15 years of owning my GS

[GS1150Pilot]

This was a 796 and had repeated brake issues.

[dorkburger]

The unsuitable frame donor......

Things were looking up. I found a titled roller, and after some scheduling conflicts on both ends l was preparing on late Friday night to pick it up. I borrowed a trailer, had to fix the lights, figure out tiedowns, etc. Excitement and anticipation were high. I drove about an hour in the rain Saturday morning. The hope was to end up with a good frame, and any other good parts were gravy. ...
The bike looked good initially, but frame damage was quickly spotted. It was outside for a long time, water got into the frame, and the resulting freeze cycles blew up the tubing and split it. It did however have some parts I still wanted. I nearly left empty trailered, but we made a deal after all. Before loading it, I checked the brakes. The fronts worked once....then stayed locked. Duh. Luckily I brought tools and I pried the pads apart enough to get it to roll.

This is the first bike I've ever trailered. I found it a bit distracting having it back there looking at me.
I got a good laugh on the drive home. There I was pulling a rusty old trailer with a hulk of an old GS on it when I was passed by a new FJ Cruiser, pulling a shiny trailer, with a new BMW cycle on it.

The bike is a rough ex drag bike, but will donate some parts that I haven't replaced due to being ok mechanically, but not cosmetically. Grab bar / taillight, brake lever, gas tank mounting hardware, gauge cluster cover with good indicator lenses, and the big one - the fairing brackets. Possibly the seats if I can get the fade out. The wiring is butchered. I'm sure some other small pieces will be used also.



More pics to follow as I break it down.

[dorkburger]

Its an 85 and was red/white. Some ding dong painted it what appears to be that wierd silver that Dodge used in the early 2000s.

[Buffalo Bill]

Even the frame with title can be sold. Mo-betta if you repair the frame first.

[dorkburger]

I'm still taking it all in. With a straight frame in the garage now I can possibly compare notes between bikes now.

More glamour shots...

Crud behind the heavily faded and flaking screen. Interestingly, it still has the molding on the edge.


More crud between / under the seats.


High flow fuel tap. There's still gas in the tank. I've yet to look inside. Luckily the cap isn't locked, as it came without keys.

[GS1150Pilot]

Gnarly! Looks like stuff from the Titanic!

[dorkburger]

I've been slowly pecking away the Monstrosity all week.
Fairing brackets are in the win column. They look good, shiny even. The fairing, despite being ugly looks to be in real good condition with no cracks or visible repairs. It's probably unofficially for sale.
Taillight / grab handle will clean up. The light has some fine scratching on it, likely from a tarp rubing on it. Plastic polish should do fine on it. The gauge cluster will not be used. The plastic window looks good when viewed from straight on, but from an angle the plastic is crazed. It shows 6 something thousand miles. The wiring harness may not be garbage as I originally thought. The handlebar controls wiring surely is, with cut up repurposed wiring, plus the right control is a non Suzuki push / pull throttle. The main harness may be ok. Still need to confirm. The seat is interesting. It looks to have been possibly opened then re stapled. I popped it on my bike and took a ride tonight. The rear part is much cushier then mine, the front feels narrower. I think the front sides were trimmed a bit for short person or drag race use. I can flat foot it with that seat. I may continue to use it. I'm leaving the Monstrosity as a roller for now for ease of movement, plus I want to do some side by side comparisons of the frames.


Speaking of that....

I got a glimmer of hope, albeit small, that my good bike's frame may not be finished yet. I was looking at the engine mounts on both bikes, and noticed the upper rear one on mine looks bent compared to the parts bike's. Also, the welded on frame mounts on the opposite side are different as well. One is straight, while the parts bike's has a subtle curve to it. My engine may be pushed to the right at the mounts. This may answer another riddle of mine. While checking and spinning the wheel a million times watching the chain, I noticed that the it hits the top of the front sprocket on the inside rubbing the sideplates, but leaves the bottom fairly centered. I'm wondering if the engine is tilted a bit. Likely grasping at straws, but I'll hold on to hope.

[dorkburger]

2 bikes a month apart in age with different seat pans. Subtle changes like these within a model run are interesting to me.


Hmmmm. Good bike / parts bike motor mounts side by side.....

[dorkburger]

The wiring harness is off, and was in good shape. All plugs, etc intact, and the wiring appears to be good. I don't need one currently, but......GS. it looks to have a Ricks R/R. No gold nugget, but I guess the good is that the wiring didn't melt when the original failed. Everything is tucked away in the garage attic. The front fender was removed to prevent storage damage. Like the fairing, it's good, but has ugly paint with a big run in it. At some point I want to pull the rear wheel to check the cush drive. Mine aren't great. Also, I finally have a properly mounted gas tank, as the parts bike donated it's frame pad and mounting hardware. I'm sure it will give up other bits and pieces.

Things are about to get quite busy at home for a while so this will be back burnered for a while.

With all visual heft removed and just a tank and seat on it, the big GS looks surprisingly small.... and kind of cool.

[GS1150Pilot]

That's why I loved getting the fairings and giant blob of a speedo cluster off of mine!

[dorkburger]

For sure. I dig your bike. I don't forsee stripping mine down, as I love it fully dressed, but I'd be lying if I said I haven't looked at that stripped down hulk and envisioned a more elemental ride. The fact that my cousins have a cache of old GS parts doesn't help.

[GS1150Pilot]

I do understand. The first 1150 I saw in real life was a blue and white ES like yours. There were two of them, actually. They went around a corner near my house in spectacular fashion (so far over it was eye-opening), and then got on it hard and disappeared. I wanted one ever after.

[Carter Turk]

I finally got a pipe to replace the Yosh I stole off the 1150, for the Kat, my Kerker is done, at least the header part (crack in 4 places).
Got a replacement Yosh from a member here for a more than reasonable price, that actually was designed for the 1150.
The bracket fits perfectly on the passenger peg mount, however someone shortened the can and has a large diameter baffle.
I like some sound, but this thing is beyond a growler.
It might be missing the front portion of baffle, not sure, but for sure, it's too loud.
It almost feels like it's breathing better than before, but it's a stock engine with only pods and a pipe, so the sound might be tricking me into thinking it's happier then it actually is. It definetely stumbles more below 3K rpm, which could be due to some large dents in the header near the collector, but I'm thinking it's the large diameter outlet. Just a thought, not sure what's going on.

[dorkburger]

Well, for a possible point of reference, here are a couple of pics of mine when it was apart to get painted if it helps.

[Carter Turk]

The front portion of the baffle is missing based on the first picture.
I think it's a Pro Series I and the can is only 10 inches long with a 1 5/8 inch outlet.