I am getting ready for a long ride, Mexico to Alaska in June, so I asked myself, "what would Kevin do to prepare the GTS".
The bike has been apart for a couple of weeks now, and I just got it back together this morning. I rode it to work. Wonderful......what a difference. Besides greasing all the front and rear linkages and bearing, replacing all the brake fluid lines (the Kevin Special Group buy) with teflon/sst. Braid (what a job that was), new rubber, changing the oil and filter, replacing all the coolant (added WetterWater), changed drive sprocket back to one with a rubber donut ( chain noise is gone), installed the new dual headlight (HID/100 w H3), installed a new prototype HawkeOiler with automatic pulse (for testing), and I installed a set of Ohlins. I was a little worried when I first rode the bike before setting up the sag and dampening on the shocks. No one was around to put the weight on the bike so I could measure. It rode kinda harsh and was bouncy. I wasn't too impressed with Ohlins at first. Well, I caught my neighbor getting home this morning and sat his ass on the bike so I could measure and adjust the sag. Results of test riding, the front spring had to be unloaded three turns and the dampening in both directions opened up a few turns. Rear has heavier spring and I simply reduced damping both directions a few turns. If you've been thinking about biting the bullet and moving up to Ohlins on the GTS...don't hesitate any longer. They are wonderful. No front end dip when breaking. Very firm and controlled ride. All the small bumps in the road are gone. I am in awe as to how much difference they make. An extremely smooth ride with no harshness, and the bike feels very controllable and responsive to my input. The stock had about 37,000 miles on them so they were getting a little soft. I had a lot of front end dip under breaking. If I tightened up the compression damping I felt it in the ride. My only problem now is the ABS isn't working now. I can lock up the rear break. I bled the hell out of the system and ran and ran the test mode to flush the ABS. The brakes are firm. Anythoughs? hawke
