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Hello new forum!
I'd like to introduce myself, but more importantly my new-to-me 1983 GS550E. This one is definitely a survivor, looking much worse in person than in my overexposed pictures, but it runs nearly flawlessly. I am pretty sure I'm in love with this bike and therefore am going to need some help with it, so here I am!
The Bike
1983 GS550E in fair cosmetic condition, but great mechanical condition. A good amount of history was transmitted with the bike, and it seems to be accurate. It was allegedly ridden until 1995, and then stored in a barn until 2013 at which point a bunch of work was done to it including painting the frame. Not a lot of detail from there until last year when it was sold to the owner's friend, who then bought a new bike and sold the GS to me last month.
At some point it clearly lived outside. Every plastic is aged and cracked (and often super-glued back together), the windshield has gone from translucent to opaque, the clear coat on the swingarms has yellowed, and the controls are all faded beyond the powers of Armorall to restore. It also looks like it took a slide on the left side, grinding off a corner of the rear plastic and denting the tank and muffler. The tank also looks like it has rust spots coming from the inside, as they are developing under unbroken clear coat and decals.
But whatever, this thing runs beautifully! It has a bit of a snag in the 3000-4000 RPM range until it's fully warmed up, but other than that it idles fine, pulls hard, and sounds divine! The seat is cosmetically worn (a little blue showing through the black, however that works), but it's otherwise in great shape and much more comfortable than what I'm used to. It's getting good mileage, somewhere around 50mpg, so that's always a good sign.
I replaced the front tire with a new one included with the sale, but it's actually a scooter tire and a little small (100/80 vs 100/90) and a step down in speed and weight ratings as well. The previous tire was the same size, so the previous owner was clearly just following suit. It's fine for now, only throwing my speedo/odo off by about 4%. I also replaced the headlight and tailight(s) with LED's to not only increase brightness but reduce load on the charging system. Speaking of which, I'm down a leg on my stator and my battery barely charges. If I screw up starting the bike and flood the engine (happened a couple times as I learned how to treat this engine), I'm stuck bump starting the bike until I can get it on a battery tender. I've got a new stator ready, and it'll go in as soon as I have a regulator/rectifier to go with it. Per conventional wisdom, it'll be a SH775-style wired straight to the stator and not through the dash. This is clearly not the original stator or regulator, so I'm not gonna risk using anything currently in the system. I also replaced the line from the fuel tank because it was leaking, and omitted the little in-line fuel filter that someone had put in. Once the weather gets cold enough, it'll come inside for a good carb cleaning and to get the trip odometer to turn past 100.5. Body work may or may not follow. I'm not that particular and it looks great from across the parking lot, though rust spots in the tank are not purely a cosmetic issue.
The Rider
I started riding in 2018 after having a dream about having a motorcycle, despite never being remotely interested in them. My other bike is a 2011 DR650 which I absolutely adore. I also have two step-bikes: a 2017 Kawasaki Versys-X 300 and a 2015 Yamaha XT250 which is a fun little bike, but just too small for me at 6'3". I've been turning wrenches since I got my first car and I've become much more fluent in electronics since falling into a career building machines, so there's pretty much nothing I feel I can't do without the right tools. Except paint. Paint scares me.
A couple years ago, 2021 I think, I saw one of these blue and white 1983 550E's up for sale. I can't explain it, but it just looked so unbelievably cool. It was so perfectly 80's with the rectangle headlight and gold rims, but still somehow timeless in a way. What made it even more amazing was how cheap it went for, under $2000 I believe. Recently I realized that most of my riding has been on the road and decided perhaps it made more sense to get an actual road bike instead of just squaring off off-road tires. There was one model clearly at the top of my list, and so I began searching. I looked for months, maybe over a year for just the right one, but they seem to be quite rare despite being such a bargain. I felt I had waited long enough once the summer started winding down so it came down to two available options: a blue 1983 in decent shape, and a red 1985 in nearly perfect condition. Blue was always my color and it was cheaper and closer, and after a few hundred miles with it, I regret nothing.
Well that's about it. Thanks in advance for helping me bring this absolute gem of the 80's back onto the road where it belongs!
-Matt
I'd like to introduce myself, but more importantly my new-to-me 1983 GS550E. This one is definitely a survivor, looking much worse in person than in my overexposed pictures, but it runs nearly flawlessly. I am pretty sure I'm in love with this bike and therefore am going to need some help with it, so here I am!
The Bike
1983 GS550E in fair cosmetic condition, but great mechanical condition. A good amount of history was transmitted with the bike, and it seems to be accurate. It was allegedly ridden until 1995, and then stored in a barn until 2013 at which point a bunch of work was done to it including painting the frame. Not a lot of detail from there until last year when it was sold to the owner's friend, who then bought a new bike and sold the GS to me last month.
At some point it clearly lived outside. Every plastic is aged and cracked (and often super-glued back together), the windshield has gone from translucent to opaque, the clear coat on the swingarms has yellowed, and the controls are all faded beyond the powers of Armorall to restore. It also looks like it took a slide on the left side, grinding off a corner of the rear plastic and denting the tank and muffler. The tank also looks like it has rust spots coming from the inside, as they are developing under unbroken clear coat and decals.
But whatever, this thing runs beautifully! It has a bit of a snag in the 3000-4000 RPM range until it's fully warmed up, but other than that it idles fine, pulls hard, and sounds divine! The seat is cosmetically worn (a little blue showing through the black, however that works), but it's otherwise in great shape and much more comfortable than what I'm used to. It's getting good mileage, somewhere around 50mpg, so that's always a good sign.
I replaced the front tire with a new one included with the sale, but it's actually a scooter tire and a little small (100/80 vs 100/90) and a step down in speed and weight ratings as well. The previous tire was the same size, so the previous owner was clearly just following suit. It's fine for now, only throwing my speedo/odo off by about 4%. I also replaced the headlight and tailight(s) with LED's to not only increase brightness but reduce load on the charging system. Speaking of which, I'm down a leg on my stator and my battery barely charges. If I screw up starting the bike and flood the engine (happened a couple times as I learned how to treat this engine), I'm stuck bump starting the bike until I can get it on a battery tender. I've got a new stator ready, and it'll go in as soon as I have a regulator/rectifier to go with it. Per conventional wisdom, it'll be a SH775-style wired straight to the stator and not through the dash. This is clearly not the original stator or regulator, so I'm not gonna risk using anything currently in the system. I also replaced the line from the fuel tank because it was leaking, and omitted the little in-line fuel filter that someone had put in. Once the weather gets cold enough, it'll come inside for a good carb cleaning and to get the trip odometer to turn past 100.5. Body work may or may not follow. I'm not that particular and it looks great from across the parking lot, though rust spots in the tank are not purely a cosmetic issue.
The Rider
I started riding in 2018 after having a dream about having a motorcycle, despite never being remotely interested in them. My other bike is a 2011 DR650 which I absolutely adore. I also have two step-bikes: a 2017 Kawasaki Versys-X 300 and a 2015 Yamaha XT250 which is a fun little bike, but just too small for me at 6'3". I've been turning wrenches since I got my first car and I've become much more fluent in electronics since falling into a career building machines, so there's pretty much nothing I feel I can't do without the right tools. Except paint. Paint scares me.
A couple years ago, 2021 I think, I saw one of these blue and white 1983 550E's up for sale. I can't explain it, but it just looked so unbelievably cool. It was so perfectly 80's with the rectangle headlight and gold rims, but still somehow timeless in a way. What made it even more amazing was how cheap it went for, under $2000 I believe. Recently I realized that most of my riding has been on the road and decided perhaps it made more sense to get an actual road bike instead of just squaring off off-road tires. There was one model clearly at the top of my list, and so I began searching. I looked for months, maybe over a year for just the right one, but they seem to be quite rare despite being such a bargain. I felt I had waited long enough once the summer started winding down so it came down to two available options: a blue 1983 in decent shape, and a red 1985 in nearly perfect condition. Blue was always my color and it was cheaper and closer, and after a few hundred miles with it, I regret nothing.
Well that's about it. Thanks in advance for helping me bring this absolute gem of the 80's back onto the road where it belongs!
-Matt
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You did such a great intro
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