Thanks for your interest. Trust me, the plate bracket is flimsy! It will bend before the plate puts enough pressure on me to puncture through Kevlar jeans and skin. I wear protective clothing, not like a lot of Americans I see wearing shorts, trainers and a shirt, with no gloves. I know it's hot over there in SoCal but come on! I cede it is a valid point, and no it would not pass an Isle of Man TT inspection ;D but it has passed several MOT inspections. I also wear an open-face when riding the GS and I think I'm more likely to cause some serious problems when my face/chin when it meets tarmac/car!
Can we leave the plate now?! ;D
Engine:
I've just put the pod filters on, upped the main jets by about 5 sizes and the pilot jets a size. I've put in electronic ignition timing coz I got tired of adjusting the old points (it seemed to be un-reliable sometimes). And I adjusted the shims. I bought it as a non-runner and now she starts perfectly every time and runs smooth and fast (for a 550!).
Although the clutch has started to slip slightly on full throttle at around 100mph. I guess it's when there's full power and full wind resistance. If I roll off and back on it wont slip. So I'll be looking at the clutch soon I think! Any tips on that??
Seat:
I was making my own seat but found a seat that matched what I wanted exactly so I just bought it. It turned out cheaper than buying the flower arranging foamy things and moulding my own anyway! I mounted it to the original seat hinge.
Suspension and brakes:
The front brake was shocking. I fitted braided hoses, a new second-hand master cylinder and bled the brakes in all manor of ways. There was only a slight performance increase. The new master cylinder started leaking and so I realised buying a second-hand lever was a waste of time! Now I've fitted new levers. I changed the ratio slightly so it gives a slightly stiffer feel. I've yet to ride it to find out how it feels on the road coz it's still wet outside. But it feels much better in the garage! I was thinking about drilled discs, but the problem isn't too much heat, it's just too much play in the calipers. You can see them flex on the forks when I pull the lever hard. Maybe it's bad pads. I've never changed the pads.
I've just dropped the forks an inch through the triple. And rear Koni shocks are on max. Otherwise standard suspension set up.
The rear brake feels great so I've never touched that. I always guessed it was this way coz older bikes are like that. My ZX6R front brakes are awesome and the rear is almost pointless!
Any tips on improving the front brakes on GS550??
Next up is grind off the old handlebar mounts, then maybe rear sets.