GS 850 seat question

[lti_57]

hello new here
My question I have an 1980 GS 850 it has the steped seat
can i put more of the flat style seat with the rear cowl on this bike
What little i know i see no problem
what say you

[BassCliff]

Hi,

You can certainly reshape the foam and put on a new cover. Perhaps an upholstery shop can be of service. But the seat pans and hinge spacing are a little different between the 850G and 850GL. You'd have to mod one or the other to fit. It might be possible to install a tail section from a G model but I have no direct experience. You'd probably have to lose chrome fender.

If you are trying to "un-L" your bike, send a PM to DanTheMan. He's doing a pretty good job of turning his 850GL into an 850G.


Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

[lti_57]

Thanks
yes that is excatly what i am trying to do mainly the seat for now
the tank might come later
once again thanks for your help
Oh yeah how does one go about finding this dan the man

[DanTheMan]

Thanks
yes that is excatly what i am trying to do mainly the seat for now
the tank might come later
once again thanks for your help
Oh yeah how does one go about finding this dan the man

Welcome to the forum, lti! I'm DanTheMan (my wife coined my screen name), if you click on my screen name you can see all of the threads I've posted and some of the rebuild processes I've done on my bike since I got it. I don't think I detailed the G seat conversion, but I've got to do some work on the bike today so I can take a few pictures of it for you. My L has had a partial metamorphosis to a G, putting the larger G tank on will probably happen before my next cross country trip with it though. You can see some pictures of my bike in my signature.
Dan

[Buster-boy]

I don't know how you'd do either without some serious frame mods, but if D.T.M. says it can be done then far be it from me to tell you otherwise. Basscliff is correct in that the seat pan is different, and the tanks are two completely differnt styles as well. Good luck!!

Jim

[lti_57]

Thanks for the input
So it seems like a tank and seat switch would be in order.
Or i could mod the stepped seat that is on it already and use the same tank for now. still stripping the frame down for painting I have not even put the seat and tank on the frame yet
The Goal would be a semi cafe style bike that is my preferred riding style.

[DanTheMan]

Well, I won't have the seat conversion posted today, I've been troubleshooting a problem that recently appeared. It seems I've got a valve popping in #3 cylinder, not sure what's causing it yet until I pull the cam cover. I hope it's nothing more than a tight shim, I've got some thinner ones thanks to Ghostgs. I've got a band gig to be at in a couple of hours so I'll probably not even get to ride my bike today. I'll have to drive my fuel guzzling truck.

[Buster-boy]

I think the handlebars are diff too, but I don't know if you were worried about that or not. The engines are different too, so don't even go there. Basically, they're vastly different bikes all around.

Jim

[Steve]

The engines are different too, so don't even go there.

The engines are different between what and what?

He is talking about changing the seat and maybe tank on his 850L to make it more of a cafe bike. The early responders were thinking that he wanted more of a "G" look rather than the "GL", then he mentioned "cafe".

Now, down to your statement. Are you telling us that the 850G and 850GL engines are different?
Except for differences from one model year to another, they are not.

The '79 850 was the only year (in the U.S.) that had VM carbs, a kick starter and ignition points. (There was no "L" model in '79.)

The '80 and '81 850s (both G and GL) had BS carbs (also called CV carbs), no kickstarter and electronic ignition.

The '82 and '83 bikes had a few more bolts holding the cam cover to the head and a slightly redesigned set of cases that eliminated the bump at the back of the clutch cover where the kick starter used to be. The ignitor for the electronic ignition now had the timing advance built into the ignitor, rather than a mechanism on the end of the crank. The '83 engines were also painted black.

Other than those differences, the engines are all the same.

.

[lti_57]

I do have the Motor torn all the way down just going to go through it clean it make it pretty.
I don’t know all the GS 850 designators yet so I might have spoke out of turn as far wanting this type of seat or tank on my bike.
The end Goal it to have a comfortable 1up primarily rider cafe/sport oriented bike
Suspension mods meaning new rear shocks and spring/oil in the front
the bike already has a 4into 1 on it
Currently this is how she looks




and a T-500 from 2 or 3 years ago

[DanTheMan]

Yep, you've got an "L" model. The cafe mod single seat would be a little easier to do than fitting up the "G" flat style seat to the bike. I modded a 4 gal 650 tank to mine. Right now would be the time to do seat and tank mods though, while you've got it in pieces.

[Buster-boy]

My bad. Sorry I misspoke.