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The GS Makes Friends - Finally!

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    The GS Makes Friends - Finally!

    Who knew? There apparently IS a vintage/classic/historic motorcycle “scene” here in Tucson! Since we’ve been here we (First Timer, certainly) has been in bike nerd companion withdrawal. We recently took the SV out and hung around with some sport bike folks, but it wasn’t the same. No wrenching talk, too much plastic.

    Then, like a lightening bolt of pure karma, we were saved! I hadn’t been on craigslist for months, but signed on one day last week to ooh and ahh over some kittens in the pets section (not a joke, I am a girl after all). I browsed the motorcycle listings while I was on and stumbled on a post that said little more than “people who like vintage motorcycles, wanna meet up?” I was skeptical at best, but First Timer got an e-mail back from the dude and lo and behold – they were planning to meet the next evening at a bar where I had already planned to be for happy hour with work folks. Whoa. See what I mean? Fate. So a good contingent of folks showed up, with a little bit of everything: ducati, honda, bunch of bmw’s and even an indian. They all seemed like nice folks, so we scheduled an early morning ride up Mt. Lemmon for this Saturday (today).

    It was a smaller, but good group this morning – weighted toward the Japanese this time (oh, and a vmax and a harley showed up too – never really got the story on that). Weather was excellent. Half of us stayed up top for breakfast and to extend our time in the cool air (a real commodity here in the SW this time of year). Some pics from the cafe parking lot:





    As you can see, we took the 550, two up. This was its first hard ride since the cleanup, and it did really well. We went up to about 9000 ft though, and the 550 certainly “noticed” the change in elevation. A grand time was had by all, and I suspect we’ll ride with these folks again.

    Sorry for the verbose report. I’m done now – have to go change a clutch rod seal or something.

    Laura

    #2
    no worry on being long winded, we all like to read. and those of us that don't, like pictures. you brought pictures, so all is good

    that 550 looks nice, but man, i would love to have me an old BMW airhead. :-)

    Comment


      #3
      Congrats on Hooking up with some Good Folks out there. Nice looking machines too.:-)
      sigpic2002 KLR650 Ugly but fun!
      2001 KLR650 too pretty to get dirty

      Life is a balancing act, enjoy every day, "later" will come sooner than you think. Denying yourself joy now betting you will have health and money to enjoy life later is a bad bet.

      Where I've been Riding


      Comment


        #4
        cool!I should head on down,summers are too short here

        Comment


          #5
          What a great crossection of vintage-ness.

          Comment


            #6
            I'll bet it wasn't as fun as hanging out with the Chicago GS Gang!
            IBA# 24077
            '15 BMW R1200GS Adventure
            '07 Triumph Tiger 1050 ABS
            '08 Yamaha WR250R

            "Krusty's inner circle is a completely unorganized group of grumpy individuals uninterested in niceties like factual information. Our main purpose, in an unorganized fashion, is to do little more than engage in anecdotal stories and idle chit-chat while providing little or no actual useful information. And, of course, ride a lot and have tons of fun.....in a Krusty manner."

            Comment


              #7
              Wow, that 550t looks nice all gussied up. Mine is still languishing in the bike barn as I slowly replace and rebuild parts. Just curious, what exhaust is that and did the pods and exhaust require much rejetting or cause issues? Any details you can give would be great, as my exhaust is rusted out and nice originals are hard to find. I also like the oil cooler (neat!) and it looks like some aftermarket coils as well. I really likee!

              Comment


                #8
                Joe:

                of course not . . .but . . .

                they did all show up on time . . .

                and no one made fun of first timer's effeminate breakfast food choices . . .

                :-)
                Last edited by Guest; 06-30-2008, 06:14 PM.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Fishman:

                  That is a mac 4-1 exhaust with 1.5 inch competition baffle (www.macperformance.com) and k&n model RC2382 air filters (frankly, something of a bitch to get on and off). Went with an '82 kat 550 dynajet stg3 jet kit when the exhaust and air filters were changed. No issues.

                  here is a quick mod list:

                  mac 4-1 exhaust with 1.5 inch competition baffle
                  accel coils
                  1982 kat 550 dynajet stg3 jet kit
                  k&n model RC2382 air filters (a bitch to install)
                  15wt fork oil for 140lb person with 3/4in spacers with stock fork springs
                  pirelli sport demon tires
                  down one tooth on countersprocket from stock
                  basic $20 drag bars
                  removed crash bars because they decrease cornering clearance
                  a bunch of good info can be found here, but it is from 2003 so it is pretty out of date.

                  if you are interested in other specifics i didn't touch on, let me know.

                  Laura

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Done well all round.Freaks you out when stuff like that happens.A chance meeting,phone call or whatever turns into something like that.I've found that it doesn't matter what type of bike it is,if it's "old",it'll have good folk riding it.Cheers,Simon.
                    http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/h...esMapSimon.jpg

                    '79 GS1000S my daily ride in Aus

                    '82 (x2) GS650ET in the shed

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Good story, thanks.
                      Your 550T looks real good. You should be proud!
                      McLoud
                      '79 GS850
                      `98 GSF1200 Bandit
                      sigpic
                      http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...php?groupid=13

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Originally posted by LeMango View Post
                        Joe:

                        of course not . . .but . . .

                        they did all show up on time . . .

                        and no one made fun of first timer's effeminate breakfast food choices . . .

                        :-)
                        ................and that's what make it FUN!
                        IBA# 24077
                        '15 BMW R1200GS Adventure
                        '07 Triumph Tiger 1050 ABS
                        '08 Yamaha WR250R

                        "Krusty's inner circle is a completely unorganized group of grumpy individuals uninterested in niceties like factual information. Our main purpose, in an unorganized fashion, is to do little more than engage in anecdotal stories and idle chit-chat while providing little or no actual useful information. And, of course, ride a lot and have tons of fun.....in a Krusty manner."

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Thanks for the comprehensive info! I keep thinking I should keep my bike stock, but it really isn't pretty enough to worry about it ever being collectible. A big part of me wants to mod it a bit and have fun. I checked out the links and that's a lot of information. I'm going to think about it. One other quick question . . . Is that exhaust very loud? I don't mind a bit of noise but the stock mufflers sound right to me. Do you still have the crashbars? Those are hard to find and I would love to buy them from you.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Sounds like a happy confluence. Thanks for telling about it.
                            Mark Fisher
                            sigpic

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Originally posted by Fishman View Post
                              Thanks for the comprehensive info! I keep thinking I should keep my bike stock, but it really isn't pretty enough to worry about it ever being collectible. A big part of me wants to mod it a bit and have fun. I checked out the links and that's a lot of information. I'm going to think about it. One other quick question . . . Is that exhaust very loud? I don't mind a bit of noise but the stock mufflers sound right to me. Do you still have the crashbars? Those are hard to find and I would love to buy them from you.
                              I do think the exhaust leans toward the "loud" end of the spectrum. It must, as I have a tendency to talk abnormally loudly and say "what?!?" a lot right after I get off. Sorry, the crash bars were sold on e-bay about a year ago. Have fun pondering the possibilities, and let us know what you decided to do (or not do)!

                              Laura

                              Comment

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