Hello everyone

[Mister Fishfinger]

Well as this seems like such a friendly forum, I thought I would introduce myself and my bike.

I have been the proud owner of a GSX1400 for just over a week. Don't laugh, but my previous bike was a 1979 Yamaha XS750 triple, which I rebuilt from a basket case to pretty much showroom condition over a few years. I had so much fun building it that I decided to take on another project, this time an XS1100 (same age, just the bigger brother of the 750).

I also thought it would be nice to have a modern bike with fuel injection and stuff, just to experience 21st century technology for a change. A friend of mine suggested I look at a GSX1400, so after a bit of hunting I found a 2006 registered FE model with just 10,000 miles on the clock.

As you can imagine, the difference in power output between the two bikes is staggering. You guys have probably got used to it by now, but to me it feels like being shot from a cannon every time I open the throttle. Discretion is the better part of valour at the moment, but I'm already falling in love with it as a machine.

The modern-bike-reliability thing is not working out quite as I planned though. The bike had been stood for a long time and to be honest had been neglected. First major issue was the clutch slave cylinder. On the ride home I noticed the clutch action was really heavy and my wrist was aching after about 90 minutes. I bled the system and left it overnight, then next morning had a look and there was a tell-tale dribble of fluid underneath. So I bought a replacement seal (and also the optional extra dust seal as recommended on this fine site) and rebuilt the slave cylinder, carefully polishing out the corrosion from inside the alloy body. All looking good so far.

The chain was slacker than old knicker elastic so I adjusted that, changed the oil and filter, changed the air filter and bled the brakes.

All good, I thought, and off I went again. Then I noticed that the handling was a bit on the bouncy castle side (I am a large gentleman), so tonight I started looking at the suspension settings, again thanks to this brilliant site.

But now I find that the preload adjuster on the right hand side of the bike is rock solid, so at the moment I am stuck on "as soft as it gets".

Ah well, teething troubles really. Here's a pic anyway:

[Kiwifruit]

Hi  there.....pleased you introduced yourself. Welcome. 
Im sure you will have your new ride ship shape in no time. They are a great bike and this is a great site.
Enjoy !!

[Buddynq]

Welcome - Hope your knickers elastic is fixed 

[grog]

Welcome mate. Just keep following the tips, no rush. Will be sweet. Can rem first xs11 i rode, that was like a rocket then.

[gsxbarmy]

 

Glad you found us and welcome to the forum - plenty of hints, tips, downloads (technical advice and approaches) and talking tosh here, so any problem I'm sure we can assist!

Very nice looking K5 you've picked up!

[KiwiCol]

Hi fishfingers, welcome to the forum. Man of your obvious talents will have no problem sorting out those little things as they come up. Cheers.

[Sweaty]

Welcome FF, once you sort out a few problems from neglect, you will have a nice looking reliable Beast.

[VladTepes]

That is gonna be super sweet when you get it sorted !

[T 24]

Welcome FF.

[seth]

 

[Proteous]

Hiya mate and welcome.. if ya funds will stretch to it dump those shocks give Hagon a call and get them to send you a nice set of nitros all set up to your weight (they will do that for you) and you will love it.. I mean dont get me wrong, we would all love a nice set of Ohlins but at 1200 quid they are a bit steep when a 400 quid set is almost as good.

[Tony Nitrous]

Hello and welcome.


I hope you get your bikes "issues" sorted and get to enjoy it.
They are pretty reliable and normally trouble free when in good order.

Lots of folk on here have lived with them for long enough to be fairly clue'd up.

[Mick_J]

Welcome to the forum Mister Fishfinger, what part of the country do you live in?

[Notty]

 

[Mister Fishfinger]

Wow, 13 replies - what a friendly bunch. Thanks for all the positive messages.

I live in Addlestone, which is a small place in Surrey, just off Junction 11 of the M25. I'll update my profile when I figure out how.

I thought about getting a pair of Hagons (great company, I agree), but I would like to see if the standard one can be fixed first. Seems a shame to junk a shiny shock with 10,000 miles on it, just for the sake of one plastic adjuster.