New Canadian GS'er

[Guest]

Hello everyone,
First of all, thanks. This site has taught me everything i know about motorcycle mechanics, and the occasional youtube video.
My bike, I got my 1979 GS850 from my brother, for free, in pieces. He had tinkered with it for years but never got it together and running. He had bought a few new parts and my dad had picked up some air box boots in his travels, but none of it was installed. My dad bought this GS in 1979 and had given it to my brother for free, not running, as a project to try to get him into motorcycles. He had it for 10 years but had a family instead. Within two months of cleaning and reassembling and lots of reading and basecliffs 10 steps, i had it running. I then got my license. That was last summer and now i have put 2800 kms on her and she is almost running right. Now it time to start the restoration. Its my first time doing this and i want to do it right. Any tips on paint, I ordered the new pinstripe kit for the red bike but what color red is it supposed to be?
Thank again to everyone here.

[trevor]

Welcome to the site. Wow another gs form Victoria! And I just got off the phone with Johnnie here in Victoria that will be joining shortly.
Victoria BC...the GS capital of the world!!

[Big T]

Andrew,

You've got it all backwards, ride it all summer and restore in the rainy season.

There's a bunch of members in your area, you may want to be selective about hanging out with them, it's all motorcycles and beer.

[AndrewinVictoria]

Oh i will ride it all summer but if i start getting everything together it will make for a quicker go at it later. I am all motorcycles lately but not much beer. Hello to you trevor, I look forward to meeting one day. I saw a GS on west sannich today. Trevor I am going to do a valve adjustment and I was wondering if there is a local place that you get your shims and tools for that? Also I have never done it before. Any tips?

[trevor]

Oh i will ride it all summer but if i start getting everything together it will make for a quicker go at it later. I am all motorcycles lately but not much beer. Hello to you trevor, I look forward to meeting one day. I saw a GS on west sannich today. Trevor I am going to do a valve adjustment and I was wondering if there is a local place that you get your shims and tools for that? Also I have never done it before. Any tips?

yes....call AZR!! lol

[azr]

Hey Andrew, I thought your bike was in pieces in your barn?

[AndrewinVictoria]

Hi arz, that is not correct. She is together and running nicely, I think. I do need to check/adjust my valve clearances because i dont know the last time it was done.Any chance that you know where to locally buy shims, feeler gauges and shim tools? Also i did something bad to the carbs that nobody has admitted to on this site, not that i can find. But all seems to be going good. She is faster and more powerful than when i first got her going.

[azr]

Victoria Motorcycle is the only place that might have shims. You can buy a feeler gauge that will work at any CanTire or parts store and you don't necessarily need the shim tool, you can use zap straps just fine. There's lots of info on this site or walk throughs on Cliffs site.

[dorkburger]

Nice looking bike and cool that its stayed in the family. Welcome. Not sure what you could have done to the carbs, but I can pretty much guarantee it has happened before. For my part, I drilled the slides with the wrong drill when installing the jet kit in my carbs.... ooops....

[Kiwi Canuck]

Oh i will ride it all summer but if i start getting everything together it will make for a quicker go at it later. I am all motorcycles lately but not much beer. Hello to you trevor, I look forward to meeting one day. I saw a GS on west sannich today. Trevor I am going to do a valve adjustment and I was wondering if there is a local place that you get your shims and tools for that? Also I have never done it before. Any tips?

Shim tool is not expensive, maybe $20 CND and shims are available at any Suzuki dealer, you need the 29.5 mm diameter ones for the 2 valve model.

https://www.amazon.ca/Motion-Pro-08-0017-Suzuki-Yamaha/dp/B000UKIN8Q

https://www.amazon.ca/Pit-Posse-PP2707S-Suzuki-Motorcycle/dp/B004N0CEDO

Can't comment on either of these as I have the OEM Suzuki unit, but the MP one looks almost identical to the OEM unit.

I do have a few spare shims but mostly 2.65 2.70 range, once you get the sizes you need let me know and I'll check what I have, sometimes you can move a few around and only need 1 or 2 new ones.

Good luck and welcome to the site.

David

[AndrewinVictoria]

Thanks for the links, and about the carbs... I think that should be in another thread. I will start one for it.

[bobgroger]

I broke a float post. Twice.