Announcement

**seanarthurmachado** · 04-17-2016, 08:43 PM

PROBLEM #1: NO title was received yet.

The seller told my wife that he needed to find the title and would mail it out. Naturally I was impatient and worried about the title. A motorcycle without a title could be stolen, cannot be registered to ride, and might as well be a pile of scrap iron.

The title issue dragged on with my wife calling the PO several times, leaving text messages, leaving voicemails, and then finally we drove up to the business the PO had purchased. (A car washing business with self service bays.) He then revealed there were issues with the title; he had received the title and motorcycle 1 year earlier, from HIS previous owner, never titled the bike in his own name, and since time had passed it could not be transferred now.

He ended up contacting the previous owner, who sent the title to me, and I finally managed to get it in my name and made it official.

PROBLEM #2: Back tire, battery needed replacement

The back tire DID need to be replaced, this was one of the only 2 advertised issues. When the seller posted on Craigslist, he mentioned upfront that the bike needed a back tire (extremely obvious) and that the battery was on its last legs.

Originally for the back tire I went to the local motorcycle shop, and asked about a tire and was pointed to some tires. The sales clerk told me to buy a size that I later found out would not fit the bike, and would have cost $140.00 for one tire (not installed).

I purchased the back tire from ebay using paypal credit (a shinko 712), and was waiting for a way to install it. I checked with various sources on GSR (thegsresources.com) and found that the shinko tires were known to work well and were a great bargain. I paid about 45-50 each for matching front and back tires for the bike.

The battery I purchased from Walmart for 45.00, and then added the acid and distilled water in my kitchen, then placed the caps over the holes, and placed on the automatic battery charger/tender.

**seanarthurmachado** · 04-17-2016, 08:44 PM

PROBLEM #3: Ignition Key gets stuck in LOCK or PARK position.
While messing around with the bike with the semi-dead battery I discovered that the key would get stuck and could not be removed if the ignition was turned to PARK (which leaves the lights on but bike off) or LOCK (which if the bars are turned makes the bike unable to have the handlebars turn so it has less chance of being stolen.)

This seems to be a common issue, as the key usually only gets turned to ON or OFF 99% of the time, and the key and lock wear out on those positions.
I ended up forcing the key and removing it, then buying an aftermarket ignition instead and installing it.
(The process of installing it would have been nicer with a set of long set of allen wrenches instead of the cheapie dollar store ones I had.)
It seems that the repair manual I have does not state where the ignition switch is and how to install, but it is only 2 allen head screws that connect on the back of the instrument cluster, which is behind the headlight.

While installing the new ignition, I discovered the missing tachometer cable.

PROBLEM #4: Extremely hard to start and after starting would rev up to 4000 rpm and back down.

When the bike was trying to be started you would need to crank it forever unless it was very hot out. The PO (previous owner) claimed that “Maybe the choke isn’t set right” and dismissed the idea of a valve adjustment when I spoke to him while in the process of getting the title in my name. (Of course he also told me to “never use the front brake unless a last resort” so I started to immediately discount anything he said about anything.

I had been doing LOTS of reading at www.thegsresources.com I read that the hard start issue when cold is most likely an issue with needing a valve adjustment which needs to be done every 8-10k miles. The “loping idle” is known to be an issue with running lean or an air leak.

PROBLEM #5: NO center stand
It seems a PO decided they didn’t like the center stand (used for parking or servicing the bike) and chopped it off with a reciprocating saw for some reason. I found this when I was looking at trying to work on the bike to look at replacing the back tire. I did a few searches and finally purchased one on e-bay, then special ordered the bolts/pins from local motorcycle shop.

PROBLEM #6: HEAVY DUTY CLUTCH SPRINGS
The PO told me that the clutch seemed very hard to pull (which I agreed with) and suspected that HIS Previous Owner has installed heavy duty clutch springs.

Even with a new clutch cable, sprayed well with lubricant the clutch lever was VERY TOUGH to pull, not helpful for a newbie on a bike. This caused the bike to stall the one time I got it in my head to try and fill up the tire and ride it down the highway to a motorcycle shop for a new tire. I never made it 10 feet from the shed, the found that without being able to ride the bike, I could not get it back in the shed without a ramp. It was just me, in the rain, with a 600lb motorcycle and a 6 inch difference in height between the ground and the door.

It turns out that by now, my wife had plans for us all, and we had to leave. I ended up putting the side stand down, on an old license plate, and removing the battery, and locking the handlebars, and my wife called my brother in law (Brandon) to come help me restore the bike to the shed.

When we got back, it seems the tire deflated and since the rear shocks were so low (wrong size shocks for the bike) it fell over to the RIGHT SIDE with the kick stand sticking up in the air. When we got back to the house, he was waiting. We picked up the bike (which had leaked all the gas past the float bowls and out of the tank and onto the grass in the back yard) and managed to push it into the shed.

I ended up replacing the clutch cable, lubing the heck out of it, and installing it, and had no further luck. During my frustration I ended up having a local user (Steve) offer to help me out, which I gratefully accepted. (More on this later).

**seanarthurmachado** · 04-17-2016, 08:45 PM

PROBLEM #7: Bad petcock
The petcock is the fuel valve that on some is a lever that shuts off fuel from the gas tank, sets the tank to fill from dead-empty (prime) or goes to “emergency reserve fuel” (reserve). On MY new-to-me bike there is NO “off” position as the bike uses vacuum to dispense fuel.
The bike arrived to me in the “prime” position, and smelled of gas. I suspected a tiny leak of fuel.

I looked at the petcock, researched the idea of rebuilding the petcock (with the idea that if anything can be built, it can be rebuilt again if the cost is not too high, and rebuild kits looked like a $10 purchase and new petcocks were $50-$100. I took my old petcock off, started to pull it apart and then could not find anything ripped or torn to replace. I then took the advice I was given by heads wiser and more experienced than mine and just replaced the petcock with an aftermarket one. This involved me buying new fuel line, since the old one looked old, and who knows if it was ever replaced.
I chose to buy a clear fuel line off ebay, as well as a new vacuum hose. I attached them both and while trying to install the new petcock, discovered that the hole was not the right size for the aftermarket model. I managed to jam the aftermarket in the hole, and noticed that while the mounting bolt holes were the correct diameter and position from each other (44mm apart) , I could not reach them because the filter cone was fitting well.

I then tried to remove the petcock and pulled the top off, so it would not filter the fuel. Oh well, live and learn. I originally believed I would be OK since the bike had a fuel filter placed on it (an add on by a Previous Owner) but was told this was a bad idea….most of the fuel filters are designed for lawn mowers, not motorcycles and cause fuel starvation.

I ended up finally buying the petcock a 2^nd time, filing the tank hole to make it slightly wider side to side and this fixed the issue with fitting.
Later I found that I was missing a gasket. When the tank was filled to move it to Steve’s house it was leaking past the bolts, which also need a gasket.

PROBLEM # 08: Missing tachometer cable.
This seems to have been the simplest issue yet. I just purchased a cable off ebay, and connected it. Easy. Worked the first time with no issues.

PROBLEM #09: Hardened and cracking INTAKE BOOTS.
These rubber and metal gadgets connect the carburetor to the engine head. A leak here can introduce extra air and cause problems. I found that when the bike finally started it would run lean, which means it could overheat easier and also could be un-ridable. The bike would start, and even when finally warmed up, would surge from 1000-4000 RPM with no touching to the throttle or choke. NOT good for a beginner.

I purchased these (expensive at $40.00 each and needing 4 of them) when taxes came in, along with many other parts (gasket kits for valve adjustment, front and back tires, brake pads, parts for carburetor rebuild, air filter, standard strength clutch springs, clutch gasket) to get this all fixed.

PROBLEM # 10: Carburetors needs to be rebuilt
One of the main issues with these old bikes is that owners do not maintain the fuel system. Either someone decides to just not ride, and not put a maintainer in the gas tank. Seems pretty common when a bike is just not ridden, or put away for the winter with no maintainer in the gas. The gasoline tends to evaporate, and leave gunk behind (referred to as “varnish”) which gums up the tiny passages in the carburetors. Then later on, when trying to start and run the bike, it does not start, starts hard, and then runs terrible.

As a general principle is usually recommended to clean and synch the carbs on a new to you bike.

I tried a shortcut (1/2 bottle of seafoam in a half filled tank) which did more or less nothing.

Later on, after I started to get help from Steve, I was able to watch as he broke down the carbs, separated the pieces out, and stuck them in the tubs of carburetor soak he has.
(Fascinating process. There are probably a few hundred parts of a carburetor, and I was able to watch as he broke it all down into pieces, first from each other--- my bike has 4 carburetors--- and then each carburetor top and bottom, and the various needles, screws, the floats…more than I can describe.)

One thing I DID notice is that Steve has a very high standard. Everything seems to be done “just so” and he just goes right through the process in everything he does, being very exact.

A few days later I came back over, and he had also taken the top of the carbs and the bottom float bowls off and POLISHED the heck out of them. What originally looked like a gray lump of metal was now a shiny chrome-like part. So nice and clear were the polished pieces I told him that he could have sold them to me as new and I would not have blinked an eye.

After all the soaking, there was the bench synching, which was also fascinating to watch. This is where the throttle position of full open and closed are matched up with each other with adjusting bolts and screws on my VM carbs. After some tweaking, the carbs were all matched up.

The only thing missing was one gasket for one choke on carb # 4. (I had ordered the wrong parts from Robert Barr, but luckily Steve had some extra ones lying around, except for the one missing.)

**seanarthurmachado** · 04-17-2016, 08:45 PM

PROBLEM # 11: engine needed valves adjusted
This is a service that is supposed to be done every 8-10k miles per Suzuki.
On my bike, it may not have ever been done in the past 34k miles.
Steve and myself (mostly – I would say 99% Steve, and 1% me) pulled the bolts off the top valve cover, removed it, and got access to the valve buckets.
There is a method to use, the “zip tie method” which Steve prefers to use, instead of the official “Suzuki valve shim removal tool.” I watched as Steve demonstrated the Suzuki shim removal tool which kept slipping.

First the shims were inventoried with the feeler gauge. It seems that except for 1 shim, all of the other 7 of the 8 shims had 0 clearance. This is danger zone for burned valves.

The next time I was over, he had shims out, and the shims were all swapped out and the bike was now in spec in all valves. Steve then showed me his spreadsheet (in MS-Excel) that will calculate the shims now, and tell whether you will need to replace them, and what shim is recommended. On the next time around next worksheet will import the previous values automatically for the current shims in place. This allows you to predict which shim you will need the next time around.

PROBLEM # 11: MISC things
While Steve was looking over the bike, various things have come up:

The handgrips are similar looking but do not match. The left hand grip seems to be a smaller diameter grip forced onto the 7/8” bars. The right is the stock grip.

The headlight is missing 2 of the 3 ring mounting screws, and the one that is there is rusty.
The headlight is missing the spring that returns the light to center.

The pins holding the seat on were gone and replaced with a couple rusty old bolts.

The bolt that normally holds the seat down was replaced with a generic non metric bolt and washer.

The rubber that holds the back of the tank off the frame was missing.

The front rubber tank supports were old and fall off.

The rear tail-light/brake light is cracked, and someone drilled holes to place blue round plastic pieces on the light. They resemble a child’s fake plastic blue gem-stones from the dollar store. Not terribly impressive to me.

Missing side reflectors

The mirrors were not fancy and “original and worth money” per what the previous owner said.
The mirrors are square and flat, not convex, so a wide angle is not shown. The PO stated at one point that he could sell the bike for parts for more than it was purchased for and get $75.00 each for the two flat square side mirrors that say “Suzuki” on them alone. (I believe this was when I asked for a little money back for the trouble with the title.) I did find that a little odd, since as a kid I remembered all the bikes having round mirrors, but anything is possible.
Steve seemed to be humored and skeptical since the original mirrors on a 1979 suzuki gs850 were the round ones I remembered from my childhood, but he mentioned that they maybe it was an obscure option.

**seanarthurmachado** · 04-17-2016, 08:46 PM

Next Entry: 7/13/2015 7:25 PM

I went over Steve’s house last Wednesday. When I got there he was helping someone out by soldering a part onto a circuit board. I watched as the pieces were soldered back on, then the other guy started to leave, telling Steve “No need to put it back together, I can finish it at home”, and thanked Steve for the help. Once the gadget was turned the other way I found it was not a motorcycle part (I was assuming it was a circuit board for a newer motorcycle, like part of the whiz-bang LED gauges on newer bikes…it turned out to be an Xbox 360 controller!).

We ended up still not having the parts to do the last parts of the carburetor tuning (vacuum sync) since the o-rings for the carburetor boots were still not delivered yet, and while I had the fork springs, I did not yet have the fork SEALS delivered yet. Steve suggested that we work on the back tire. Since I was sick to death of looking at the old tire (completely flat in the middle and no longer held air) I had no objections. The rear wheel was unbolted from the back, the axle removed with some help from a hammer and a plastic bit to lessen the taps to avoid thread damage and I finally was exposed to what I was worried about: The splines on the rear drive.

The bike is a 1979, which would have normally had the “good black colored splines” as opposed to a later year with the softer “gold colored”. (Or course this assumes maintenance is done, such as adding 60-moly lube to the splines every so often.)

Luckily the spline WAS both black, as well as in excellent condition with wear not showing. (I was worried I would need to buy an extra and keep it with me in case I went on a long trip and the splines went out. Steve told me this is not an issue, as wear would be noted when changing the tires every 8000 miles or so and warning would be given.)

The old tire was also the wrong size. The bike calls for a size called “130/90/17” (130 mm, 90% aspect height, 17” diameter). The tire that came on the bike was 110/80/17. Now to me, the numbers sound like homework in math class in 6^th grade. When the two tire were laid against each other it was apparent. The old tire was 2 �” smaller than normal for the bike.

The wheel was cleaned up, tire installed, balanced and placed back on the bike.
Next the shocks. Steve was selling me some old shocks he had lying around that were still good, and were the proper size. (The shocks on the bike were 12.5 inches lock from eye to eye, and the bike called for 13.5” from eye to eye.)

This whole thing explained a lot. I knew I needed new back shocks, since the bike NEVER properly leaned on the side stand. A motorcycle is supposed to lean over and be more or less stable on 3 points when sitting on the side stand. MY motorcycle is almost perfectly straight on the side stand, prime for falling over on the right side. That alone means that it would be un-ridable in public since I would not want a stray breeze or small child to pull the bike down on themselves.

With the new tire alone the bike picked up almost 3 inches. With the new shocks that goes to 4 inches in height. That should fix the leaning issue.

The new shocks were strapped on as well, and just waiting on a nut for the right hand side. (The bottom shock castle nut was missing when the bike was purchased.)

After I left I placed an order for the various nuts, bolts, springs, rubber bits missing from the bike (thank you, PayPal Credit).

Later on during the week whole scouring Ebay, I found a couple things I have been looking for the bike: a rear cargo rack, and a set of crash bars. Now I’m not buying these for the looks. I want the engine guards so me (as a new rider) might be protected from a crash a little bit, and more importantly, IF I drop the bike I do NOT want the engine case to be broken and the bike unridable.

The rear cargo rack is so I can (once the bike is on the road) justify using it to run to the store for a gallon of milk, etc.

**seanarthurmachado** · 04-17-2016, 08:48 PM

26 July 2015
I went over Steve’s house last Wednesday. We ended up removing the front tire, which was also cleaned up to Steve’s standards, and a new tire mounted. It was discovered that the front tire needs new wheel bearings. While spinning on the front axle, it feels “notchy”. I Steve showed me where the part number was, and told me I might be able to buy it at any parts store.

We then took off the right side fork, (which Steve had previously drained) and he began to show me how a fork comes off, and fork seals are replaced. He took the forks off, pulled it apart, using a home made tool (made of a long � diameter threaded rod) with 4 nuts on it, 2 on one end, 2 on the other end. The bottom nut is used as a “driver” to pull the forks apart and the other nuts is a tightener for THAT nut. So the whole rig works like a huge (3 feet ?) driver extension.

The oil that came out was FILTHY. For all anyone knew, it was 36 years’ of oily grime. It was deep black, looking slightly chunky, and reminded me of a fast food “grease trap” from working on a grill. Steve used his magical “parts washer” which has a wand, a heater, and is filled with kerosene. The while fork was flushed 3-4 times and finally must have been as clean as possible.

The new spring was put in place, seals installed, a PVC pipe cut down and inserted as a shim and the whole works put back together and back on the bike. It was getting too late to do the other fork, so Steve wanted to fix a slightly bent “turn signal ear” that clamps the turn signal to the headlight box. He pulled the ear off, and started to work on it. He started with channel locks (which is what I expected) then started to use a hammer on it to lightly tap it straight. Still nothing unusual.

Steve then states “I need to grab ‘the Beast’ for this,” and walks away from the workshop and over to (I assume) his garage. He comes back holding an ANVIL. Now I know an anvil can be purchased, I’ve seen them at Harbor Freight. I considered buying one, except I really don’t have a need for one, unless I get crazy and decide to try to play at blacksmithing.

Steve worked it with the hammer and got the ear to about 90 degrees. It looked great to me. I was told the turn signals might be on the wrong sides, since there was an offset and it wasn’t dead straight and pointed slightly upwards. The headlights also look like they come not from a Suzuki, but from a Yamaha. He said he might work on them when I’m not there, and said he might work on the other side fork since I saw the other one being worked on.

Steve pulled off the side cover, and we checked and found that the points ignition had already been swapped for an electronic ignition upgrade. SO, no need to worry about timing, or worn out points.

I had brought over a few new things from ebay: The luggage rack, a rear trunk with brake and signal lights, and a set of engine guards.

The engine guards seem to fit the bike. (One thing down.)

The trunk when some of the wires are attached most of the lights seem to come on when connecting to a battery, but the unit did not have a wiring diagram. I ended up getting one from the seller.

Unfortunately the rear luggage rack is a “Vetter” which is nice to have a brand name, however it needs the frame to connect to for hard bags which I do not have and will not likely be buying. I contacted the seller and was told I could return it.

Next time the brakes, and the front wheel will have to go back on. I ended up ordering the wheel bearings from ebay to the tune of $11.00. When I looked at the local auto zone they needed to look them up, special order them, and instead of 2 for 11.00 would have been $24.99 x 2 = $50.00 plus tax.

**seanarthurmachado** · 04-17-2016, 08:48 PM

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Since the last write up more things have been done.
The brakes have been taken off, rubber removed, cleaned out, and all the hardened “gunk” left behind removed with a scraper and dremel tool. The front brakes do not need the pistons replaced yet, the rears did and a couple were found and swapped out.

The front and rear wheels have been placed back on the bike, with new rear wheel bearings installed. The front tire used a little stick on weight to balance the tire, the rear did not need a weight, just the round “light part” of the tire matched up with the opposite side of the heavy part of the wheel.

Both tires are now balanced just fine.

The carburetors were re-attached and when trying to start a wiring issue was discovered.
Steve dug in, and in the harness it was discovered that a previous owner had been monkeying with the wiring. The points ignition system was already replaced with an electronic starting, which is nice. (I was planning on doing so myself anyways at some point.)

The wiring job to connect the electronic ignition was sub-par. Instead of using actual connectors, 3 separate “scotch lock” connectors were found buried inside a pile of cheap electrical tape. Those were removed, and replaced with actual connectors. One wire DID need a scotch lock connector, for switched power, but it was put on, with a good coating of di-electric grease to keep moisture out.

The bike was started up and actually ran for the first time in a while. Another visitor to Steve’s workshop (Josh) came by, and while he was working on his bike (a GS 750, which looks real fancy) he offered some parts.

The next time I was there Josh came back with some turn signals he had lying around, which was real nice of him. SO instead of the old Yamaha turn signals I will have a matching set of Suzuki gs turn signals on the bike. I was tempted to go with the newer “square bar” type signals, but that would have left me with bar on the front and rear “lollipops.” It would look nice but so far the bike looks nice and is reasonably stock looking. I wouldn’t mind keeping it close to the original look.

On a closer look while the bike was running it was discovered that the throttle housing has a crack in it and the throttle has a “hitch” in it at about � throttle. This will need to be replaced as well. (It appears that a previous owner tried to use a dremel to get it off then decided to leave it, rusted bolts, crack and a slightly bent brake lever, along with a couple gouges.)

The kickstarter does move but seems to have more pressure than I remember. Steve stated that usually it can be moved by hand which seems to be as I remember. Steve said maybe the oil change will help it. I hope he is right. This old bike should be running very soon.

The list of needs is getting smaller. Fluid changes (oil, brake, drive, final drive), the clutch springs, the neutral stop spring (the bike needs to be rocked to change gears at a stop and finding neutral from 1^st is almost impossible, it seems to need to go up to 2^nd then down), and the seat cover.

Hopefully before the season is over. But at long as its ready for next year, that counts.

This old bike is being restored to a ridable condition. It deserves to be ridden. This old motorcycle might only be a machine and an older one at that, but it’s the only one I have, and this old survivor of decades between the assembly line and now should be ridden. I’m thinking I would like to “reality allowing” take the clock from 33k miles to at least 100k worth of road underneath the wheels.

**seanarthurmachado** · 04-17-2016, 08:49 PM

Thursday, November 26, 2015

It’s been a whole since I’ve written anything.

Steve found me a new cargo rack, which was ugly, rusted and bent up, but would fit the bike. Using the hitch on his truck as a holding point, Steve bent back the bent arms of the rack. Later after I left he bent back another one. The cargo rack was sandblasted to take off the rust, then sprayed with primer and painted with a couple coats of paint, and attached to the bike.

I found a cargo box from ebay, and Steve wired this to the bike.

Another purchase was a waterproof voltmeter/12 volt(cigarette lighter) power port.
I purchased this gizmo but it did not come with a case. I bought a project box from the local computer store electronics section which would fit if installed sideways. Steve fabricated a mount to connect the project box to the top of the speedo/tach.

The engine guards were mounted, the rear rack and cargo box were connected and wired up, the carburetor gone over again (it developed a hard start which disappeared after another cleaning.)

Steve dropped the bike off on Thursday November 27, 2015 (Thanksgiving day).

I had built a new ramp to get the bike in and out of the shed which I finished on the same day, a couple hours before Steve came by.

He dropped the bike off, and rode it into the shed for me.

This led to the first ride:

**seanarthurmachado** · 04-17-2016, 08:50 PM

THE FIRST RIDE IMPRESSION OF A SUZUKI GS850G FOR A NEW RIDER:

NOW lets start off with my experience as a rider, and tell a little bit about who I am. This will be seen from my perspective, which will color the impressions.

I am 43 years old, not terribly fit (Im a fat bald guy), with glasses who works with computers. I’m terrible at working out. My experience as a solo pilot of a motorcycle was my MSF class back in 2009, and the 12 hours of seat time on a 200cc Yamaha dual sport TM200, and that being only in a parking lot.
With that said, I’m extremely inexperienced and rusty on what I do know.
I tend to be a bit cautious in life. Maybe I’m just a big wimpy girly man. I’ll let the reader decide which.
I pulled the motorcycle out of the shed, which made me extremely nervous due to the weight of the bike. It took a while for me to get the bike out of the shed, and I eventually rolled it down the ramp. I was terrified I was going to lose the bike and it would drop on someone (me, my wife or the 7 year old son who was bouncing around the area.)

I got it down, onto the grass and discovered that it was hard to move the bike on grass, much harder than smooth pavement. It felt like I needed to give it more gas than I expected to. The gs850, while not a loud bike, was louder than the little one-cylinder thumper I trained on, which took some getting used to.
It took me a while and many restarts of the bike (due to me dumping the clutch while not giving enough gas) to get it off the grass and onto the driveway of my house. My wife took a picture of me in my gear, and noticed I was sweating. (It was a nice 60 degrees today, warm and sunny, but my issue was nervousness.)
I rested a bit then took to doing the “duck walk” and “friction zone” exercises in the driveway, and shutting the bike down a few times to make sure it didn’t overheat.
My legs started to bother me for a bit (I have very stiff legs due to a very mild case of Cerebral Palsy) from all the duck walking, so I tried to put the bike in neutral. It would not shift out of first for me. I tried to rock the bike, no effect. Finally I left it in gear and sat down for a bit.
After a rest I hopped back on, and got the bike down the grass, and onto the sidewalk. Instead of going down the steep curb, I tried to go down the sidewalk to get a feel for the bike. My first attempt was a little wobbly until I started telling myself to speed up, and I did.
Kathy (my wife) had been walking the three dogs down the sidewalk by this time and came up to me, yelling at me to get off the sidewalk. I got off the sidewalk, and onto the road, and managed to get going , then took a left, went down the road, accidentally shifting without pulling in the clutch once (oops) .
I took the left, sped up to 25 mile per hour or so, in 2^nd gear, then stopped for a stop sign, then moved on to take the next left turn. On that road I got to the end and when trying to go, I accidentally stalled at a stop, causing the bike to jerk to a stop. I restarted and moved on, taking another left and heading back to the house.
As I pulled in, I realized my braking was not working well, and noticed that my front brake was to the handle grip and had no pressure. Looks like a gremlin appeared in the front brakes.
I pulled the bike to the back yard, pushed the bike up the ramp and into the shed.
Overall the weight of the bike is intimidating for a newbie but the power is very forgiving.

**seanarthurmachado** · 04-17-2016, 08:50 PM

2^nd ride – 12/5/2015

Since the last ride, I have been looking over the bike trying to find out about the brakes. I eventually discovered that if I filled the front master brake cylinder and pumped it would get pressure and actually stop the bike. I left the brake master cylinder filled, kept checking pressure and traced back the leak by finding an old broken pull started for an old lawn mower, tying the brake handle back, wiping the caliber and hose down clean with a disinfecting wipe and then leaving it.
When checking back it appears to be leaking from inside the caliper. Looks like I’ll be doing a brake caliper rebuild over the winter.
SO…..On to the ride #2:
I had since “permanently” placed my home built wooden ramp in front of the shed, slicing the bottom of the doors off with my father in laws reciprocating saw. (think sawz-all).
It is Saturday, December 5, 2015, and unseasonably warm recently. Today had a high temperature of 42 degrees Fahrenheit. Well above freezing, roads still have no ice or snow.
When Steve dropped off the bike to me, he had stated that in addition to his original rebuild of the carburetors, he pulled then a 2^nd time, cleaned them again and a hard starting issue had disappeared again. The GS was back to “turn on choke, and give a stern look at the starter” even when cold.
After my first ride, the bike began to start hard again. I went out, purchased some “techron” and dumped most of the bottle into the tank, which held about 2 gallons of gas. The bottle was rated to treat 15 gallons….so this was a high dose.
I made it a point to go out when the bike was stone cold, with a charged up battery and kept trying to fire it up to clear the choke circuit. The bike would eventually kick over, at one point running the battery dead and me kicking the kickstarter got it running.
I would like to think its maybe getting a little easier to start.
I pulled the motorcycle out of the shed, down the ramp and onto the grass. Well that’s the easy way to say it. I rolled the bike down the shed ramp, standing beside it to get it slowly down the ramp, using the brake every few seconds so this heavy SOB of a motorcycle did not get away from me. I got it down the ramp, onto another flat board I placed there. The grass has little bumps which means moving the bike is a real pain when on the grass. I moved the bike down, onto the 2^nd board, and tried to move it around, which did not work well. I managed after a couple false starts to swing my leg over the seat ( height of the bike VS the grass and the effort of me pushing the bike did not help my flexibility in the legs.).
I nervously made the bike across the grass and to the driveway (mentally telling myself “ease the clutch” and got it to the driveway. (this whole process only took 20 mins or so, instead of the 30 mins just to get it out of the shed the previous time, and I only stalled the bike 1 time instead of over 10.)
The old GS was in the driveway and I looked at the gas gauge and noticed it was telling me that tank was almost empty. Probably due to me starting the bike, letting it run with choke on to clear the choke circuits.
I went down the sidewalk to the neighbors driveway which has a gentler slope to the street. (In Ohio all the driveways have a rise of 3 inches to keep water out of the yards and down the street to the drains.)
I pulled out nervously (thinking that there is more traffic today than I was seeing on Thanksgiving Day in the USA.) I pulled out, took a left, started to go down the street to go around the block and decided almost immediately “this is a mistake riding today.”
I was wearing a mesh armored motorcycle jacket, which works well for the heat….but even with a thick blue fleece pullover under it, it was cold. My hands were also feeling the cold air, which maxed out at 41 degrees at this point. That was before wind chill. My gloves were warm weather “breathable” gloves. Not good. My clutch hand was beginning to feel the strain by now.
I went down the road, turned right, and saw a kid on a skateboard in the street. I was a little worried but he noticed me and didn’t do anything stupid like run out in front of me. Down the road I went again. I was doing a whopping 20 miles per hour, in 2^nd gear. I went down the road, stopped at a stop sign, decided against going down to the gas station, and to head home instead. I signaled to turn right, went to Rose street, then turned right again, headed towards home. I was nervous about trying to do a slow speed turn and go into my own driveway so I pulled over and next to the sidewalk, accidentally dumping the clutch and stalling in 2^nd gear as I stopped 3 houses down and let traffic go by me.
I duck walked BACKWARDS towards my own driveway, eyeballed the curb, deciding it was too high to go up, and walked forward to the neighbors next door driveway. I started the bike, and went up the curb mentally telling myself “easy, feather the clutch and easy with the throttle” over and over. I got to my own driveway, and decided I wanted a rest. (This was after all of a 5 minute ride) .
I parked the bike, put the side stand down, but the cracked driveway made me nervous about the bike falling over (its cracked and angled down, so the bike would have been on a slope, the bike higher and to my left, and me lower on the right.
I duck walked back, my foot hit the cable for the dog chain and the cable rolled making me momentarily lose traction til I moved my foot off it, which gave me a slight scare for a moment (I remembered all the advice about watching your footing Ive read.)

I got off the bike at the steps, then got off after a couple tries and took off my helmet (which was steamed up by this time) and the sweaty riding jacket. I walked the bike onto the grass and pushed it onto the boards, and maneuvered around, almost losing my balance for a moment at one point but recovering.
I got the bike to the flat board, and started it, managing to use the clutch in 1^st gear to walk the bike up the ramp (having images of losing control and my out of control bike racing towards the back wall of the shed and going through.)
The bike is back in the shed, and I think I might leave it there until the new season, and will just fill the tank with fresh gas from a bottle and treat it with seafoam or something to winterize it.
Who knows, tomorrow will supposedly be warmer but I suspect I would be pushing my luck.
Time will tell.

**seanarthurmachado** · 04-17-2016, 08:52 PM

Sunday, April 17, 2016

I just took a ride a little bit ago. First actual ride since the last attempt when it was too cold. (It’s a nice 80 degrees today.) A couple days ago (Friday, I think) I took the bike out of the shed, with the idea of riding it but then discovered that the clutch was “not releasing” or “Grabby”. I would start to move, letting out the clutch and found a slight resistance even with the clutch pulled back in, and the bike wanted to keep going when I didn’t want it to.
I put the bike back in the shed (after connecting a new horn to replace the old barely working “meep meep” scooter like horn) with a new horn called “Freeway Blaster” (high tone). Its really loud…

OK…so back to the ride:
I’d been quibbling with riding (ok maybe I’m just a girly-man, but the bike is heavy and I cannot flat foot it; I know that’s just a matter of getting used to it, but that will take some time.)
I finally said “to heck with it” and took the bike out. The original plan was to go around the block, then maybe ride to a gas station and fill the tank. I got on the mesh riding jacket, gloves, cheapie flip face helmet and took the bike down the shed ramp.
I adjusted the clutch cable at the handle, and the clutch not releasing issue is gone.
I got on the seat, with Charlie (my 8 year old) following me outside and telling me he would “tell me how to ride a motorcycle”. I started the bike, feathering the clutch and duck walking across the grass while Charlie kept telling me “pick up your feet from the ground”.
I got into the driveway (Paved ground is SO much easier to deal with than grass, less up and down with the throttle and clutch) and managed to get across the driveway to the strip of grass and to edge of the road. I very carefully pulled out. (Maniacs are known to come around the corner speeding, almost drifting at times) , not to mention there is a detour sending way more traffic than normal on the street.)
I pulled out to the left, went to the right side of the road and waited until a truck went past. I let out the clutch and pulled out, getting up to speed (20 miles an hour) and went down a street, took a right at the street without the stop sign, went down the road. I could feel some vibrations from the footpegs, looked down and I was doing 25 in 1^st gear at 4000 RPM’S.
I looked around, kept to the same speeds and went around the block. On the 2^nd turn onto a more busy street I was a little nervous but managed to take off, pull out and take another right. I went around again, taking a different right, with a stop sign this time. I stopped, then went, turning at the busy street again, then taking a right. I briefly considered going down to the gas station to fill up but didn’t feel up to the traffic yet. I took a right, and then on to the next right and had my first “oh $H&^!” moment, when I believed I was taking a turn too fast to the right, looked at the curb across the other side of the road, thought I might hit it, then told myself “shut up and turn more” and made the corner with no issues.
I was sweating at this point, and instead of going around again I pulled up to the front of the house, intending to take a break, and stopped in 1^st, put the kick stand down, and forgetting to shut down the bike let go of the clutch and the engine stalled. (luckily, instead of falling over.)
I ended up grabbing a drink, resting, then looking at the traffic (stupid detour is causing way more traffic on my street than normal) and decided I was done for the day. I managed to ride the bike across the grass, and put it back in the shed.

**Rob S.** · 04-17-2016, 09:13 PM

GS850 as a first bike? My gut (and I've never ridden one): too heavy and too tall.

My younger brother, who's 5'4", took lessons a year ago and then bought a 103-inch Harley Low Rider as his first bike. Kids! They don't listen to nuttin' ya tell 'em!

Now he's a big shot. When I tell him I want a Sportster, he asks why I want something so small.

Dirt bikes are not low but they're light. Around here many years ago, they used to rent 250 thumpers to anyone with cash. But now there are small street bikes that are very low. Maybe you could rent one, one day at a time, just to get the experience. I think flat-footing is very important for a beginner's confidence.

**Dogma** · 04-17-2016, 09:17 PM

See now, the advantage you have over the typical beginner is the wisdom of 40-some years of life. When I started out on a something or other 650 borrowed from my dad, I wouldn't let anyone nag me into going out on the road until I had spent some time in parking lot getting so I felt like I could handle the bike there. Then we found an empty street to go up and down a few times until I felt confident doing that. Then we went for a ride. I can't remember if this was before or after MSF, but I'm thinking before. I at least had the permit on my OH license, doing all this in NY. I felt a lot more confident after that day, and definitely after the MSF course. I distinctly remember feeling like the MSF class didn't do much to prepare me for actual riding at normal speeds on the road.

Back here, I spent a couple months on my 850 sneaking around back streets and cutting through parking lots in the area to get where I was going (Tylersville Road near us is 4 lanes of busy). After my confidence got built up, I finally got up the nerve to join traffic on Tylersville. That was also the first time I held the throttle open past 5000rpm, which gave me a good scare. About that time I finally took a ride out in the country (which would have been safer, but you can't get there without going through town), was out too late, got a bit lost trying to get through South Lebanon, and almost dropped it in the gravel in an intersection. I was hooked.

I think the 850 was a great first bike. Neutral handling and a forgiving engine. If you're strong enough to keep it from falling over, it's great.

**850 Combat** · 04-18-2016, 02:00 AM

Nice story.

The GS850 is a great bike. They are big heavy and tall. I had a '79 for a while, then sold it to my nephew who crashed it. The '79 is cooler for having the kick starter and slide carbs. Trade offs are more effort to turn the throttle, and a weird stator that is hard to find. Overall, I think the '80/'81 is best for me, but the differences are tiny.

There would be advantages to learning on a smaller bike, but hey. You won't need to trade up with that one.

I hope that you get to feel comfortable on it. Getting it across a soft yard could be a challenge.

Announcement

The Suzuki gs850G as a first motorcycle for a new rider

The Suzuki gs850G as a first motorcycle for a new rider

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment