79gs850-the adventure begins

[joel cagno]

last bikes were a 1500 goldwing, klr 650 kawasaki, bmw with sidecar and the bike i should never have sold, a 1974 suzuki gt750 lemans waterbuffalo. Just bought a 1979 GS850. It has electronic ignition, braided brake lines and 4 into one exhaust. Am rebuilding the carbs, did some rewiring on back turn signals, replaced throttle cables, cleaned out airbox and made my own rubber connections to the airbox. Replaced plugs and wires. Has erratic idle so I bought an o-ring kit from a place I found in the forum. Drove it home and even running less than perfect, I can hardly wait to go backroad barnstorming with it. Going to have the dealer adjust the valves, never adjusted valves with shims before. Thanks for everything on this web site much of the info has been extremely valuable.

[BassCliff]

Greetings and Salutations!!

Hi Mr. joe cagno,

The collective almost always recommends that you do your own work, even valve adjustments. I have read countless stories about bike shops horking up our beloved classics. Have a look at the valve adjustment guide on my little website.

Anyway, let me dump a TON of information on you and share some GS850G lovin'.

I just stopped by to welcome you to the forum in my own, special way.

If there's anything you'd like to know about the Suzuki GS model bikes, and most others actually, you've come to the right place. There's a lot of knowledge and experience here in the community. Come on in and let me say "HOoooowwwDY!"....

Here is your very own magical, mystical, mythical, mind-expanding "mega-welcome". Please take notice of the "Top 10 Common Issues", "Top 15 Tips For GS Happiness", the Carb Cleanup Series, and the Stator Papers. All of these tasks must be addressed in order to have a safe, reliable machine. This is what NOT to do: Top 10 Newbie Mistakes. Now let me roll out the welcome mat for you...



Please click here for your mega-welcome, chock full of tips, suggestions, links to vendors, and other information. Then feel free to visit my little BikeCliff website where I've been collecting the wisdom of this generous community. Don't forget, we like pictures! Not you, your bike!

Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed. I will put you on my prayer list.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[Digitus]

Hi Joel,

Welcome!
Adjusting valves with shims is quite easy to do, as long as you have a tool to press down the valve so you can remove the shim. I did it a while ago and it was easier than expected. Easier than rebuilding carbs

But having the proper tools will make all the difference

[Tim Tom]

Welcome to the site! I'll echo what other's said about working on your own bike. More often than not the dealer really doesn't know more than you about the bike and so you will get charged huge labor fees.

Everything you need to know about keeping your 850G running can be found on BassCliff's excellent website. Also you don't even need any 'special' tools to do a valve adjustment. Just some basic hand tools, zip ties, and good tweezers and feeler gauges.

Here is a link to doing the valve adjust with the zip tie method, found on BassCliff's website of course:

http://members.dslextreme.com/users/bikecliff/images/valve_tool_zip_tie.pdf

Do yourself a favor and do it yourself, it's a pretty straight forward and only a few hours work for a first timer.

Ohh yeah post up some pics of the bike! We like those around here

[Digitus]

haha, I didnt know about that zip tie method, nice one ! Thanks

[Tim Tom]

Ohh yeah. The Zip Tie method is great. Lot's of very helpful things to be found on Mr. Basscliff's little site

[Steve]

I will also echo the WELCOME and the urge to adjust your valves.

One of the "tools" mentioned in BassCliff's welcome page is a spreadsheet that I offer. It helps with the math to determine what size shims you need, then will help you keep track of your clearances from one adjustment interval to the next. See my sig for info.

.