I noticed with mine is now my mains are close to right I've had to drop my needles back down, it was also a bit lacking (borderline bogging) in the midrange like you're saying.

I now have a shim in and stock needle position, so they're half a notch richer than stock.

While out playing yesterday I did a few tests at WOT where I'd hold there then let the throttle back to about 3/4 or so and it kept pulling, tells me my 145's are still a touch too big...

One of the guys made a comment the other week that when you get your main right on these CV's you should be able to go back close to stock needle position, and that's what got me thinking/fiddling again.

So far it's much crisper on the throttle up until the main kicks in...
 
I've been meaning to get a video but my camera couldn't handle it and finally died :P

Now I have a go-pro to try it with.

I've put about 130 km on it so far and I'm playing with the jetting a little more...

It originally felt spongy in mid range. Now I've cut 1/2 inch off of the springs and raised the needles 2 notches. I can't raise the needle any more than that without fouling plugs. I'm thinking of dropping it again and just messing with the springs and slide hole.

Result so far: Wheelies in first gear and clutch slips when pulling from 5-8k in any gear. Launches off of speed bumps :P

So I'm looking for heavier springs for the gs500 clutch I have in there.


I have a clutch write up on GS twins.I used EBC kevlar friction discs for a 1st gen SV650 and Barnett clutch springs for a 1st gen SV650.Beware,it's double the stiffness and takes a strong hand to hold the clutch in for extended periods.Bob B over there runs 3 stock springs and 3 Barnett springs for less clutch pull effort.It's still better than stock.
 
Any updates?

That is probably the meanest GS twin on earth. :clap:
 
Not much to update. Its stored for the winter. I took the battery out yesterday and surprisingly its still holding >13v :)
 
First update of the year,
Took the bike out yesterday and it felt good. Still ran just the same as last year but the carb's are just not right.

I tried raising the needle since I don't have any specialy tapered needles and it made cruising impossible.

The entire midrange was way too rich.

so I dropped it back to center and thinking of going leaner 1 notch since its super sensitive to that needle now.

Weird thing is that I have one cylinder richer than the other so I'm going to tear them apart soon unless I can find some good 500 carbs cheap off ebay.
I like the way the 500 likes to just take the gas where the 540 wants more throttle to do the same.

I'm sure its just a matter of setting up the carbs properly but I'm just playing with them for now and trying things out.
Have to say that the big bore does feel better, just not up to its potential yet and I'm sure my pipes are a big restriction right now!
Looking for a nice set of slip-on's that go with the L cruiser theme.


The worst thing this year is the rust! Its amazing what can happen over the winter even when stored inside.
so I've been cleaning up everything and getting ready for the usual maintenance.
On top of that I need a new rear tire since this one has good thread but is weather cracked :eek:



And on top of that, my first run reveled a dying RR. So I'm going to do some investigating and see what failed.
It still puts out enough to run the bike so that's good but there's allot of ripple that I can see in the lights.
First sign of that was my voltmeter hitting 18V!!! Some glad I installed that thing !
Checked the fuses and all connections and it seemed to behave after that with no problems so ?????
Have to dig into it.
Sucks because I just gave away an sh775 to a friend lol.
 
And on top of that, my first run reveled a dying RR. So I'm going to do some investigating and see what failed.
It still puts out enough to run the bike so that's good but there's allot of ripple that I can see in the lights.
First sign of that was my voltmeter hitting 18V!!! Some glad I installed that thing !
Checked the fuses and all connections and it seemed to behave after that with no problems so ?????
Have to dig into it.
Sucks because I just gave away an sh775 to a friend lol.

Don't ride it like that! You can fry ignitors, lights, the stator, and some other expensive and hard to find stuff.
 
Don't ride it like that! You can fry ignitors, lights, the stator, and some other expensive and hard to find stuff.

lol I got it Tom. I pretty much puted it back home under 2500 after I saw that :P
Voltage was steady at 12.8 under 3000 and I even thought about just pulling the charging fuse just to get it home.
Although I do happen to have all the goodies to replace if I have to replace anything.
Weird though that it just stopped regulating for no reason and then started again :P
After I got home I looked things over and it started behaving as normal.
I'll be changing out the regulator for sh775 as soon as I find a good one cheap.
Got any leads ?
 
Last edited:
Check your grounds and make sure they're not corroded.I replace all my R/R with mosfet units.They aren't much more money than new and the charge is a lot cleaner and steadier.I have FH012 R/R on all my bikes.I find them used for under $50 on ebay.There are Kits available with all new parts.You can use connectors or standard .250female spade connectors.Lots of info on the net about up grading to these R/R.
 
Thoroughly enjoyed reading this entire thread this morning. Learned and relearned a bunch of stuff. I'd love to have a copy of you compression ratio spreadsheet you built. Seems like a nice little tool to have around. Really impressed. Rays headooked great and the patience and craft Stephen has executed is just fantastic. Love this site. Need to donate some money to the site. Great stuff!
 
You don't need to change needles to match the air/fuel ratio to your bigger motor. If you had slide type carbs you would change the cutaways to tune it. You can do the same thing on CV's by enlarging the vacuum sensing holes on the bottom of the slides to increase the rate of lift and thus provide the extra air it seems to need.
Go up in .10mm steps and I think you'll like the results.
 
You don't need to change needles to match the air/fuel ratio to your bigger motor. If you had slide type carbs you would change the cutaways to tune it. You can do the same thing on CV's by enlarging the vacuum sensing holes on the bottom of the slides to increase the rate of lift and thus provide the extra air it seems to need.
Go up in .10mm steps and I think you'll like the results.


I did the same thing by cutting 10mm off my slide springs.It helped a lot.
 
Glad to hear she's going well so far Stephen but the R/R... :eek:

I just put a SH775 on mine, $US67 from Partzilla, just took a while to arrive... I need a new stator too though :(

On the 450 I took 20mm off the slide springs and the vacuum holes are out to about 3mm from memory... I like it :D
 
Already cut the springs down 10mm, did that before even first trying it :P
Haven't drilled the slides but yeah I know what it will do :) I have a spare set I'm tinkering with.

The regulator and stator I have in there were both "ricks electrics". I didn't expect them to last, thing was over-wound to start off with and charged up to 14 at idle :P Twas only a matter of time.
I'm suspecting the ground I have right now was intermittent and caused the regulator to blow. Its mounted under my swingarm and I think the ground wire was just flexing too much. But doesn't matter, I'll take any excuse to switch it up to something better and maybe choose another mounting location.
And before finishing typing this, Its on its way, $70 cad for the unit and 29cad shipping. Not bad for piece of mind.
 
If you're putting it under your seat, be prepared to have the fins perpendicular to air flow... maybe with a different layout it might be ok but I couldn't get it sideways and still be able to plug the wiring in without the frame rails being in the way.

If my electrics tray was below the frame rails it might have been possible.

Where'd you end up ordering it from?
 
Guess what Pete :P

Partzilla :)

Even the dealer here wanted 150 for the same unit.
 
Last edited:
That's insane! That's almost as expensive as here... except your $ is worth more than ours!
 
Back
Top