GSXS 1000 - Mofo's Gixxus

[Taipan]

Great, illustrated ride report!

[Supermofo]

Met up with my mate in Finchingfield this morning and headed to the tea room at Heybridge for breakfast. Nice ride on some roads I've not done before but bugger me the low sun is hard work. There were some decent bends but you just couldn't see well enough to go very fast, so settled for enjoying the ride. Sounds like next time we meet up we might head for Mersea Island but whether that's this year or next will be weather dependent.

[Dodgy69]

Was a great illustrated report, think GS time is approaching.

[v8-powered]

Met up with my mate in Finchingfield this morning and headed to the tea room at Heybridge for breakfast. Nice ride on some roads I've not done before but bugger me the low sun is hard work. There were some decent bends but you just couldn't see well enough to go very fast, so settled for enjoying the ride. Sounds like next time we meet up we might head for Mersea Island but whether that's this year or next will be weather dependent.

Some nice places to eat on Mersea if you like seafood. More than welcome to stop off here for a brew, not that far away.....

[Supermofo]

As the weather is dropping really cold and the salt lorries are finally out I thought I'd take the battery out, take it into the house to keep it warm via a cuddle on the sofa over a hot cuppa coacoa. On the 690 this took about 5 mins all in.

Accessing the battery was easy, rear seat off, Allen key, front seat off. Jobs a good un.....or not. The battery is wedged in good and proper. It sits in a battery tray with high sides so no grip there, 1/3 of it is under the rear subframe with 0 clearance space so it can't be lifted up, but there is a lip at the front of the tray that it needs lifting over. This lip allows barely any forward movement at all. So it needs to come to the back of the bike and lifted at the same time with pretty much 0 clearance anywhere and no hand holds. And to make it even more awkward the main battery terminals and other gubbins are wedged in front of the battery and between the battery and the reg/rec. I could just about get a finger tip or 2 into the space. Took about 15 mins of pulling/pushing and swearing, mangling my pampered office boy hands in the process. Eventually I managed by reaching under the bike behind the rear shock and pushing with a couple of fingers via a small opening there and lifting at the same time with my other hand having first had to move a rubber mounted cable holder thing with the main terminals and fuses to give me a couple of extra mm. What a cock of a job just to get the battery out

On a more positive (geddit) note I stuck it on charge, I can't get power in my garage hence taking battery out, and it went straight up to 14v and maintain.

I reckon it's gonna be awkward getting the bastard back in too.

[Yorick]

As the weather is dropping really cold and the salt lorries are finally out I thought I'd take the battery out, take it into the house to keep it warm via a cuddle on the sofa over a hot cuppa coacoa. On the 690 this took about 5 mins all in.

Accessing the battery was easy, rear seat off, Allen key, front seat off. Jobs a good un.....or not. The battery is wedged in good and proper. It sits in a battery tray with high sides so no grip there, 1/3 of it is under the rear subframe with 0 clearance space so it can't be lifted up, but there is a lip at the front of the tray that it needs lifting over. This lip allows barely any forward movement at all. So it needs to come to the back of the bike and lifted at the same time with pretty much 0 clearance anywhere and no hand holds. And to make it even more awkward the main battery terminals and other gubbins are wedged in front of the battery and between the battery and the reg/rec. I could just about get a finger tip or 2 into the space. Took about 15 mins of pulling/pushing and swearing, mangling my pampered office boy hands in the process. Eventually I managed by reaching under the bike behind the rear shock and pushing with a couple of fingers via a small opening there and lifting at the same time with my other hand having first had to move a rubber mounted cable holder thing with the main terminals and fuses to give me a couple of extra mm. What a cock of a job just to get the battery out

On a more positive (geddit) note I stuck it on charge, I can't get power in my garage hence taking battery out, and it went straight up to 14v and maintain.

I reckon it's gonna be awkward getting the bastard back in too.

Tie something to the terminals

[Skub]

As the weather is dropping really cold and the salt lorries are finally out I thought I'd take the battery out, take it into the house to keep it warm via a cuddle on the sofa over a hot cuppa coacoa. On the 690 this took about 5 mins all in.

Accessing the battery was easy, rear seat off, Allen key, front seat off. Jobs a good un.....or not. The battery is wedged in good and proper. It sits in a battery tray with high sides so no grip there, 1/3 of it is under the rear subframe with 0 clearance space so it can't be lifted up, but there is a lip at the front of the tray that it needs lifting over. This lip allows barely any forward movement at all. So it needs to come to the back of the bike and lifted at the same time with pretty much 0 clearance anywhere and no hand holds. And to make it even more awkward the main battery terminals and other gubbins are wedged in front of the battery and between the battery and the reg/rec. I could just about get a finger tip or 2 into the space. Took about 15 mins of pulling/pushing and swearing, mangling my pampered office boy hands in the process. Eventually I managed by reaching under the bike behind the rear shock and pushing with a couple of fingers via a small opening there and lifting at the same time with my other hand having first had to move a rubber mounted cable holder thing with the main terminals and fuses to give me a couple of extra mm. What a cock of a job just to get the battery out

On a more positive (geddit) note I stuck it on charge, I can't get power in my garage hence taking battery out, and it went straight up to 14v and maintain.

I reckon it's gonna be awkward getting the bastard back in too.

Throw it away and fit a Shido Lithium battery. They are usually dimensionally smaller as well as a fraction of the weight of a lead/acid jobby.

[Supermofo]

Tie something to the terminals

I had exactly that thought.





when I got back in the house

[Supermofo]

Throw it away and fit a Shido Lithium battery. They are usually dimensionally smaller as well as a fraction of the weight of a lead/acid jobby.

I'm too tight to throw away a good battery especially as I'll need a new charger too, but replacement time I'll defo be considering it.

[Skub]

Throw it away and fit a Shido Lithium battery. They are usually dimensionally smaller as well as a fraction of the weight of a lead/acid jobby.

I'm too tight to throw away a good battery especially as I'll need a new charger too, but replacement time I'll defo be considering it.

You may wait a while,my 10R was 16 years old when I sold it and it still had the original battery.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I always put a loop of duck/duct (never know which it is ) tape around new batteries to make a handle. I do it just out of habit now cause I've had some which are proper cvnts to get out.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

It's duct tape, it was originally made for sealing air conditioning ducts.
Duck tape is a brand of sticky tape.

[Mr. Dazzle]

I think technically its self adhesive woven grey tape

[Supermofo]

But one day I might need that single roller skate or my outdated A-level Chemistry text books!

Any another thing, there will be no prepping or wiping things with rags. This is me we're talking about, all toity and full of myself, like one of Tolkein's High Elves. It either doesn't rust under a cover or it goes.

Well giving mine a better look over seems my header pipes are going in the garage! Were fine when I put it away, to be fair I've not ACF'd them or nothing but still!



Only on the top of the headers though (from heat? ) further down where they are shot blasted with road debris they are fine



More rust than my 690 headers had in 6 years (also no ACF) but then again the Suzuki doesn't have a hand grenade sitting in the valve train

So as per the above post in MLSP's thread, what's best to sort that surface rust out? Was thinking scotch bright pad and GT85 as a starter or Autosol?

Then think I need to ACF50 the bastid which I've ordered. Didn't bother before as the KTM fared ok in the garage but it's dampness has obviously disagreed with the GSXS. Think the pipes are stainless? No other rust further down or underneath the bike/cat/end can.

[Skub]

If you start with the autosol,you'll have to keep doing it. I'd just hit it with ACF and give it a rub around with a rag.

I've not had condensation/rust bother in my garage until this Winter. I'd put it down to the boiler moving outside,but maybe there are other weather issues at work.

I've just installed a dehumidifier today,with the hope it will help with the problem.

[KungFooBob]

Autosol does have a form of protective wax in it too, it doesn't just leave the metal bare.

[Supermofo]

I've not had condensation/rust bother in my garage until this Winter. I'd put it down to the boiler moving outside,but maybe there are other weather issues at work.

Does seem particularly damp this year, when I was in the garage today the body work was damp to the touch which isn't usual. Chuff all I can do about it to will clean it and then ACF it

[ChrisW]

I've not had condensation/rust bother in my garage until this Winter. I'd put it down to the boiler moving outside,but maybe there are other weather issues at work.

Does seem particularly damp this year, when I was in the garage today the body work was damp to the touch which isn't usual. Chuff all I can do about it to will clean it and then ACF it

It doesn't seem to have got cold enough for long enough for things to dry out this year.

[weeksy]

I've just installed a dehumidifier today,with the hope it will help with the problem.

Curious to see how that goes, both in terms of solving problem and also the electricity used.

[Supermofo]

I've just installed a dehumidifier today,with the hope it will help with the problem.

Curious to see how that goes, both in terms of solving problem and also the electricity used.

I have one, in the house it works well if drying washing etc but in my garage it's so cold/damp I doubt it'd do much as it'd be churning forever. Might work well in a garage like yours attached to the house, but not mine as its a distance from the house and lots of gaps. My understanding is they don't cost much to run.