My naked TLS

[SRTie4k]

Nice! I had IIRC 02' GSXR 1k gauges on my 'R'. Everything worked except the dealer codes....

I was considering that route, but I think I'm going to go with the TLR gauges instead. It *looks* just as compact and everything will work, including codes and temp.

I think I'll also reroute the ignition and shave the loop off the triple, which will give me a lot more room to work with to mount a set of gauges.

[SRTie4k]

Some jerk stole my ignition switch yesterday, how do I start my bike now?





Nevermind, he just moved it somewhere else.



This should help me save a good amount of room in front of the triple for a new set of gauges, which will give me enough room to install a windscreen.



Has anyone ever noticed how when you start a project and tell yourself you're only going to spend $x, it always ends up $x * (y * z)?

[SRTie4k]

I finally got some time to finish up the front of the bike, so that's what I did! I'm really happy with the outcome - the whole front setup is much more compact than before and looks a lot better with the windscreen.





This is the gauge I used in place of the stock gauges - a 2002 GSXR 1000 gauge. Everything works so far except for the dealer codes and temperature reading, but ZX-12R has kindly given up some of his time to help me fix that problem. The only other thing I might need to address is low fuel light, which I'm not sure works yet.



The flyscreen works pretty well considering it was somewhat of an afterthought when I fabbed up the brackets to mount it.





I'm really happy with how it came out, and it's no longer bulky and intrusive like it was with the stock gauges.

[OreoGaborio]

Well done! I think it came out great!

My only suggestion would be to paint the brackets black so they're not as noticeable, especially the one peeking up over the fly screen. Other than that I think you did a great job.

[SRTie4k]

Well done! I think it came out great!

My only suggestion would be to paint the brackets black so they're not as noticeable, especially the one peeking up over the fly screen. Other than that I think you did a great job.

That's not a bad idea, I think you're right. Good thing I just found a powdercoater 5 minutes away!

[SRTie4k]

Well I took Oreo's advice. I stripped the front end down, taped everything off and shot all the metal bits with primer and gloss black. Came out great!

[csmutty]

Nice! I think it would still look good with a bar pad.

[maxim_X]

What an awesome ride! It's a perfect street ride.

[SRTie4k]

Hard to believe I've had this bike for nearly 5 years now. That's the longest I've ever owned any one bike. Gotta say I still love the engine and the character of the bike, although the bad low RPM fueling still grates on my nerves. If any one bike had soul, I'd definitely say the TL is it. Over 60,000 miles and it still runs fantastic.

Latest bout of badly needed maintenance/mods included:

- New chain and 17/43 sprockets - trying to make it more "low speed" friendly. First gear is still ludicrously fast. The bike idles on clutch at 25mph. Oh well, just more reason to stay away from town centers, and its better than the 30mph previous idle.
- New exhaust gaskets, JB Weld fix to the left can, painted headers/pipes - My bike no longer backfires on decel, and it's somewhat quiet again! Had a huge exhaust leak after my last crash, finally fixed it all up.
- R1 rear shock mod - built a custom bracket to replace the junk rear rotary damper with an 07 R1 shock. Talk about completely different handling. It actually feels like a real sporty bike now, it no longer handles like a truck.
- Front fork "rebuild" - heavier 7.5w oil brought new life back to the forks. They are SO much more competent now. It's never a good sign when grey fork oil comes out of your forks.
- 5K HID lower, Osram Nightbreaker H4 upper light, rewired the headstock - 5K HID is SO much better than the 6K. Also finally added the low beam circuit to the upper light in the headlight. I can actually see the sides of the road at night now.
- Tankbag, Battery Tender extension and USB converter - talk about luxury, I can't explain how useful a usable phone is while riding. It navigated us on our last trip.
- Scala Rider Q3 - I was given this for free, can't say enough good things about it. Works beautifully, although its a bit of a chore trying to remember the button combos for the functionality.

Not much as far as plans. Need to do a valve check over the winter. I'm also going to try to reduce the reach to the bars, it's excessive to say the least, and not conducive to touring. I'm hoping a set of ROX 2" Pivot Risers will fix this. Need new rubber too, I think I'll try PR4's.

And here's what she currently looks like at the start of last weeks 2-day 600 mile ride to northern VT and back:

[Uncle Snake]

The low speed drivability kinda sucked on my '99 TLS when I got it. I didn't read the whole thread but for me, adding a PC3 and doing the TB sync made it nice and smooth, for a TL.

[SRTie4k]

I've got a PC2, but I think it may be running just an OTS intake/can map. Does the PC3 open up more RPM points to tune? If so, I may have to invest in one and get it professionally tuned.

[Uncle Snake]

I had a guy over in Lake Placid tune it. I kinda recall him saying something about an accelerator pump setting that made a big low speed tuning help but I'm not 100% on that.... The '97 had a different ECU than the other years I believe. Oh, mine was a PC3-USB. I've still got some TL stuff left over from that bike as well as some TLR parts that I'd like gone. Let me know if you need anything...... TLR swing arm, rotors, wheels, harness, battery box, maybe an airbox....