New member and GS owner

[2BRacing]

Thanks for the photo Danie. That truly is a fantastic piece of SA History! Despite the fact that it stood in a store for 22 years, the chrome parts and exhausts seem to be in excellent condition.

I wish I could find a set of good exhausts for the 1000G I recently bought from my brother, as the insides have rusted away (the outsides are still OK). I would like to keep the two silencer setup instead of going to a 4 into 1.

I am not too clued up on the chrome/painted fender situation on South African bikes, so I cannot give a definite answer on that. We also seem to have received bikes with different colour schemes to other world markets.

[Grimly]

I believe production was more-or-less finished in Japan by 1986, but for a year or two more, the European market was supplied by bikes built from warehouse spares, such was the demand for the bike, especially from German and Dutch riders.
I've noticed a few similarities between the Euro GS850s and the SA ones. Chrome front mudguard, possibly the paint schemes, etc.
During the years of production it might well be that the SA importers decided their market would prefer the Euro look with an option for the higher bars, or possibly it was just a bit of a mix'nmatch anyway.
The answer is lost in the mists of time, and dusty piles of dealers' notes.

[ddaniels]

Very nice looking bikes. Doesn't matter to me if things are stock as long as they look nice and I like them. Welcome aboard.