First ever bike! GS550 in England

[Guest]

Hi everybody.

I just thought I would introduce myself and my first motorbike.

I'm Charlie from the Uk and I've just purchased a 1979 GS550E in need of repair.

I am quite new to working on motorbikes - but I have a good general engineering knowledge, so I may be asking a few questions if anything on the bike boggles me

Here's a pic of the beast as I bought it:



First job is to sort out a new chain

and look at making the wheels match! (I would quite like to retrofit wire wheels - can this be done with rear disc? If so which donor bike should I be looking to get the wheels from?)

Cheers for looking
Charlie

[steve murdoch]

Welcome to the site, Charlie.
There is some info in this old thread about a 650E conversion that should help you.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?117428-GS-650-spoke-wheel-conversion

Obviously the front wheel is not GS, not sure that front fork is GS either. See if you can find out from the previous owner what the front end is from.

[tkent02]

Hi everybody.

I just thought I would introduce myself and my first motorbike.

I'm Charlie from the Uk and I've just purchased a 1979 GS550E in need of repair.

I am quite new to working on motorbikes - but I have a good general engineering knowledge, so I may be asking a few questions if anything on the bike boggles me

Here's a pic of the beast as I bought it:



First job is to sort out a new chain

and look at making the wheels match! (I would quite like to retrofit wire wheels - can this be done with rear disc? If so which donor bike should I be looking to get the wheels from?)

Cheers for looking
Charlie

Wire spoke wheels from either a GS 750 or better yet the lighter wheels from the GS1000E fit, they have disc brakes. The 1979 GS550L came with disc rear brake as well, get that swing arm and brake, it all bolts together. You can go with single or dual front disc. I kept the single front brake for it's lighter weight, but it's the twin pot Kawasaki caliper and oversized Honda Blackbird disc, it stops very well with just the single brake.

[GSXR7ED]

Welcome Charlie,

That's quite the bike you have. Definitely need to get the original look back as far as the wheels are concerned. I'm thinking single disc would be fine considering what my "T" has and it meets my braking needs with the 750 engine.

I'm not keen on that exhaust system; doesn't do any justice aesthetically.

Good luck with the search for parts.


Ed

[Cyrano]

Hi Cjay, welcome to GSR. I spotted your new bike on ebay a few days ago, glad to see you've signed up here to show us your efforts and keep a record of your project.

My advice is to pay particular attention to anything rubber. Seals, hoses, inlet rubbers, tyres etc. They are most likely showing signs of ageing (cracking and hardening) and will deteriorate really quickly. Don't try to rejuvenate them just replace them with new.

Good luck and hope to meet you on the road someday.

[dorkburger]

Welcome.
Im thinking that may be a later gs 550 front end.
Minus a rotor-it looks like the caliper is still in place though.

[Boba]

Noice! So much snuggles I want to give to that bike! Don't mind me... just giving her a good honest humping. (>.>)

And yeah, is that a caliper on the right side... but... no rotor? (O.o)

[GSXR7ED]

Cjay89,

We need more pics of your bike to make assessments...or so Boba can dry-hump your bike...lol.


Ed