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At the risk of being called an idiot, I have made a lot of mistakes while owning my 1984 Suzuki GS1100Gk. I have learned a lot by making these mistakes and I hope this might help someone else.
My biggest problem is over-tightening fasteners and components. I broke off the air valve to one of my front forks by not realizing the cap was tight and just spinning. I ordered one from my Suzuki dealer. I have since bought a torque wrench and I use it on everything.
Most embarrassing, I ran out of gas and thought I had plenty left so I never thought to look. My fuel gauge does not work so I reset the trip mileage at each fill-up. I usually fill-up at around 150 miles. The mileage showed 130 so I'm not sure what happened this time. When I pulled over, since I was not thinking about fuel, I put the bike on the center stand and looked at the oil sight glass and saw it was low. I was in a panic and I thought the oil had been lost somehow (a leak, etc.) and thought I had damaged the engine. I had my wife bring oil and I added it and to make a long story short, I overfilled it. It later dawned on me the oil was hot and in the engine, not down in the bottom where you can check the level at the sight glass. I had the bike towed home to discover the fuel issue. It was a great time to change the oil.
When I got the bike, there was a oil filter with it. I changed the filter but it did not come with a gasket. I re-used the gasket and it leaked after the oil change. So again, my biggest problem is over-tightening fasteners and components. I tried to tighten the oil filter cover to stop the leak and could not. I ended up stripping the acorn nuts that went on the studs in the engine. When I tried to take them back off, two of the studs came out. I replaced the studs with Allen-head bolts and the new filter had a gasket and with the new gasket and bolts, the leak stopped.
The tires were 14 years old when I got the bike. I never thought to check them as they held air and seemed ok. I got a nail in the rear tire and then noticed dry-rot cracks in both tires. I took 2 long-ish trips on these tires and proved there is someone watching over me for sure. I got new rubber front and rear and the ride quality and my confidence has improved dramatically. I took both wheels off myself and took them to a dealer for new tires to be put on. I learned a lot about how the shaft final drive works and what to grease. It was a great learning experience. And now I know how to read tire codes and what they mean.
When I got the bike It needed some TLC. I pulled and cleaned the carbs and it would start fine. I was having trouble with the battery. It would charge but the voltage would drop during rides. I would charge and test the battery and it was fine. I took it to a auto store and again the battery was fine on the bench. I then had trouble with some wiring where I found the wires to the alternator/starter had burned open. I then developed trouble with the starter. It would not work but it worked when struck with a hammer. I replaced the battery with a new one, repaired the wiring and had the starter rebuilt. All is fine now. What I learned was the battery was old and bad and by starting it with this battery, it burned the wiring and ruined the starter. A big lesson learned. Even a battery that appears fine and tests ok can mislead you and create more trouble. I also found out I should've tried to rebuild the starter myself it doesn't seem hard to do.
Another tip - buy some JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) screwdrivers. I have stripped out several screws trying to use a regular Phillips. There is a difference until I learned about JIS tools. I found several screws on the bike - including some on the carb bowls - that were stripped. The 2 on the front master cylinder were stripped and I had to use an extractor to remove them. Any screws/bolts that I found like this I replaced with Allen-head ones.
I learned a lot from this forum, Bikecliff's site, an uncle, my dad, and the GS owners group on Facebook and of course, YouTube.
My next project is to remove an exhaust bolt that broke in the heads (the head of the bolt broke and fell off) and to replace a tachometer oil-seal that is leaking.
My biggest problem is over-tightening fasteners and components. I broke off the air valve to one of my front forks by not realizing the cap was tight and just spinning. I ordered one from my Suzuki dealer. I have since bought a torque wrench and I use it on everything.
Most embarrassing, I ran out of gas and thought I had plenty left so I never thought to look. My fuel gauge does not work so I reset the trip mileage at each fill-up. I usually fill-up at around 150 miles. The mileage showed 130 so I'm not sure what happened this time. When I pulled over, since I was not thinking about fuel, I put the bike on the center stand and looked at the oil sight glass and saw it was low. I was in a panic and I thought the oil had been lost somehow (a leak, etc.) and thought I had damaged the engine. I had my wife bring oil and I added it and to make a long story short, I overfilled it. It later dawned on me the oil was hot and in the engine, not down in the bottom where you can check the level at the sight glass. I had the bike towed home to discover the fuel issue. It was a great time to change the oil.
When I got the bike, there was a oil filter with it. I changed the filter but it did not come with a gasket. I re-used the gasket and it leaked after the oil change. So again, my biggest problem is over-tightening fasteners and components. I tried to tighten the oil filter cover to stop the leak and could not. I ended up stripping the acorn nuts that went on the studs in the engine. When I tried to take them back off, two of the studs came out. I replaced the studs with Allen-head bolts and the new filter had a gasket and with the new gasket and bolts, the leak stopped.
The tires were 14 years old when I got the bike. I never thought to check them as they held air and seemed ok. I got a nail in the rear tire and then noticed dry-rot cracks in both tires. I took 2 long-ish trips on these tires and proved there is someone watching over me for sure. I got new rubber front and rear and the ride quality and my confidence has improved dramatically. I took both wheels off myself and took them to a dealer for new tires to be put on. I learned a lot about how the shaft final drive works and what to grease. It was a great learning experience. And now I know how to read tire codes and what they mean.
When I got the bike It needed some TLC. I pulled and cleaned the carbs and it would start fine. I was having trouble with the battery. It would charge but the voltage would drop during rides. I would charge and test the battery and it was fine. I took it to a auto store and again the battery was fine on the bench. I then had trouble with some wiring where I found the wires to the alternator/starter had burned open. I then developed trouble with the starter. It would not work but it worked when struck with a hammer. I replaced the battery with a new one, repaired the wiring and had the starter rebuilt. All is fine now. What I learned was the battery was old and bad and by starting it with this battery, it burned the wiring and ruined the starter. A big lesson learned. Even a battery that appears fine and tests ok can mislead you and create more trouble. I also found out I should've tried to rebuild the starter myself it doesn't seem hard to do.
Another tip - buy some JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) screwdrivers. I have stripped out several screws trying to use a regular Phillips. There is a difference until I learned about JIS tools. I found several screws on the bike - including some on the carb bowls - that were stripped. The 2 on the front master cylinder were stripped and I had to use an extractor to remove them. Any screws/bolts that I found like this I replaced with Allen-head ones.
I learned a lot from this forum, Bikecliff's site, an uncle, my dad, and the GS owners group on Facebook and of course, YouTube.
My next project is to remove an exhaust bolt that broke in the heads (the head of the bolt broke and fell off) and to replace a tachometer oil-seal that is leaking.
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