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Thought I'd share a bit of how I acquired that. I've had nothing but inline 4s since that one (4 more, but the latest is a Kawasaki).
I'd had my very first bike - A GS450L for about 8 years, and was finally looking to upgrade to something a little bigger. Naturally I wanted another GS. I looked around and found one several states away in Wisconsin (There wasn't a whole lot of them in the middle of the country where I am. This was in 2005. There's even less now of course). The bike was a black and silver 1983 GS750T with low miles (9 or 10-thousand if I remember right). Price was $1200.
I worked out with the seller to pick me up at the airport, and I took a 2 or 3 leg flight up to get the bike. I wasn't disappointed, and remember on the test ride that it felt quite a bit different from mine. Different handlebars, longer, and probably a sense of way more power. After riding an inline 2 for years, a naked inline 4 presented quite a lot of engine to be sitting right behind. The stock exhaust really sounded good too. Sidenote: I think it must have something to do with having 16 valves (instead of 8), and maybe the TSCC, since a stock TSCC 750 sounds better than a stock 850 (another model I eventually owned)... Don't know for sure.
I made the trip back in maybe 2 1/2 days with 2 overnights. There were a few highlights to that, lol. I sort of took backroads when I could. Saw some dairy farms in Wisconsin, farm fields in Iowa - all with neatly cut lawns around the farmhouses, which weren't far off of the blacktop roads I was on. There was gravel on the shoulders there, and coming around the inside of a curve once, I was surprised to see that a sprinkling of it covered my lane - and there was a van in the oncoming lane. I said a quick prayer (I think you could call it that), and hung on. There was nowhere to go, and nothing else to do. I wasn't going that fast, but it scared me. Made it through fine.
I don't remember where I spent the first night, but I do remember rinsing the bike off at a carwash before heading out the next morning (there was some road construction somewhere, and I detoured around it on a gravel road; I'm thinking that's probably why it needed a rinse). After that it wouldn't start. I pulled the sidecovers and let it dry out for a bit and it started up fine.
I also found out at some point, probably in the middle of Iowa with no gas stations for miles, that the fuelcock wouldn't move to Reserve. I dared not force it out on the road like that. Later at home I moved it with some pliers and it was Ok.
Later on the 2nd day, before hitting Kansas City, it looked like thunderstorms and I suited up with what rain gear I had, which included a pair of the cheap vinyl pants. Well, it rained all right, and before I got through town - during a time of significant traffic if I remember right - they were in shreds.
I ate a salad later in the evening at a truck stop where a couple of highways crossed, and tried to head south after dark. No good. There was significant lightning right in the direction I was headed, so I turned around and spent the night at a motel nearby. Left my phone charger cord there - $20. Part of the cost of doing business, lol.
The next morning was nice, and the rest of the ride home was uneventful as best I remember. I enjoyed that bike for the short time I had it (just over the summer). The red backlighting on the gauges was cool, and different from the 450. And of course overall it was a world away from a 450. I sold it to an Air Force instructor pilot, for $1750 I believe. Some time later after he'd had it for a little while, I saw that he'd put it on eBay for even more. I wonder where it is today?
That was the first of 3 fly-and-ride old motorcycle buys that I've made. All three of them were fun, with no major problems.
I'd had my very first bike - A GS450L for about 8 years, and was finally looking to upgrade to something a little bigger. Naturally I wanted another GS. I looked around and found one several states away in Wisconsin (There wasn't a whole lot of them in the middle of the country where I am. This was in 2005. There's even less now of course). The bike was a black and silver 1983 GS750T with low miles (9 or 10-thousand if I remember right). Price was $1200.
I worked out with the seller to pick me up at the airport, and I took a 2 or 3 leg flight up to get the bike. I wasn't disappointed, and remember on the test ride that it felt quite a bit different from mine. Different handlebars, longer, and probably a sense of way more power. After riding an inline 2 for years, a naked inline 4 presented quite a lot of engine to be sitting right behind. The stock exhaust really sounded good too. Sidenote: I think it must have something to do with having 16 valves (instead of 8), and maybe the TSCC, since a stock TSCC 750 sounds better than a stock 850 (another model I eventually owned)... Don't know for sure.
I made the trip back in maybe 2 1/2 days with 2 overnights. There were a few highlights to that, lol. I sort of took backroads when I could. Saw some dairy farms in Wisconsin, farm fields in Iowa - all with neatly cut lawns around the farmhouses, which weren't far off of the blacktop roads I was on. There was gravel on the shoulders there, and coming around the inside of a curve once, I was surprised to see that a sprinkling of it covered my lane - and there was a van in the oncoming lane. I said a quick prayer (I think you could call it that), and hung on. There was nowhere to go, and nothing else to do. I wasn't going that fast, but it scared me. Made it through fine.
I don't remember where I spent the first night, but I do remember rinsing the bike off at a carwash before heading out the next morning (there was some road construction somewhere, and I detoured around it on a gravel road; I'm thinking that's probably why it needed a rinse). After that it wouldn't start. I pulled the sidecovers and let it dry out for a bit and it started up fine.
I also found out at some point, probably in the middle of Iowa with no gas stations for miles, that the fuelcock wouldn't move to Reserve. I dared not force it out on the road like that. Later at home I moved it with some pliers and it was Ok.
Later on the 2nd day, before hitting Kansas City, it looked like thunderstorms and I suited up with what rain gear I had, which included a pair of the cheap vinyl pants. Well, it rained all right, and before I got through town - during a time of significant traffic if I remember right - they were in shreds.
I ate a salad later in the evening at a truck stop where a couple of highways crossed, and tried to head south after dark. No good. There was significant lightning right in the direction I was headed, so I turned around and spent the night at a motel nearby. Left my phone charger cord there - $20. Part of the cost of doing business, lol.
The next morning was nice, and the rest of the ride home was uneventful as best I remember. I enjoyed that bike for the short time I had it (just over the summer). The red backlighting on the gauges was cool, and different from the 450. And of course overall it was a world away from a 450. I sold it to an Air Force instructor pilot, for $1750 I believe. Some time later after he'd had it for a little while, I saw that he'd put it on eBay for even more. I wonder where it is today?
That was the first of 3 fly-and-ride old motorcycle buys that I've made. All three of them were fun, with no major problems.
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