'78? GS750 rebuild

[pablo83]

Here's the bike:


And here's the story:

My wife's been complaining that all my bikes are 1 person bikes (I've moved over to dirt bikes in the last few years). So I've been looking for a decent 2-up bike that looks good and is comfortable.

I had a couple extra refridgerators in the house and I put them up in the "free" area of craigslist. This always attracts a lot of wierdos. No different this time. So the wierdo (Luke) shows up and sees I have a lot of bikes around and says he's removing all the metal from an apartment complex that's about to be torn down. There's one tennant left who's moving out tomorrow and he has this old bike that he needs to sell quick. It's an 850cc Kawi or something like that. He asks me if I'm interested in buying it. I tell him if the bike is complete offer him $100 for the bike and an extra $100 if there's a clean title. I call Luke the next day to see if I need to come get the bike, but he's already bought it for $150 and has it for sale on Craigslist for $350 (no title). All this after I gave the guy two free refridgerators.

So I go look at the bike. Turn out it's a '79 GS850. VIN check comes back clean. Looks complete except there are no keys and the wiring has been messed with a bunch. We settle on $250 for the bike and I take it. I have a policy to never begin work on a bike until I have a title in my name (but that's another story).

I begin the process of getting it re-titled, but before that gets completed I find a '78 GS750 for $350. This bike is much more my style: wire rims and a chain. I also like the body work better. Once again the owner is leaving town shortly and the title is all messed up. We settle on $100 for the bike and another $150 when I get the title. I put in the bill of sale that if I don't see a title in 120 days, the bike's mine for no additional payments. It takes a lot of contact with the PO and his deadbeat brother (who owns the bike) and about exactly 120 days later I get a title.

So now I have a '78 GS750 fixer-upper and a '79 GS850 for spares.

[pablo83]

The idea is to get the bike running and give it a basic street bike look. I’ve already removed the moldy leather saddlebags. Next thing to go is that rear rack and backrest. I’d also like a smaller headlight and gauge cluster. Oh, yea, that seat's really got to go too. Here are more pics.

[pablo83]

beautiful:

[pablo83]

Is my bike really a '78?

So the first question I have is what year is this bike? The frame says it was made in ’77, the title say ’78. Some other info I found seemed to suggest Suzi only made a wire wheel version with a single front brake in ’76. VIN: GS750-38679 What’s your opinion?

[GS550ES-Hank]

It's a model year 78, built in 77, with leftover parts from 76?

Also, are those the old VT tags on it?

[pablo83]

Also, are those the old VT tags on it?

It's an old CO plate

[pablo83]

Please recommend a good manual

I'm going to want a shop manual sooner or later. What should I get, and where should I get it from?

[Don-lo]

See if you can get the whole motor in a dip bucket, lol

Nice find, actually. The dry air there helps preserve exhausts, wiring harnesses, etc.

We're looking forward to seeing it back on the road.

[pablo83]

[QUOTE=Don-lo;987954]See if you can get the whole motor in a dip bucket, lol
[QUOTE]

Funny, when I first started removing bolts I thought it would be real handy if I could jus drive the whole bike thru a pool of WD40.

[pablo83]

Where can I get a brake rebuild kit?

I need to rebuild the front and rear master and slave brake cylinders. Any suggestions on where to find parts?