My real opinion on how GSs look

[Eli69]

sometimes during the winter i like to go out to the shed and just look at my '78 gs1000e. i think it's beautiful. i like the way the stripe from the gas tank follows along under the seat and to the tailpiece. (see "the skunk" a few pages previous). and i guarantee it's the fastest $150 bike around. the real beauty of any bike is twisting the throttle.

[Commodus]

i still think the gs lump is one of the nicest to use in a chop if the frame has decent lines,abit like this one


oh thats mine:-D

OK I'm quoting this post just cuz this bikes kicks arse and I wannt post this pic again :-D

And you're right, that motor does look great in this kind of application. Come to think of it, it looks good in any application...that two-valve GS motor is just downright pretty.

[isaac]

And you're right, that motor does look great in this kind of application. Come to think of it, it looks good in any application...that two-valve GS motor is just downright pretty.

That's because it looks so serious. They don't turn em into drag motors for no reason.

[BentRod]

My 2 cents

I happen to own an 81 gsx400L, and I have my likes and dislikes. the tank on it is rather narrow and square in profile, and sits rather high on bike. The bump in my seat, with the take, and ape hangers (about 10 inch) make the bike look very tall.

But that is really all i have to complain about. The bike is very functional and well built. I'll leave flashy designs and flowing lines for hand bags and eye glasses.

I believe you have to look at these bike with a grain of salt for what they are and where they came from. It's made in Japan where the ideas about styling are very different from ours. They are trying to immitate or integrate some of the retro north american and european styling, but like everything else foreign that is inturpreted by the Japanese, interesting things can result.

[Commodus]

That's because it looks so serious. They don't turn em into drag motors for no reason.

Yeah! Nicely put, that definitely sums it up.

I wanna make a replica of a 60s inline four GP (CR) bike using that motor, with four open megaphones. My neighbours will love it! :-D

[paperclip]

So let me get this straight, my grey hair and love for the 80's means I'm no longer cool? Yeah, right. Next thing you'll be telling me is that Faster Pussycat is no longer together...

[Jontheguru]

Harleys? Hate'em. Don't know why. Not original, old technology I guess. Too much fake flash and chrome. I prefer the transition years from the old Japanese standard bikes to the superbikes; specifically 1980 to about 1986, em strange, that’s about the era of the GS's. Going from the unfaired to the full fairing with the bubble type windscreen, from the Mad Max style to the GS1150ES and of course triumphantly to the 1986 GSXR's. The looks send shivers up my spine. Not only is it the looks, but the pure idea of technology finally being unleashed in a fantastic feat of speed and power. Not only is it about speed and power, but SPEED AND POWER ON A TWO WHEELED DEATH MACHINE. I LOVE IT!!! There’s a lot of appeal in the idea of an era, I see it every time I look on this site and see such fine machines that are often represented here. I can’t get enough. Not to say I’m stuck in the past, I fully appreciate the beauty and refinement as can be seen in a Yamaha R-1, and I will be the first to say it is one remarkable piece of artwork. I just can’t get over such bikes like the early TZ’s, GS’s, GPZ’s, and Interceptors. To sum up, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[courier11sec]

Wow. I just wasted 20 minutes of my life reading this thread.
Crap...

[Zooks]

Yeah! Nicely put, that definitely sums it up.

I wanna make a replica of a 60s inline four GP (CR) bike using that motor, with four open megaphones. My neighbours will love it! :-D

So do it!!! Sounds like a great project.

[dlancer]

I used to own a GV1200 Madura. It looked very "eighties" and sucked on ergonomics. The compromise between apearance, style and function was frustrating. It had the ability to hit 100 mph at a stunning rate ( I regularly had sore forearms from a brisk ride) but riding position meant my helmet rode up annoyingly with wind coming up the chest. I loved the power and tried to find a way to get a better riding position. This is what I came up with:

I like the look of blue Madura. It sort of reminds me of a Vmax. When you think about how long a style of bike hangs around they really don't change all that much thru the years. Look how long the Vmax has been around or the Honda Rebel on the other end of the bike scene. I bought a new 1998 Yamaha Vstar 650. Nine years later the bike is nearly the same. In the past week I have thought of selling both my 80' GS1000L and my 84' Honda VF750 Interceptor in order to get one newer cruiser model,but I'm 53 years old now and I find my GS to be very comfy and easy to ride even on long rides.


Dennis

[redtires]

I do, and it's not just because I own one.

Like I said, some people actually like these things. It'd be interesting to know why though. So far I'm getting a list of reactions ranging from:

"Man you must be ****ed off/crazy"

to

"I like GSs"

Lets see some reasons why you like them.

Just to preemptively dispense with a hypothetical: "I don't have to justify why I like my bike to you. You're just a crazy ass."

Just for the sake of debate, lets do it anyway.

bump x2 :-D

[ron bayless]

I've owned two of the things, and I love the bikes, but seriously they're pretty ugly. I'll note that the comments in this thread largely pertain to L models.


What IS that thing? The guages are too high above the handlebars, the headlight is too high in general, it has a chrome grab handle/sissy bar/oddity on the back, some of them have these grotesquely anatomically correct scalloped butt cheek seats, and more, which I'll get to in a minute.

Some of them aren't ugly. Those bikes are called modified GSs. They're slightly tweaked in a lot of little areas.

80GS1000's bike is a nice example, though I've always had a thing against the wes cooley "fairing" up front, which is just this giant plastic lantern frame around the headlight.


Ditch the toolbag and so's Tracy Borchert's


What strikes me as bizarre about thegsresources (however much I love this place), is there are so many people obsessed with polishing and restoring these 25 year old time capsules from an era of hideous, wretched excess. Scroll through the "Appearance Mods" forum, and the vast majority of the threads you see will be about polishing chrome, getting rid of rust, how to bolt the cam end caps back on, or something as mundane as how to add saddle bags. It's a rare pleasure to find a thread that's actually about appearance mods.

Remember the bike Peter Fonda rode in Easy Rider? It was stretched out, lowered in the back, longer, rising toward the handlebars. It was a caricature of a motorcycle.



That inspired the rising to the right styling of the GS L models. The front wheel is too big. The rear is too small. It apes the classic chopper down to the joke pullback handlebars, minus any of the character or throbbing v-twin sex appeal. The fenders are chrome of all things, while the rest of the bike is painted. It's a design that shouts at you, only it's not one loud shout, it's a whole bunch of little ones from every ill-matched part all vying for attention of the eye.

As I'd hinted at, they didn't do all this to copy a Harley and try to steal the magic of a terrible motorcycle that had to be financially rescued by tariffs. They did this all wrapped around a japanese high revving four cylinder, making a confusing melange of ingredients all the more disturbing to the senses.

They're a GREAT platform for a chopper, bobber, streetfighter, cafe racer, etc, but stock, they just don't do it for me.

man, I havent read all the posts here yet,but let me say FINALLY! Finally somoen here feels tghe same way i do about these bikes.I own a 1000 L and after I got rid ot the schwinn bicyle chrome fenders,the buckhorn handlebars,the king and queen seat,it is slowly becoming what a motorcycle is supposed to look like.It is all about the engine.If these engines were not so phenomenal i would gve up on mu bike.But after soem investment I will have a sort of retro modern day cool looking bike.An abomination to the purists,but it is MY bike and I am changin' it too look like it had the potential to look.Now,I will return to the rest of the posts here.

[ron bayless]

Thanks guys I guess?

Tracy, i never liked the tool bag,but i love your bike.I have said this many times before.Ron B

[ron bayless]

I like the look of blue Madura. It sort of reminds me of a Vmax. When you think about how long a style of bike hangs around they really don't change all that much thru the years. Look how long the Vmax has been around or the Honda Rebel on the other end of the bike scene. I bought a new 1998 Yamaha Vstar 650. Nine years later the bike is nearly the same. In the past week I have thought of selling both my 80' GS1000L and my 84' Honda VF750 Interceptor in order to get one newer cruiser model,but I'm 53 years old now and I find my GS to be very comfy and easy to ride even on long rides.


Dennis

but I'm 53 years old now and I find my GS to be very comfy and easy to ride even on long rides.

I am 57.Glad to see somone in my age category that rides one of these old superbikes.I like mine a lot better than my former goldwing or royal star.Ron B

[80GS1000]

man, I havent read all the posts here yet,but let me say FINALLY! Finally somoen here feels tghe same way i do about these bikes.I own a 1000 L and after I got rid ot the schwinn bicyle chrome fenders,the buckhorn handlebars,the king and queen seat,it is slowly becoming what a motorcycle is supposed to look like.It is all about the engine.If these engines were not so phenomenal i would gve up on mu bike.But after soem investment I will have a sort of retro modern day cool looking bike.An abomination to the purists,but it is MY bike and I am changin' it too look like it had the potential to look.Now,I will return to the rest of the posts here.

Pretty much with you on this Ron. If it weren't for the rockstar low RPM torque, ridiculously great sounding, and bulletproof nature of the GS motor, and a healthy bit of inspiration by the fact that they used to race the GS1000 and WIN, REPEATEDLY, I'd probably have sold the GS1000 and bought a newer Gixxer 750 or R1 in the sportbike camp, or a Speed Triple or Ducati Monster, or FZ1 in the factory 'fighter class and be done with it.

But, I see loads of potential in this bike mostly due to its motor, so accenting the motor and tranny with modern running gear (wider radial tires/brakes that work/suspension that doesn't wallow & weave) is the right thing to do IMO. Because the stock suspension, skinny bias ply tires, and brakes, for lack of a better word, suck. And when turned into a racebike/sportbike, it's pretty good looking too.

Inspiration:





both of which are a far cry from the oldschool-sportbike-hiding-in-a-cruiser-body stock GS1000E:



which will resemble something like this in the end: