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Ever had one of those days?
As some of you know I have a couple of GS bikes. One is a 1982 GS1100E, the other is a 1982 Katana 1000 with just under 6,000 miles on it. Both are dream bikes of mine and I can't believe I have them. This story is about the Katana. I first fell in love with the Katana 1000 many years ago when I saw it sitting next to the Katana 550. What a fantastic bike! I could only afford the 550, which to be kind was a little less than fantastic, so that is what I got. I always wanted that 1000 though. Well in October of 2005 I found one on Ebay and got it for $2,500.00, all stock with the exception of new tires and with less than 6,000 miles on it. Needless to say I was ecstatic. When it was delivered by haulbikes.com I teared up upon seeing the bike that I had fallen in love with all those years ago roll out into sight. I told you that so I can tell you this...
After I got the bike I got to ride it twice. That's it, just twice, Better than once I suppose. After that it wouldn't start and I wound up pushing it about a 1/2 mile home in the heat of summer...uphill. Okay so it wasn't uphill the whole way, just about 2/3 of the way. I parked it and found the problem once I pulled the side cover off and bits of copper were everywhere inside. The tapered end of the crankshaft was gouged and the tapered matching interior of the rotor was gouged and out of round. Someone had put a piece of copper between the two as a temporary fix either thinking that this would work or most likely to hold just long enough to get the bike sold. The bike has sat since then. Why? Well, I went online and bought a starter clutch from a salvage yard. It came and was the wrong one. They asked me to send mine in and they would match it up. I did and months later they never could match it and refunded my money. I never got my part back.
I ordered one from another salvage yard and it came and didn't have the rotor with it. So I had to order that and pay for shipping again. They told me that they had an entire motor for the bike and would sell it for $300.00... shipped. I jumped on that, a week later no motor, no rotor. I called them up and was told the crank was bad on the engine so they didn't ship it. Didn't call me to tell me either. They said they had another engine, a GS1100E with 18,500 on it and I could have that one instead. Then another guy there said that one was $650.00. I said never mind then. I asked about the rotor and was told that it had shipped already. Two weeks later no rotor, I called back and was told it had shipped. A week later no rotor, I called back and was told it was shipping with the motor. I asked them what motor and they told me that they had felt bad about the first motor and decided to sell me this one for the $300.00 so it was on the way. Then they called me back and needed more money for shipping and they had removed the head and shipped it separately in order to dramatically cut down on shipping costs. I told you that to tell you this...
When I got the Katana it was Bill of Sale only. The seller didn't have a title for it and in Georgia it wasn't required for a motorcycle manfactured prior to 1985. I checked it all out and the seller was the registered owner and that was the case with Georgia law. Unfortunately the Republic of Mexico, I mean California, doesn't care about Georgia law. I had to have a title. A nice lady at the DMV told me to set aside all of my paperwork and not argue the fact that I had a Bill of Sale and Georgia law. She told me to state that I didn't have anything on the bike and I would have to have the VIN verified by law enforcement and that was it. Good enough, I proceeded with this course of action and went to the Highway Patrol office to make an appointment. The next appointment available was three months away and they only did it on Thursdays for some reason. This is where the fun really starts.
I missed that appointment because I couldn't find anyone that could take the day off to trailer the bike down to the CHP. So I had to reschedule with them and visit the DMV again. Next appointment? 3 months later. So yesterday I borrowed a friend's truck and his trailer. The trailer is kind of small and tilts in order to load or unload. I managed to get the bike in the trailer on my own and tie it down securely with four tie downs. I had to drive across the lawn and off of the curb because there was a water line leak in front of my home and the local water company had the street torn up. I did that and hit some speed bumps on the way out to the CHP. The bike stayed up great. I got to the CHP and walked past the trailer to see oil nearly everywhere inside. The sidecover had fallen off, it wasn't bolted on. It came off probably due to the jarring caused by going off of the curb and the speedbumps too. The oil from the crankcase was all over and seeping out onto the ground. I went inside stressed because of this and because I was 10 minutes late. The officer came out and told me that my appointment had been at 10:00 not 11:00. My heart fell.
The officer said it wasn't a big problem and he'd verify the info anyway so I towed the bike around to the back, in the secured "cops only" area, and went inside to wait. You see this way if you're trying to pull a fast one not only do they have your license but your vehicle as well. Anyway, everything checks out fine and I'm on my way. Two blocks away, at a stop light someone pulled alongside and said the worst words you can hear, no not "I want a divorce." It was "Hey man your bike just fell over." I never even heard it go down. I guess I was in my own world dreaming of riding the Katana. I pulled into a parking lot and picked the bike up. No visible damage, ah what a relief! Then I went on to the DMV to get my license plate for the bike. That done I grabbed some Thai food to celebrate and talked to some guys about bikes and then headed home.
When I got home the street in front of my house was still being worked on so I parked inside of the coned off area and got out to unload the bike. I unhooked it and tilted the trailer to slowly back the bike out when I stepped on the oil and my feet went out from under me. I fell and then the bike fell on me. I was able to get up and out from under the bike but I had oil all over my back and the back of my legs as well as my hands. I was trying to get the bike up when someone stopped and helped me. Damage? You bet, you don't get lucky twice. The tally was a smashed turned signal, bent foot peg and scratched paint in the area below the fairing. Taking that in I started to push the bike around the utility trucks and toward the driveway when the steering locked up for no apparent reason. I monkeyed with the ignition with the key and then the ignition popped right out key still inserted. It turns out this ignition is not like my GS1100E that unlocks the steering. I saw that the other key I had went to a separate steering lock on the bike. I tried that to no avail. Needless to say I got the guys from the water company to help me get the bike into the garage with the use of a hand truck under the front wheel with me guiding the front end and them pushing from the back. Today I'm sore and I certainly hope that once the repairs are made that I have seen an end to all of the hell I have gone through just to have this bike.
After I got the bike I got to ride it twice. That's it, just twice, Better than once I suppose. After that it wouldn't start and I wound up pushing it about a 1/2 mile home in the heat of summer...uphill. Okay so it wasn't uphill the whole way, just about 2/3 of the way. I parked it and found the problem once I pulled the side cover off and bits of copper were everywhere inside. The tapered end of the crankshaft was gouged and the tapered matching interior of the rotor was gouged and out of round. Someone had put a piece of copper between the two as a temporary fix either thinking that this would work or most likely to hold just long enough to get the bike sold. The bike has sat since then. Why? Well, I went online and bought a starter clutch from a salvage yard. It came and was the wrong one. They asked me to send mine in and they would match it up. I did and months later they never could match it and refunded my money. I never got my part back.
I ordered one from another salvage yard and it came and didn't have the rotor with it. So I had to order that and pay for shipping again. They told me that they had an entire motor for the bike and would sell it for $300.00... shipped. I jumped on that, a week later no motor, no rotor. I called them up and was told the crank was bad on the engine so they didn't ship it. Didn't call me to tell me either. They said they had another engine, a GS1100E with 18,500 on it and I could have that one instead. Then another guy there said that one was $650.00. I said never mind then. I asked about the rotor and was told that it had shipped already. Two weeks later no rotor, I called back and was told it had shipped. A week later no rotor, I called back and was told it was shipping with the motor. I asked them what motor and they told me that they had felt bad about the first motor and decided to sell me this one for the $300.00 so it was on the way. Then they called me back and needed more money for shipping and they had removed the head and shipped it separately in order to dramatically cut down on shipping costs. I told you that to tell you this...
When I got the Katana it was Bill of Sale only. The seller didn't have a title for it and in Georgia it wasn't required for a motorcycle manfactured prior to 1985. I checked it all out and the seller was the registered owner and that was the case with Georgia law. Unfortunately the Republic of Mexico, I mean California, doesn't care about Georgia law. I had to have a title. A nice lady at the DMV told me to set aside all of my paperwork and not argue the fact that I had a Bill of Sale and Georgia law. She told me to state that I didn't have anything on the bike and I would have to have the VIN verified by law enforcement and that was it. Good enough, I proceeded with this course of action and went to the Highway Patrol office to make an appointment. The next appointment available was three months away and they only did it on Thursdays for some reason. This is where the fun really starts.
I missed that appointment because I couldn't find anyone that could take the day off to trailer the bike down to the CHP. So I had to reschedule with them and visit the DMV again. Next appointment? 3 months later. So yesterday I borrowed a friend's truck and his trailer. The trailer is kind of small and tilts in order to load or unload. I managed to get the bike in the trailer on my own and tie it down securely with four tie downs. I had to drive across the lawn and off of the curb because there was a water line leak in front of my home and the local water company had the street torn up. I did that and hit some speed bumps on the way out to the CHP. The bike stayed up great. I got to the CHP and walked past the trailer to see oil nearly everywhere inside. The sidecover had fallen off, it wasn't bolted on. It came off probably due to the jarring caused by going off of the curb and the speedbumps too. The oil from the crankcase was all over and seeping out onto the ground. I went inside stressed because of this and because I was 10 minutes late. The officer came out and told me that my appointment had been at 10:00 not 11:00. My heart fell.
The officer said it wasn't a big problem and he'd verify the info anyway so I towed the bike around to the back, in the secured "cops only" area, and went inside to wait. You see this way if you're trying to pull a fast one not only do they have your license but your vehicle as well. Anyway, everything checks out fine and I'm on my way. Two blocks away, at a stop light someone pulled alongside and said the worst words you can hear, no not "I want a divorce." It was "Hey man your bike just fell over." I never even heard it go down. I guess I was in my own world dreaming of riding the Katana. I pulled into a parking lot and picked the bike up. No visible damage, ah what a relief! Then I went on to the DMV to get my license plate for the bike. That done I grabbed some Thai food to celebrate and talked to some guys about bikes and then headed home.
When I got home the street in front of my house was still being worked on so I parked inside of the coned off area and got out to unload the bike. I unhooked it and tilted the trailer to slowly back the bike out when I stepped on the oil and my feet went out from under me. I fell and then the bike fell on me. I was able to get up and out from under the bike but I had oil all over my back and the back of my legs as well as my hands. I was trying to get the bike up when someone stopped and helped me. Damage? You bet, you don't get lucky twice. The tally was a smashed turned signal, bent foot peg and scratched paint in the area below the fairing. Taking that in I started to push the bike around the utility trucks and toward the driveway when the steering locked up for no apparent reason. I monkeyed with the ignition with the key and then the ignition popped right out key still inserted. It turns out this ignition is not like my GS1100E that unlocks the steering. I saw that the other key I had went to a separate steering lock on the bike. I tried that to no avail. Needless to say I got the guys from the water company to help me get the bike into the garage with the use of a hand truck under the front wheel with me guiding the front end and them pushing from the back. Today I'm sore and I certainly hope that once the repairs are made that I have seen an end to all of the hell I have gone through just to have this bike.
/ 
, I spent over 5 months waiting to be able to go and pay-off the 1100 with the insurance settlement. The bike was about 10 miles from my home, so the ride wasn't all that interesting. Until I went to turn onto my street, which was less than a mile from my house. Up to that point I'd been riding conservatively. I'd decided to give this last turn a bit more of a lean. Well, the tires, it turns out, were pretty much flat, not to mention old, and, in an attempt to make the bike look good when I picked it up, Armour-Alled! I dropped my newly purchased bike on the ground, bending a case guard, scratching up the fairing, and breaking off a mirror.
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