1981 GS1100E finally bought a damn bike

[Guest]

Howdy all,

I just joined the GS club after a lot of years without a bike.


In High school I had a 1982 or 3 GS550L and now, 30 years later I finally bought a liter bike. I'm sitting here in Murphys California 2 and a half hours from home. I bought the bike an hour or so ago and we're making a family outing of the occasion. The little kids and Sue are in Moaning Cavern taking the tour and Cameron (oir oldest) and I are staring at my bike.

There's singe oil weep around the neutral switch (I think it's the neutral switch) and I need to sort out the suspension for my fat self. But she's perfectly rideable and I got her for pretty well under $1/cc so I think it's a good start. The fairing has to go!

[bonanzadave]

Hey, Welcome to the GSRs. Sharp looking Bike and what an awesome part of the world to ride ! You're right, that fairing / luggage has to go but be aware that it is desirable stuff for the tour minded enthusiast.

[loud et]

Looks like a real nice bike for under 1k. Got a nice shine to it and that seat looks like a nice upgrade.
Welcome to the site!
That's black and red is a winning combo.
Hope the family outing is fun.

[Ecklund]

Welcome.

Same bike but without the extra plastic.

As you brought up suspension, emulators are probably worth the time and cost as they remove some of the harshness and still allow you to keep the desired damping.

They will recommend a high spring rate. And it probably wont be wrong, but unless you really carry a passenger and lots of crap virtually all the time slightly softer springs will be good too.

If you go with Hagons for shocks let us know how they work compared to the cost.

Again, welcome.

[dorkburger]

Sure doesn't look like a damn bike to me. Looks quite nice and at a nice price. Welcome and enjoy.

[alke46]

What he said^^^^^. Not a damn bike at all. Very nice and quite affordable. Good luck with it and welcome to the site. Lots of good knowledge here for when you need a question answered.

[dantodd]

This site and all of the expertise and how-tos was one major reason I was looking primarily at GS models.

The ride home was about 150 miles and I'll admit that after not riding so long and being on a complete unknown of a bike it was nice. The rear end might be OK with the preload on 3 or 4. (At 300 lbs that isn't unexpected.) I do think the front end may need some sorting out still.

Now the list making and money spending begins.

[dantodd]

Interesting day. When I dropped my oldest son off at school I realizedI had left lunch at home and school is 15-20 minutes away. A great excuse to ride the bike. So, I dtove home and grabbed his lunch, warned the bike up and headed back to drop his lunch off. A half mile from home I felt my right side cover pop off and I stopped as soon as it was safe to do so. Too late, someone had already driven over it. Oh well, collect the part and put it in my Samsonite trunk. About 5 minutes later it started raining, oh well, I guess I'm going to get used to riding in the rain again. I just wish I had a bit more saddle time and experience with the bike/tires before doing it.

[bobgroger]

Fortunately the side covers are available as repros from Z1 Enterprises for a little over $50. Nice bike, I have one just like it