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I have owned a lot of classic bikes from the 70's. Triumph Bonneville, Kawasaki KZ’s, a Z-1, Honda CB’s, even a GT 550 Suzuki, but never a Suzuki GS. Figured it was long overdue to look for a nice clean one because of their excellent reputation and great classic UJM look. I really wasn't sure which model to get. 750cc’s and up looked like the candidates. The usual website searches on Ebay and Craiglist were employed. An Ebay bid fell short by 50 bucks on a nice 82 GS 750T located in Erie, Pa. A Craiglist seller from Rochester, N.Y. broke his word to hold a beautiful 1979 GS 850G until I got there.
Somehow I stumbled on a great search website called smartcarguide.com. It is an excellent site that does a great job gathering information from many sources on cars and motorcycles. After entering "Suzuki GS1100G" on 6-12-2012, there it was.....A mint condition maroon with gold pinstripe 1982 GS1100G in Kingsport, Tennessee with 4900 original miles. Original paperwork including the 1982 Suzuki GS sales brochure, original owners manual, documentation from the original owner, even the original Suzuki Servicard! How many old GS’s still come with their Servicards?
The next day, 6-13-2012, after texting back and forth a few times, Al from Tennessee was finally on the other end of the phone. I asked many of the usual suspects questions about a 30 year old motorcycle. Al had an answer for everything. He put my mind at ease with his easy going manner and formidable knowledge of GS models having owned 5 or 6. One of his current rides is a 1983 GS1100G in black. All of the maintenance on the 82 was current. New tires, new battery, all new synthetic fluids, new regulator/rectifier, carbs rebuilt, etc. It was basically a turn key bike. After about 30 minutes of going over details of the machine I told Al I will take the bike. The deposit is in the mail.
How to get the motorcycle home with 500 miles distance between us is the only remaining obstacle. Immediately Al suggested that I fly down and ride back to Pennsylvania, even offering to pick me up at the airport in Tri Cities, Tennessee. He described the beautiful scenery and said that some of the best roads in the country were right in his back yard. Route 421, aka "The Snake" which has 489 turns in 33 miles is one of these roads. It sounded awesome, but I never seriously considered flying at that point, not especially being a fan of traveling 600 miles per hour in a tube with wings at 30,000 feet. After getting quotes from shippers, and hearing about their delivery windows, I finally decided to get some airline quotes. Yes, it would probably be cheaper to fly, plus it would be my first opportunity to ride the spectacular Blue Ridge Parkway and The Snake. Sounds like a plan!
The US Airways plane from Harrisburg to Tri Cities was in the air at 7 am on Monday 6-18-2012, five days after talking to Al about the motorcycle. One stop in Charlotte to change planes. ETA 10:45 am Tri Cities, Tennessee. The guy beside me on the flight from Charlotte to Tri Cities is decked out in Chicago White Sox garb from head to toe. I’m thinking “cool, we can talk baseball for the next 50 minutes”, but he starts snoring 2 minutes after liftoff. No baseball conversation today.
Al is picking me up at the airport in his Chevy pickup after getting permission for half the day off to ride with me. We will ride 80 miles together before separating. Bike riding conditions are perfect, and the weather report is blue skies! With his first hand knowledge of the local roads, Al will lead out on his 83 GS and escort me to near the Blue Ridge Parkway entrance in Boone, N.C. before we part ways. I will then continue north on the BRP, as Al heads back for home.
Al finally opened the garage door where he keeps his toys. PRESTO, the 4900 mile maroon GS rests in spotless condition just as advertised. Press the start button, it starts just like EFI! Al took the time to meticulously prepare my new ride for the trip back home. A National Cycle plexifairing 3 was installed. Saddle bags stocked with bottled water and an ice pack inside a small Igloo cooler. Crackers. A Power Bar. A map of Tennessee. A towel under the saddle bag webbing so as not to leave any indentation on the seat cover. Clear plastic masking tape on the leading edges of the bike. I am sure that I am forgetting something, but you get the idea . Al went the extra mile to make sure everything was just right. He even topped off the fuel tank with no ethanol gas. Al told me that he believes in “paying it forward” and that it has always worked out for him so far.
We are on the road before 1 pm after taking care of the paperwork. Al needs to top off his mount, so we stop for gas a few miles after leaving. I shift to neutral before shutting my 82 off while waiting for him to fuel. When we are ready to go, I hit the start button but nothing happens. What??? Key on? Check. In run position? Check. Absolutely dead. Check everything again. Same result. Al walks back to the bike. I forgot to pull the clutch lever in. Duh. Note to self : you are not on your Honda CBR250R anymore. Whew! Back on the road. Before long we are driving past Bristol Motor Speedway and heading for The Snake. Talk about switchbacks! This road will make you dizzy. If you are ever in the area, don't pass up riding The Snake. Next stop: Shady Valley Country Store on route 421 for lunch. If you go, get a barbecue sandwich. Back on The Snake. Next stop: Boone, North Carolina. Nice little college town. Everybody walking around in tank tops, shorts, and flip flops. We gas up our Suzuki's and it is finally time to say goodbye to Al.
It’s 3:30pm. The Blue Ridge Parkway entrance is maybe 10 miles from Boone. It is breathtaking from the moment you get off the ramp. Within minutes I stop for photos at the Elk Mountain Overlook, elevation 3795 feet. God's beautiful creation magnificently on display. There are so many beautiful overlooks and places to stop on the BRP it would be easy to spend an entire day riding less than 50 miles. I discipline myself to keep moving on this historic route in order to put some miles behind me. The rhythm of the road is very calming on the parkway....45 mph speed limit, maybe cruise at 50, sometimes 35. There is a turkey along side the road.......a doe with her fawn.....another overlook........ but I force myself to keep the throttle twisted. After riding about 90 miles north on the BRP the weather grew progressively worse. It was getting dark and ominous, so I thought I should get on a main highway. The nearest highway was I-77. I got caught in a very heavy rainstorm for at least 45 minutes that started on I-77 and continued on through route I-81 north. I thought no problem, I have this great windshield, new Conti Tour tires, plus the other drivers can see my high visibility green jacket. ( Hurt report plug ) The GS never missed a beat. The shield works amazingly well and keeps my torso dry. Pants were definitely soaked, but eventually dried out .
After stopping somewhere in Virginia for gas, I noticed the right side saddle bag had slipped down and touched the exhaust, which melted some of the material onto the pristine pipe!!! UGGHHH !!! Not cool for sure. At the next gas stop, a young lady approached me crying because “her boyfriend left her stranded at the gas pump and she didn’t have enough gas to get home, and could I please buy her 2 gallons of gas to make it home?” Could be one of our daughters, right? And she was younger than both of my daughters. Back on the road. I had planned on stopping for at least one night at a hotel, but it eventually turned out to be such a beautiful summer night and didn’t get dark until after 9:30 pm. I was truly enjoying eating up the miles on the GS mile muncher while sitting perfectly still with no buffeting whatsoever behind the windshield . The steady GS1100G continued on through the night for 540 miles total that day before pulling in front of my house at 12:55 am. My wife was amazed at the water and crackers. A very enjoyable and memorable first ride indeed!
Somehow I stumbled on a great search website called smartcarguide.com. It is an excellent site that does a great job gathering information from many sources on cars and motorcycles. After entering "Suzuki GS1100G" on 6-12-2012, there it was.....A mint condition maroon with gold pinstripe 1982 GS1100G in Kingsport, Tennessee with 4900 original miles. Original paperwork including the 1982 Suzuki GS sales brochure, original owners manual, documentation from the original owner, even the original Suzuki Servicard! How many old GS’s still come with their Servicards?
The next day, 6-13-2012, after texting back and forth a few times, Al from Tennessee was finally on the other end of the phone. I asked many of the usual suspects questions about a 30 year old motorcycle. Al had an answer for everything. He put my mind at ease with his easy going manner and formidable knowledge of GS models having owned 5 or 6. One of his current rides is a 1983 GS1100G in black. All of the maintenance on the 82 was current. New tires, new battery, all new synthetic fluids, new regulator/rectifier, carbs rebuilt, etc. It was basically a turn key bike. After about 30 minutes of going over details of the machine I told Al I will take the bike. The deposit is in the mail.
How to get the motorcycle home with 500 miles distance between us is the only remaining obstacle. Immediately Al suggested that I fly down and ride back to Pennsylvania, even offering to pick me up at the airport in Tri Cities, Tennessee. He described the beautiful scenery and said that some of the best roads in the country were right in his back yard. Route 421, aka "The Snake" which has 489 turns in 33 miles is one of these roads. It sounded awesome, but I never seriously considered flying at that point, not especially being a fan of traveling 600 miles per hour in a tube with wings at 30,000 feet. After getting quotes from shippers, and hearing about their delivery windows, I finally decided to get some airline quotes. Yes, it would probably be cheaper to fly, plus it would be my first opportunity to ride the spectacular Blue Ridge Parkway and The Snake. Sounds like a plan!
The US Airways plane from Harrisburg to Tri Cities was in the air at 7 am on Monday 6-18-2012, five days after talking to Al about the motorcycle. One stop in Charlotte to change planes. ETA 10:45 am Tri Cities, Tennessee. The guy beside me on the flight from Charlotte to Tri Cities is decked out in Chicago White Sox garb from head to toe. I’m thinking “cool, we can talk baseball for the next 50 minutes”, but he starts snoring 2 minutes after liftoff. No baseball conversation today.
Al is picking me up at the airport in his Chevy pickup after getting permission for half the day off to ride with me. We will ride 80 miles together before separating. Bike riding conditions are perfect, and the weather report is blue skies! With his first hand knowledge of the local roads, Al will lead out on his 83 GS and escort me to near the Blue Ridge Parkway entrance in Boone, N.C. before we part ways. I will then continue north on the BRP, as Al heads back for home.
Al finally opened the garage door where he keeps his toys. PRESTO, the 4900 mile maroon GS rests in spotless condition just as advertised. Press the start button, it starts just like EFI! Al took the time to meticulously prepare my new ride for the trip back home. A National Cycle plexifairing 3 was installed. Saddle bags stocked with bottled water and an ice pack inside a small Igloo cooler. Crackers. A Power Bar. A map of Tennessee. A towel under the saddle bag webbing so as not to leave any indentation on the seat cover. Clear plastic masking tape on the leading edges of the bike. I am sure that I am forgetting something, but you get the idea . Al went the extra mile to make sure everything was just right. He even topped off the fuel tank with no ethanol gas. Al told me that he believes in “paying it forward” and that it has always worked out for him so far.
We are on the road before 1 pm after taking care of the paperwork. Al needs to top off his mount, so we stop for gas a few miles after leaving. I shift to neutral before shutting my 82 off while waiting for him to fuel. When we are ready to go, I hit the start button but nothing happens. What??? Key on? Check. In run position? Check. Absolutely dead. Check everything again. Same result. Al walks back to the bike. I forgot to pull the clutch lever in. Duh. Note to self : you are not on your Honda CBR250R anymore. Whew! Back on the road. Before long we are driving past Bristol Motor Speedway and heading for The Snake. Talk about switchbacks! This road will make you dizzy. If you are ever in the area, don't pass up riding The Snake. Next stop: Shady Valley Country Store on route 421 for lunch. If you go, get a barbecue sandwich. Back on The Snake. Next stop: Boone, North Carolina. Nice little college town. Everybody walking around in tank tops, shorts, and flip flops. We gas up our Suzuki's and it is finally time to say goodbye to Al.
It’s 3:30pm. The Blue Ridge Parkway entrance is maybe 10 miles from Boone. It is breathtaking from the moment you get off the ramp. Within minutes I stop for photos at the Elk Mountain Overlook, elevation 3795 feet. God's beautiful creation magnificently on display. There are so many beautiful overlooks and places to stop on the BRP it would be easy to spend an entire day riding less than 50 miles. I discipline myself to keep moving on this historic route in order to put some miles behind me. The rhythm of the road is very calming on the parkway....45 mph speed limit, maybe cruise at 50, sometimes 35. There is a turkey along side the road.......a doe with her fawn.....another overlook........ but I force myself to keep the throttle twisted. After riding about 90 miles north on the BRP the weather grew progressively worse. It was getting dark and ominous, so I thought I should get on a main highway. The nearest highway was I-77. I got caught in a very heavy rainstorm for at least 45 minutes that started on I-77 and continued on through route I-81 north. I thought no problem, I have this great windshield, new Conti Tour tires, plus the other drivers can see my high visibility green jacket. ( Hurt report plug ) The GS never missed a beat. The shield works amazingly well and keeps my torso dry. Pants were definitely soaked, but eventually dried out .
After stopping somewhere in Virginia for gas, I noticed the right side saddle bag had slipped down and touched the exhaust, which melted some of the material onto the pristine pipe!!! UGGHHH !!! Not cool for sure. At the next gas stop, a young lady approached me crying because “her boyfriend left her stranded at the gas pump and she didn’t have enough gas to get home, and could I please buy her 2 gallons of gas to make it home?” Could be one of our daughters, right? And she was younger than both of my daughters. Back on the road. I had planned on stopping for at least one night at a hotel, but it eventually turned out to be such a beautiful summer night and didn’t get dark until after 9:30 pm. I was truly enjoying eating up the miles on the GS mile muncher while sitting perfectly still with no buffeting whatsoever behind the windshield . The steady GS1100G continued on through the night for 540 miles total that day before pulling in front of my house at 12:55 am. My wife was amazed at the water and crackers. A very enjoyable and memorable first ride indeed!
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