1987 gb500tt

**Nausea** · 8th November 2013, 17:22

It isn't running any bar end weights, or an enclosed grip on the end. It looks like it had a bar end mirror on there at some time & I wouldn't mind getting some more of those in future. The bike did come with the standard clip-ons too.

91 it is! No point in running a higher octane than necessary.

Thanks for all of the replies, the info is much appreciated.

Still rainy here

**actungbaby** · 8th November 2013, 20:24

real nice bike from memory there where silver ones too . they imported the jap import

400 cc model there are not many 500.s so should go up in years to come

so silver guards are probley somone added diffrent guard of the another bike.

**actungbaby** · 8th November 2013, 20:30

Originally Posted by avgas

If setup properly the bars shouldn't touch the tank, this will break your wrist in a crash (DAMHIK). The tommo bars are about 1/2 inch longer from recall, so might just touch, what bar end weights are you running? or do you just have the enclosed grip on the end?
They can run 91-104 octane stock. But if your going to run 96+ more often I recommend an iridium plug. Less hassle and seems to help for some reason.

Yeah kicking is really easy. 1/4 choke, kick. Should start first time every time. If you kick 3 times and nothing, turn off choke and try kicking without......but I would suspect something else is up (like kill switch). Likewise engine is very reliable. If you remove the starter I have had bikes that haven't been serviced in decades and still work.

Yeah the old trick pushing down on kickstarter till u get reisistance then let it up and

Giving good go

**Paulo** · 9th November 2013, 14:35

oh there she is, Yes that was mine a bout one year ago (the second one I've had) great bike and it never let me down, Did the seller include the spare tank and GB400 fairing? hope so.

Yep the starter was a bit intermittent when I had it too. generally I'd kick start when cold but once warmed up it was pretty good with the starter, these bike occasionally cut out whist idling (like at the lights) never worked out why but apparently it's one of their quirks, just give the throttle a little blip now and then.

Hope you enjoy her and keep her shiny side up : )

oh it did have bar end weights at some point and it's also had bar end mirrors, I found the ones that you can rotate (they have a pivot) handy as you can have them in a sensible position for viewing but also fold them down when lane splitting.

**Nausea** · 10th November 2013, 10:00

Yes it did come with a spare tank & fairing. The seller forgot to include the owner's manual, toolkit & double seat so I'm hoping to pick those up when I go to Wellington early next month. The reason the R/H bar is hitting the tank is that the clip-on isn't quite straight. I undid the little grub screw & big Allen bolt at top but it wouldn't budge - is there a secret to those I'm missing?

Anyway, so much for cleaning up the bike yesterday. I took it out for a quick ride & that turned into a few hours so not much else was achieved after that haha. It did cut out a couple of times & I'm still getting used to the kick start as I've never owned a kick start bike before... I'm not right-legged so a bit unco on that side.

But awesome to be back on a bike & yesterday was a great day for riding. I had a few smiles & my brother's neighbor saw it & commented that he had 'always wanted one of those'.

Aaaah motorbikes...

**Paulo** · 10th November 2013, 15:00

Originally Posted by Nausea

Yes it did come with a spare tank & fairing. The seller forgot to include the owner's manual, toolkit & double seat so I'm hoping to pick those up when I go to Wellington early next month. The reason the R/H bar is hitting the tank is that the clip-on isn't quite straight. I undid the little grub screw & big Allen bolt at top but it wouldn't budge - is there a secret to those I'm missing?

Anyway, so much for cleaning up the bike yesterday. I took it out for a quick ride & that turned into a few hours so not much else was achieved after that haha. It did cut out a couple of times & I'm still getting used to the kick start as I've never owned a kick start bike before... I'm not right-legged so a bit unco on that side.

But awesome to be back on a bike & yesterday was a great day for riding. I had a few smiles & my brother's neighbor saw it & commented that he had 'always wanted one of those'.

Aaaah motorbikes...

hmm not sure about the grub screw and clipons adjustment , never had any bother but that was a year ago (might need some wd40 or something squirted in to loosen it up), Glad you go the spare tank and fairing double seat etc. With the kickstart you sort of prime it with a a half kick , you'll feel it move into position to get a full kick on the second go hard to describe more of a feeling thing.

Enjoy !

**Banditbandit** · 11th November 2013, 09:57

I had an FT400 - which hard a very similar starter motor setup - my sarter motor never failed - and I did something like 150,000 klicks on it ..

Have a look at the starter motor - where the wires enter the body there is a small plate (on the bottom of the starter body). Remove that and have a look at the contacts - if you keep these clean the starter motor works every time ... I never replaced the starter motor on y FT ...

**Padmei** · 13th November 2013, 18:52

I seem to remember older fellas looking over with far away eyes as I stood on the forecourt of the servo kicking over my old 400.

**Nausea** · 13th November 2013, 22:01

Took the bike to Spectrum yesterday to get her serviced & have an expert eye check her out for me just in case anything urgent needed doing. She has now had a good service including new plug, oil, filter, checking valve clearances & will have a new air filter once it arrives from Honda. I asked them to check out a bit of a speed wobble & it turned out the front wheel was out of true & needed the spokes adjusting. It also needed a new brake light switch.

...phew.

All fixed now though & she is riding sweet although the R/H clip-on is seized so cannot be adjusted. I'm going to put the original clip-ons back on the bike when I get a chance. In the next year I will need to do a cam chain & rear brake pads by the looks of things... but right now she still needs a good clean so fingers-crossed for a rain-free weekend.

The guys at Spectrum are just as awesome as they were the last time I dealt with them in 2006, highly recommended for anybody who is looking for a mechanic on the 'Shore.

Thanks for all of your tips, I'm getting the hang of the kick start now!

**more_fasterer** · 15th November 2013, 13:53

Looking good mate, I like the colour

**ICE180** · 15th November 2013, 15:59

MY was a 400 now its a 650 so I have got to knw them quite well

they are heaps of fun in the twisty bits

have a look at My mod post if you want it ws a fun project

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...B400-now-GB650

**Yamahardman** · 15th November 2013, 17:05

I've got one, It's british racing green with a bikini type fairing.
Its got a 500, with super long sprockets.
Does well over the ton.
Handling is great, i love it, brakes are pretty meh though.

Sadly though, she blew the base gasket the other day, so i'll replace it, and while im in there, chuck in the 600 barrel and piston.
Awesome bikes, engines are xr engines, so heaps of parts.

Enjoy!

**Nausea** · 17th November 2013, 21:04

Interesting - does anybody know if there were more GB400s or GB500s sold in NZ?

I cleaned the bike and fitted the chain guard then put the standard clip-ons back on. As Avgas stated earlier, the standard clip-ons are about 1/2 an inch shorter but now the handle grips overhang the edge of the bar.... is that normal?