slowing to a stop after cruising 5 min

[kigs550l]

ok i need some help here, i have a 82 gs550l with about 11000 miles the bike sat for 3 years before i bought it since buying the bike i have replaced plugs, oil, air and oil filter. bike has mostly only seen around town driving till today, taking it out on the highway with some other bikers we get up to cruising speed 55 to 60 for about 5 to 10 min when my bike starts slowing down no throtle response like cruising to a stop pull in the clutch and will rev but slows with clutch engaged pulled over after down shifting and no response ajusted clutch cable a little and restarted bike and revs fine took off like a champ back to town, rode about an hour around town and back out on the highway again and it happened again. please any help would be great

[chef1366]

Classic fuel starvation from either bad petcock or no venting on your fuel cap.
Could also need a good carb cleaning.

[BassCliff]

Hee Haw Howdy!

Hi Mr. kigs550l,

Here is your mega-welcome with lots of tips and tricks.

Dear fellow GS rider,

Let it be known that on this day you are cordially and formally welcomed to the GSR Forum as a Junior Member in good standing with all the rights and privileges thereof. Further let it be known that your good standing can be improved with pictures (not you, your bike)!

Perhaps you've already seen these, but I like to remind all the new members. In addition to the carb rebuild series, I recommend visiting the In The Garage section via the GSR Homepage and check out the Stator Papers. There's also a lot of great information in the Old Q&A section. I have some documentation on my little BikeCliff website to help get you familiar with doing routine maintenance tasks (note that it is 850G-specific but many tasks are common to all GS bikes). Other "user contributed" informational sites include those of Mr. bwringer, Mr. tfb and Mr. robertbarr. And if your bike uses shims for valve adjustments, send an email to Mr. Steve requesting a copy of his Excel spreadsheet that helps you keep track of clearances, shim sizes and other service work.

These are some edited quotes from one of our dear beloved gurus, Mr. bwringer, with ideas on basic needs (depending on initial condition), parts, and accessories.
***********Quoted from Mr. bwringer************
Carburetor maintenance:

Replace the intake boot o-rings, and possibly the intake boots. Here's the procedure:

http://bwringer.com/gs/intakeorings.html

Here's an overview of what happens with this particular problem:

http://cycleorings.com/intake.html

You'll also want to examine the boots between the carbs and the airbox. There's a good chance these are OK, but check them over.
And finally, if things still aren't exactly right, you'll want to order a set of o-rings for BS carbs from the GS owner's best friend, Robert Barr:
http://cycleorings.com
Once you receive these rare rings of delight, then you'll want to thoroughly clean and rebuild your carburetors. Here are step-by-step instructions that make this simple:

http://thegsresources.com/gs_carbrebuild.htm

***********************************
Every GS850 has (or had) a set of well-known issues that MUST be addressed before you have a solid baseline for further troubleshooting. It's a vintage bike, and it's quite common (as in, every single GS850 I have had contact with) that there are multiple problems that have crept up and slowly gotten worse over the years. It's not like a newer vehicle, where there's generally one problem at a time.

These common issues are:

1. Intake O-rings (install NEW OEM or Viton only - common nitrile O-rings will quickly deteriorate from heat)
2. Intake Boots (install NEW -- these cannot be repaired)
3. Valve clearances (more important than most people think)
4. Carb/airbox boots
5. Airbox sealing
6. Air filter sealing
7. Petcock (install a NEW one)
8. On '79 models, install new points or Dyna electronic ignition (or at least verify that the old points are working correctly)
9. On all models, it's fairly common to have problems with the spark plug caps. These are $3 or $4 each, and often worth replacing if you're keeping the stock coils/wires.
10. Stock exhaust with NO leaks or holes -- good seals at the head and at the junctions underneath.
***************************************
OEM Parts/Online Fiches:

I would definitely double and triple the recommendations to use Cycle Recycle II and Z1 Enterprises as much as possible. These guys are priceless resources. Z1 tends to have slightly better prices, CRC2 has a wider range of goodies available. If you're near Indy and can bring in an old part to match, CRC2 has a vast inventory of used parts.
http://denniskirk.com - Put in your bike model and see what they have.
http://oldbikebarn.com - seems to be slowly regaining a decent reputation, but it's still caveat emptor. They don't have anything you can't get elsewhere at a better price anyway.
http://www.babbittsonline.com/ - Decent parts prices. Spendy shipping. Don't give you part numbers at all. Useful cross-reference if you obtain a part number elsewhere. Efficient service.
http://bikebandit.com - Fastest. Middlin' prices. Uses their own parts numbering system to obfuscate price comparisons -- can be very confusing for large orders. Cheapest shipping, so total cost usually isn't too bad.
http://flatoutmotorcycles.com - Slow. Cheapest parts prices, crazy shipping costs. Don't expect progress updates or much communication. Real Suzuki part numbers.
http://alpha-sports.com - Exorbitant parts prices. Different type of fiche interface that's quite useful at times, especially with superceded part numbers. Real parts numbers. Shipping cost and speed unknown due to insane, unholy pricing.

Stainless Bolts, Viton o-rings, metric taps, dies, assorted hard-to-find supplies and materials, etc:

http://mcmaster.com - Fast, cheap shipping, good prices. No order minimum, but many items like bolts come in packs of 25 or 50. Excellent resource.
http://motorcycleseatcovers.com - Great quality, perfect fit (on original seat foam), and available for pretty much every bike ever made. Avoid the textured vinyl -- it's perforated.
http://newenough.com - You DO have riding gear, don't you? Great clearances, always outstanding prices and impeccable service.
***************End Quote**********************
Additional parts/info links:

GSR Forum member Mr. duaneage has great used upgraded Honda regulator/rectifiers for our bikes. Send him a PM.
New electrical parts:
http://stores.ebay.com/RMSTATOR or http://www.rmstator.com/

http://www.ricksmotorsportelectrics.com/index.php

http://www.electrosport.com/

For valve cover and breather cover gaskets, I recommend Real Gaskets (reusable silicon):
http://www.realgaskets.com
The Rice Paddy (salvage/used)
http://www.ricepaddymotorcycles.com
Carolina Cycle
http://www.carolinacycle.com
Ron Ayers Motorsports
http://www.ronayers.com
MR Cycles
http://www.mrcycles.com
Moto Grid
http://www.motogrid.com
If all else fails, try this:
http://www.used-motorcycle-parts.org/
Used bike buying checklists:

http://www.amadirectlink.com/roadride/Riderresc/checklist.asp

http://www.clarity.net/~adam/buying-bike.html
Lots of good info/pictures here:
http://www.suzukicycles.org

http://www.cyclechaos.com/wiki/Motorcycle_Wiki

Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed of your progress. There's lots of good folk with good experience here.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff
(The unofficial GSR greeter)

[kigs550l]

still not right at highway speeds

ok turned petcock to prime and ran good about 3 times as long slowed from 65 to 45 and then wanted to go again seems to hesitate at cruising speeds slowing and picking up and so on doesnt want to hit more than 70 prob cause it wont really rev over 6 grand when driving seems it might have a fuel leak around the inlet to the carbs wet and smells like fuel but could be old no residue on line it seams like im starving for air or fuel or both might be running lean have some yellowing on chrome exhaust by shifter i guess im new to this bike and any tips, tricks or just advice and how to do it would help me greatly. thank you for your help

[dustysnakes]

welcome to the wonderful world of carbs my friend. constant battle on these beasts. judging by where you say the leak appears to be..... theres a vent there that will tend to spew fuel like a faucet if the floats arnt acting right (just fixed that myself on mine) i would suggest as the other gentleman said petcock. fuel filter. carb cleaning. air filter. if it still is doing it you may want to change out you plugs. just my humble opinion i know there are much more experianced guys on this forum though.

[tkent02]

welcome to the wonderful world of carbs my friend. constant battle on these beasts.

News to me.
Clean em, set em, forget em.

[chef1366]

News to me.
Clean em, set em, forget em.

I was thinking the same thing. Beat me to it.

[dustysnakes]

surely your kidding right? i have to redo mine at least once a year if im lucky then again im not exactly a motorcycle mechanic either im trying to learn here though. that cafe' out in my shop is definately giving me some hands on training

[chef1366]

surely your kidding right? i have to redo mine at least once a year if im lucky then again im not exactly a motorcycle mechanic either im trying to learn here though. that cafe' out in my shop is definately giving me some hands on training

Do you let the bike sit a long time between starts? Bad gas? Rusty fuel tank? No petcock screen?
In my experience if they are cleaned right the first time and ran consistently end of problem.

[northwoods]

Carbs are definately turning into a beast for me.

[dustysnakes]

it sits up for the winter typically but the tanks and bowls are always drained i always change my screens and run an inline fuel filter want to tell me what im doing wrong ive been contemplating building a 4 to 1 intake for the thing and putting an edelbrock on it (dont hit me *ducks*)

[kigs550l]

put stock foam filter in and cleaned carbs guess what happened

runns good now, amazing difference took it for a 60 mile run this afternoon and my clutch cable didint break but was stuck back against the grip played around for a min and it snapped back out now clutch only grabs when lever is almost fully extended fun when your with 2 other riders on new bikes lol i guess if anyone knows the drag specialties or parts unlimited part # for the clutch cable im just going to replace it its probly the oriiganal and streched out might have a burr in the cable also thanks

[coltrain]

Carbs are fun

News to me.
Clean em, set em, forget em.

Especially is ya use an inline fuel filter.