nerobro
04-20-2005, 03:25 AM
Well, early last year, the whole chicago tourny scene died. In june, I learned how to ride a bike. In august I got my licence. By the end of august I got my 1980 GS550E. This is me and the bike JUST after I got it.
http://www.zodnetworks.com/~nerobro/Nerobro/DSC00301.JPG
Wow, august 12. I still have long hair in that picture. That becomes signifigant later.
Well, as i recieved the bike, it had some problems. The previous owner (herefore known as the PO, or effing PO) had dreams of making it a chopper. And failed. He removed the turn signals, painted it with really crappy brown/black paint. The paint would disolve at a SNIFF of gasoline getting near it. It must have been house paint or something. The stock exhaust was replaced with a same year, "L" model, which had been gutted to be effectively straight pipes.
He also cut the back edge of the fender off removing the metal tail support in the process. So the taillight assembly shook and actaully ended up breaking several of the turn signals I tried putting on the bike. And... He removed the front fender. Oh yeah, it also was fitted with a 130 series tire that had been burned off on one edge due to the licence plate falling off.
The charging system had a shot rectifier. Only ONE diode was still functioning in it. (there are supposed to be six...) So we (Skreemer and I... that's the "we") replaced the recitifer with one that was signifigantly heavier duty than the suzuki part. The Stock parts are notorious for just being plain crap. The part we installed actually came off a 82 Honda CX500.
Long story short, I put turn signals on it. Replaced the "standard" bike bars with superbike bars. I tried drag bars as well but they streched me out a little to much, and would hit the tank at full lock. I'm not a tall guy so I'll use what fits.
First, the drag bars.
http://www.zodnetworks.com/~nerobro/public/Pictures/nerobro_bike/crouchablegs550.JPG
And even though the picture is from march 22 this year... it should give some idea of the superbike handlebar difference.
http://www.zodnetworks.com/~nerobro/Nerobro/StateofaffairsSaturday.JPG
Before long, I had all the electrical problems sorted. And I had a new wireing harness built for the turn signals, and new brackets made to fit them. And a licence plate. And a new H4 headlight to replace the DOT sealed beam that was on it. I finally had a happily sorted motorcycle.
Hours after I had bought the bike, I found this wonderfull website. www.thegsresources.com which has an extremely active forum, and very active forum members. A lot like this community. They helped me get the electrical sorted out, and invited me on a roadtrip.
Joe nardy, from the gs resources helped me change my tires. The tires on the bike, were... while not shot. untrustworthy. So a set of Bridgestone BT45's went on, in the stock, proper sizes, and away we went.
I think in the next coupple days I got my hair cut. Haircuts are bad for me. They generally lead to major life changing problems. For instance, I lost a girlfriend, got sick and wrecked my car, lost friends, lost money, and other varied issues when I have gotten my hair cut.
http://www.zodnetworks.com/~nerobro/Nerobro/GalenaSmall.JPG
Check it out, the bike has a front fender, turn signals, rear view mirrors. You can't see the working charging system. But you get the drift.
Yes, I do have short hair there. Yes I had just gotten a haircut. Yes that was a bad idea. Yes it ended badly.
There's a whole webpage covering what happened to me, and my gear. No pictures of the broken bike though. http://www.zodnetworks.com/~shorah/greg/ But I'll give you the highlights here.
http://www.zodnetworks.com/~shorah/greg/images/greg2.jpg
And see that right arm?
http://www.zodnetworks.com/~nerobro/Nerobro/wristxraysmall.jpg
I don't have scans of my left arm. It's much more amusing. A titanium plate and 6 screws hold the top end of my humorous togother. However that picture is pre shoulder surgery. In fact, I think that picture is only 48 hours after the accident.
so if you haven't gathered by now, yes, I wadded up my bike. The story is simple. I rode past my abilitys. However, the details are much more fun. Saturday my roomate, azemoth, crashed his bike. He got away with a bruized knee. Lucky boy. His fiance came in to pick him up saturday night, and sunday morning Skreemer and I took off with the 3 other remaining riders from the midwest gs resources ride. Joe was leading, he and first timer are very faster riders. Much faster than I. We were on a narrow road, very slightly more than enough for two cars to pass each other. So I was treating it as a two lane road, as to not get caught by any stupid cage drivers in the oncoming lane. Well, this isn't the proper way to treat a narrow road such as I was on. At about 45 mph I setup properly for a right hander, and at the exit of that cresting right hander there was a climing left hand corner. I setup far to far to the outside to make the corner. with only a few feet left in the corner, I ran out of tarmac and ended on the gravel beside the road. bike fell. I fell. Stupidity that I shall never repeat again.
Sad thing is? the bike could have done it. "I" didn't push the bike hard enough. Yes, I ALWAYS wear my safety gear. Yes I had a helmet on. yes I had gloves on. yes I had proper riding boots on.
http://www.zodnetworks.com/~nerobro/Nerobro/DSC00301.JPG
Wow, august 12. I still have long hair in that picture. That becomes signifigant later.
Well, as i recieved the bike, it had some problems. The previous owner (herefore known as the PO, or effing PO) had dreams of making it a chopper. And failed. He removed the turn signals, painted it with really crappy brown/black paint. The paint would disolve at a SNIFF of gasoline getting near it. It must have been house paint or something. The stock exhaust was replaced with a same year, "L" model, which had been gutted to be effectively straight pipes.
He also cut the back edge of the fender off removing the metal tail support in the process. So the taillight assembly shook and actaully ended up breaking several of the turn signals I tried putting on the bike. And... He removed the front fender. Oh yeah, it also was fitted with a 130 series tire that had been burned off on one edge due to the licence plate falling off.
The charging system had a shot rectifier. Only ONE diode was still functioning in it. (there are supposed to be six...) So we (Skreemer and I... that's the "we") replaced the recitifer with one that was signifigantly heavier duty than the suzuki part. The Stock parts are notorious for just being plain crap. The part we installed actually came off a 82 Honda CX500.
Long story short, I put turn signals on it. Replaced the "standard" bike bars with superbike bars. I tried drag bars as well but they streched me out a little to much, and would hit the tank at full lock. I'm not a tall guy so I'll use what fits.
First, the drag bars.
http://www.zodnetworks.com/~nerobro/public/Pictures/nerobro_bike/crouchablegs550.JPG
And even though the picture is from march 22 this year... it should give some idea of the superbike handlebar difference.
http://www.zodnetworks.com/~nerobro/Nerobro/StateofaffairsSaturday.JPG
Before long, I had all the electrical problems sorted. And I had a new wireing harness built for the turn signals, and new brackets made to fit them. And a licence plate. And a new H4 headlight to replace the DOT sealed beam that was on it. I finally had a happily sorted motorcycle.
Hours after I had bought the bike, I found this wonderfull website. www.thegsresources.com which has an extremely active forum, and very active forum members. A lot like this community. They helped me get the electrical sorted out, and invited me on a roadtrip.
Joe nardy, from the gs resources helped me change my tires. The tires on the bike, were... while not shot. untrustworthy. So a set of Bridgestone BT45's went on, in the stock, proper sizes, and away we went.
I think in the next coupple days I got my hair cut. Haircuts are bad for me. They generally lead to major life changing problems. For instance, I lost a girlfriend, got sick and wrecked my car, lost friends, lost money, and other varied issues when I have gotten my hair cut.
http://www.zodnetworks.com/~nerobro/Nerobro/GalenaSmall.JPG
Check it out, the bike has a front fender, turn signals, rear view mirrors. You can't see the working charging system. But you get the drift.
Yes, I do have short hair there. Yes I had just gotten a haircut. Yes that was a bad idea. Yes it ended badly.
There's a whole webpage covering what happened to me, and my gear. No pictures of the broken bike though. http://www.zodnetworks.com/~shorah/greg/ But I'll give you the highlights here.
http://www.zodnetworks.com/~shorah/greg/images/greg2.jpg
And see that right arm?
http://www.zodnetworks.com/~nerobro/Nerobro/wristxraysmall.jpg
I don't have scans of my left arm. It's much more amusing. A titanium plate and 6 screws hold the top end of my humorous togother. However that picture is pre shoulder surgery. In fact, I think that picture is only 48 hours after the accident.
so if you haven't gathered by now, yes, I wadded up my bike. The story is simple. I rode past my abilitys. However, the details are much more fun. Saturday my roomate, azemoth, crashed his bike. He got away with a bruized knee. Lucky boy. His fiance came in to pick him up saturday night, and sunday morning Skreemer and I took off with the 3 other remaining riders from the midwest gs resources ride. Joe was leading, he and first timer are very faster riders. Much faster than I. We were on a narrow road, very slightly more than enough for two cars to pass each other. So I was treating it as a two lane road, as to not get caught by any stupid cage drivers in the oncoming lane. Well, this isn't the proper way to treat a narrow road such as I was on. At about 45 mph I setup properly for a right hander, and at the exit of that cresting right hander there was a climing left hand corner. I setup far to far to the outside to make the corner. with only a few feet left in the corner, I ran out of tarmac and ended on the gravel beside the road. bike fell. I fell. Stupidity that I shall never repeat again.
Sad thing is? the bike could have done it. "I" didn't push the bike hard enough. Yes, I ALWAYS wear my safety gear. Yes I had a helmet on. yes I had gloves on. yes I had proper riding boots on.