New GS850 Tourer owner!

[nejeff]

I like a nice, low trailer for these heavy bikes, especially full dressers. Most of the modern pickups are 4 x 4 and very tall. If you have a vehicle equipped with a ball or receiver I would rent or borrow a trailer if it were me. $695 is too high IMO. If you can find it for $300-$400 I'd let someone else do it, if not I am going to figure it out and do it myself.

[Wingsconsin]

U-haul has a motorcycle specific trailer and it works well
I used one when I took my 850 to Dr. STEVE for a complete re-do.
It has the wheel chock in the front -- if you have a hitch on any vehicle you are ready to go

Looks like this...

[Redman]

........... for getting a bike from CT to Maine?

Maybe state where in CT.
Maybe someone nearby can get it.... until you can get there.
Maybe...

[gregp]

U-haul has a motorcycle specific trailer and it works well
I used one when I took my 850 to Dr. STEVE for a complete re-do.
It has the wheel chock in the front -- if you have a hitch on any vehicle you are ready to go

Looks like this...

That's the exact trailer that I just rented from uhaul to pick up a GS750 I bought in Mass to get back to CT about 3 hour round trip...cost fifteen dollars for 6 hours...it was a no brainer. I had to buy the trailer light adapter to go from the connector on my Ridgeline to the flat four pin connector on the trailer for another $13 but probably will have a need for that again anyway. Uhaul will lend you the adapter if you need it and they have one handy but you have to ask or they will sell you one.

[gregp]

If these people knew what they were doing they could have got more for the bike but props to the OP for snagging it, looks good!

I checked out their Ebay page, they are selling a lot of everything.

They claim to have a 200 bike restoration backlog so most of the rest of the bikes they are putting up for auction. I have been watching for months now and a lot of good bikes have been sold by them. The CB's got top dollar but bikes like this one come by time to time. It didn't sell so they lowered the reserve and relisted. I'm hoping it's as advertised...but they say the say thing about every bike..."just clean the carbs and put in a fresh battery and you will be riding it". I think they are a bike shop in a big old warehouse that they are creating a museum out of so most of these bikes were donated. So they sell them cheap to get capital to make the museum better--so the story goes. Wish I thought of it.
Been meaning to get up there--only about an hour away. BUT...not open on weekends (what kind of museum is not open on weekends?). I would like to see a list of the bikes they will be auctioning off but I think they keep that list close to the vest so people won't wait for a particular bike to hit the auction blocks as that could make the bikes they are trying to sell first go for less at auction--just a theory.

[Peter Buehner]

It's looking more and more like I am going to be taking a trip to CT during the holidays. Lesson learned: Nobody wants to drive to Maine
I am so itching to see this bike in person.
Happy Holidays to you all and thanks for the help on this. I have found one of those motorcycle trailers locally for $15 a day. I just need to spend $250 to get the hitch installed on my Jeep. The money pit has begun

Peter

[ddaniels]

Beautiful bike! congratulations and welcome to the site. Something that hasn't been mentioned yet is to go through and either clean every single electrical connection, or better yet, replace them with spade type connectors. Those stock connectors get dirty and corroded, or loose and will cause wires to overheat. Good luck on getting her home.

[Peter Buehner]

Thanks! I will add that to my todo list. The great news is that I found a shipper! They are picking it up next week and I should have it at the beginning of the new year. I am slowly working out my order of attack on the bike.

Beautiful bike! congratulations and welcome to the site. Something that hasn't been mentioned yet is to go through and either clean every single electrical connection, or better yet, replace them with spade type connectors. Those stock connectors get dirty and corroded, or loose and will cause wires to overheat. Good luck on getting her home.

[Grimly]

Nice score, well done on that.
I'm curious about the fairing; Craig Vetter sold his company about that time, and that might have been done by the new owners for Suzuki - observe the Vetter pocket covers - but it doesn't look like something CV himself would have done, unless he simply produced a design foisted on him by Suzuki. On balance, I would say it came out of the Vetter factory, was fitted by the dealers and presented as a complete package, as were its immediate predecessors from Suzuki and rivals from Yamaha, etc.
I'm 99% sure it wasn't a Suzuki factory fairing - at that point none of the Big 4 were making their own touring fairings and luggage, but were looking seriously at it, and started doing so within a couple of years.

[Steve]

Nice score, well done on that.
I'm curious about the fairing; Craig Vetter sold his company about that time, and that might have been done by the new owners for Suzuki - observe the Vetter pocket covers - but it doesn't look like something CV himself would have done, unless he simply produced a design foisted on him by Suzuki. ...I'm 99% sure it wasn't a Suzuki factory fairing - ...

I can guarantee that it was NOT a Vetter product, neither was it a Suzuki OEM product. Suzuki had a deal with Calafia and offered the STX fairing as a dealer-installed option. Because it was "factory-authorized", it had the Suzuki name on it. Google is not real good at showing images for this fairing, but I did find THIS LINK to an issue of Cycle World. The link should take you to page 82, where it is mentioned, but there is a small picture of it on page 98. Although it is the STX fairing, it was re-badged as a GSX for the Suzuki line.

There was also a deal with Calafia to supply saddlebags and trunk to complete the package. The saddlebags were the standard-sized "Roadrunner" bags that were about 6" wide. On the inside edge of the bottom was a cut-out to allow clearance for the exhaust pipe. I had the larger 8" version of this (with no cut-out) on my KZ1300 and really enjoyed them. For the Suzukis, these bags were re-badged as "Performer Saddlebags" and are also shown in the link to Cycleworld, page 98.

.

[Grimly]

Aha; that explains the mish-mash - the original buyer (or a later owner) didn't like the Roadrunner luggage, or simply had a real preference for the rear end to look like a starship's backside (sorry, but that's what I always think of Vetter luggage ).

[Steve]

I tend to agree, Grimly. However, you do have to admit that there is a sense of "complete system" when it is viewed on a bike. The way the angle of the bags matches the angle of the trunk, etc. Too bad those angles result in some rather UNuseable space inside.

Back in 1979, when I got my KZ1300, Kawasaki offered their own fairing and a set of bags and trunk by Vetter. The shape of the bags and trunk were unmistakable, and the badges on them said "Kawasaki by Vetter". The fairing had no such badge and was totally unique. I don't remember seeing ANY badge on the inside, either. We had ordered the rear luggage package, but when it came in, we found that we could not fit a helmet in either saddlebag and could only fit one in the trunk, so we asked for a refund and got the Calafia "Fats" bags. We got a RaCad trunk. It was made by a friend, who had a business set up making accessories for Harley, so it was somewhat patterened after the Harley TourPak. GREAT trunk, wish we had one available now.

.

[lurch12_2000]

I tend to agree, Grimly. However, you do have to admit that there is a sense of "complete system" when it is viewed on a bike. The way the angle of the bags matches the angle of the trunk, etc. Too bad those angles result in some rather UNuseable space inside.

Back in 1979, when I got my KZ1300, Kawasaki offered their own fairing and a set of bags and trunk by Vetter. The shape of the bags and trunk were unmistakable, and the badges on them said "Kawasaki by Vetter". The fairing had no such badge and was totally unique. I don't remember seeing ANY badge on the inside, either. We had ordered the rear luggage package, but when it came in, we found that we could not fit a helmet in either saddlebag and could only fit one in the trunk, so we asked for a refund and got the Calafia "Fats" bags. We got a RaCad trunk. It was made by a friend, who had a business set up making accessories for Harley, so it was somewhat patterened after the Harley TourPak. GREAT trunk, wish we had one available now.

.

Yep, I've had a few sets of Vetter bags and they have that quirky look (kind of ugly IMO) and the shapes interfere with some payload. Side bags doors are smallish and restrict some stuff but do take a leather coat if you carefully stuff and jam it in. Makes getting it out a challenge too. But side bags are great for loading up with marbles or oranges since they don't roll out when opening.

[Peter Buehner]

The shipper is on the way with my bike!! I am getting it before the new year! Hopefully the reality lives up to the internet images. I think I am going to keep it in my living room this winter since I don't have a heated garage. Images coming soon.

[nejeff]

The shipper is on the way with my bike!! I am getting it before the new year! Hopefully the reality lives up to the internet images. I think I am going to keep it in my living room this winter since I don't have a heated garage. Images coming soon.

Want some good advice? This will irritate some of the do it yourself purists but make some of the carb guys very happy. Take those carbs off and send them to one of our resident GS carb rebuilding service guys (check the services section) and get them properly rebuilt. They know what they are doing and will do it right! Who you send them to probably will be determined by YOUR location due to shipping costs.

While your waiting for the carbs to come back you can start doing all the rest of the stuff that needs doing (valve check, boot orings and/or carb boots, spit and shine...)