'86 Cavalcade 1400

[gsrick]

Does anybody have knowledge about Suzuki's attempt at a full touring bike?
I have an FJ1100 project bike I put on Clist for sale or even trade for a touring bike project.
I have my '81 1000G, but I was looking for something like a full dress GWing or the like for weekend trips over to the west coast(FL) with the wife.
A guy close to me has offered up an '86 Cavalcade and will send me some photos tomorrow.
Says it has around 26K on the clock and will need the seat repaired and the carbs cleaned as it has sat for about a year.
If it looks anything like this, the wife will love the lazy-boy these bikes have on back.

If anyone knows of issues these bikes had or a reason I shouldn't go this route please let me know.

A nice GK would have been nice, but they don't show up often around here.

[Steve]

I have not ridden one, but have talked with a couple guys that had one. It was a wonderful bike. If Suzuki had marketed it a bit more than they did (which was not much at all), it might have taken over from the Goldwing as "King of the Road". It had more features (that could also break), more power, better brakes, etc. Not sure about the gas mileage, but it was, overall, a better bike, but nobody knew about it due to lack of advertising.

If this one needs the carbs cleaned, you might want to check to see how easily they can be removed from the bike for cleaning. I have not seen a V-type engine yet that was easy to work on.

.

[gsrick]

From what I've read so far, they were the top of the class in all aspects, including the cost. At $8 grand new, that was their true demise. Everything that was optional on other makes were standard for the Cavalcade, even air adjustable seats. Limited to only a few years here, but the were offered in Europe till '91. I have a nice sonic cleaner at work that I can use and I just did my 750 Interceptor carbs. I've also worked on a couple of V4 bikes at work, so I'm only concerned on getting them out and back in.

From what I've read the only reason people got rid of the bike was a fear of limited parts. I like to rebuild stuff, so I think I'll be ok there.

[RichDesmond]

Every mechanic I know who has dealt with one says that they are a complete PITA to work on.

[GS1150Pilot]

Rick is definitely beyond the general garage mechanic, I think, and he already has an Interceptor. For the record, I think they are cool beasts, with ballsy powerplants. I find myself looking at Venture Royales pretty often, so I do see the appeal, and the V motors just PULL.

[850GT_Rider]

In the same vein - any idea of value? There's an '87 LXE locally, asking $2k

[1948man]

I had one and should have kept it. There was some fairly rare problem with rear wheel lockup because of a plug in the secondary drive that was pressed in and could occasionally fail causing fluid loss. Also, the first generation driveshafts were not real robust and were later replaced with better ones. Any of this stuff would be easily remedied by a decent mechanic (I'm still progressing slowly towards decent.) There is an owner's group but it was an email list the last time I checked in. I can find the links to the problems or you could probably by just googling "Cavalcade secondary plug".

$2K sounds good for the LXE (best model) if miles are not too crazy high. Seems the old hands expected to replace the 2ndary plug, stator, and water pump at 50K miles or so but the engine was supposed to be good for many miles.

http://www.billydump.com/cav/instruct/lockup_3.htm

http://www.suzukicavalcade.com

[gsrick]

Every mechanic I know who has dealt with one says that they are a complete PITA to work on.

Probably because you have to take half the bike apart to work on anything, but what I've read they are ultra reliable. I have to do that with sport bikes every day, but there are for sure a lot more parts on a touring bike. I've had to get past the body work on a few GL1500 here, so it couldn't be any worse. If I get it, I'll have to address everything the first time and hope for the best, but 26K it should still be in the break in period. Still waiting on photos from the guy and if the skies are clear, I'll try to look at it after work.

[JEEPRUSTY]

http://www.billydump.com/cav/download.htm

Good old General Hand Grenade
Ridin' in a motorcade
Lookin' for the cavalcade
To take him off to war

[gsrick]

http://www.billydump.com/cav/download.htm

Good old General Hand Grenade
Ridin' in a motorcade
Lookin' for the cavalcade
To take him off to war

Greatly appreciated Jeep, even if I don't get it. I grab all the service manuals I can.

[kingofvenus]

The hydraulic lifters in the don't like cheap oil, had one that the owner ran some in it and it developed a ticking that only with some marvel mystery oil ran thru it (factory rep told us to put the mmo in!) would fix. After doing that and running a good bike specific oil in it, it was fine.

[gsrick]

I don't know what happened, the other interested party in the trade has been AWOL. No reply, no pics.
The search goes on. Maybe a full dressed GK will still pop up.

[megatwin]

I owned one for a short time,and it ran great,but seemed very top heavy.
Parts were getting scares several years ago,also.
They were a pain to work on,for anything more than normal service,kinda like my GL1800.