1979 GS550 in Norcal USA

[Guest]

I'm a GS550 owner in northern California. I've had my GS for about a decade. I bought it as a commute warrior when I was down and out. It has its quirks, some of which I have overcome, some of which I still struggle with. It was basically a barn find. It came with an original Kerker Supertrapp 4 into 1 as well as the original mufflers. The Kerker, though loud, sounds absolutely fantastic. I've had people offer me money on the spot for just the pipes. So after I had some time with it, I replaced the hoopty bars with flatter ones and bar-end mirrors. The bike always seemed to need a more than idle rpm to stay lit. After playing with the points, I decided I'd had enough of that. I'm no purist, I just want to ride. I yanked out the ignition points and wiring and wired up an electro-optical solution. (Dyna, I think) This was a great choice and still works great. However, my bike was still prone to kill the battery. So, out came the rectifier and stator for modern aftermarket components. At first, I tried to use a stator that fit but had the wrong number of poles. Gah, the 1979 GS550 is so transitional. Number of poles much match the rotor. I install pods, 100 mains and, raise the needles a little. Idle still sucks. Then, I'm still going cafe. On goes the upside-down clubman bars. On goes the bubble fairing. Off comes the signal stalks. I wire in a 12V plug and install a Ram mount for my GPS. This is great. My speedo wont stop breaking the line anyway. Next up is the cafe seat. I get the seat base installed with hole to get into the airbox. (Where my tools now live) Seat pan goes on with industrial strength Velcro. More recently, I take a run at getting the bike to run better. I get some new pilot and main jets for the VM29 carburetors. But wait, there appear to be jets screwed in below below the pilot jets. This does not match the diagram for VM29. I try several combinations with no luck. Seems too lean. I'm going to have to go back to what I was using. Going back to 100 main. 87.5 main plus 52.5 pilot seems too lean. The original pilot as I got it says 15 (?) bleed pilot on top of a jet that says 50. I don't understand what is going on here but I suppose I will post in the requisite forum where a guru can help me. Things electrical I've got a handle on. Things mechanical, maybe not so much. Looking forward to being a part of this forum though.

[GSCafe]

Picture of my GS550

Alright, I've just got to get at least one picture in to my intro thread. I'll be sure to post more as I get it more the way I want it. Still want to try to powdercoat the pipe and wrap it as well as repainting the tank.

[Jedz123]

Love that tail!!! Where did you get it?
Welcome aboard!

[GSCafe]

Thank you. The tail came from Dime City Cycles. Its the bug-eye cafe seat with low profile pads and cat's eye tail light. I installed it using the universal cafe seat mounting kit they sell. A little over $300 for all that to my door. Some time, sawing, drilling, drinking, swearing, wiring later, I have what you now see. Its not as easy as I thought, but I was able to handle the install with hand/battery tools and a hacksaw. I sawed off the arched cross-member that lives under the stock seat. Then I got a bolt that goes all the way across where the fender used to attach and sawed a metal tube that it fits through to add back the cross-member rigidity. Then I got a universal license plate mount and mounted with the cross bolt through the turn signal brackets. The plate holder has brake/signal lights built into it. The front of the fender is still there but not visible. I forgot to put my side cover back on before taking pictures. I'm gonna do the side cover gloss black with the slot machine style flaming triple 7's.

[Charlie G]

Welcome to the site.