79 GS850

[Anonymous]

Hey All
Looking at a 79 GS850 for $500 Canadian. It's bare metal and needs to be painted, but that's of no concern to me, at least it's bare and not all rusty and chipped like my 400 was all summer, now if I would just motivate myself to actually finish the job. Anyways, I haven't seen the bike yet, but I've talked to the guy and I'm going to go look on Tuesday. He says he had the heads off so it needs to be timed, but besides that it should run. He was gonna try to get around to the timing before I got there, but if he doesn't, how hard would it be for me to do? And in your opinions is the bike worth that much? A paint job (by me) is gonna run about a hundred going by the cost of the one that's almost done, so add that in. So it's a $600 GS850 that may/may not require timing. Is it worth it?

[SqDancerLynn1]

Have him get it running first!!!!!! Was he talking about ign timing or cam timing??? Cam timing and reassembly shouldn't take more than 1 hour if the head is on. Also did he adjust the valves?? What work was done??
How manny miles? If it is not running I would only offer maybe $300

[saaz]

In addition to the above, I would be wary if it is not running. It could have major problems, but how can you tell? Why were the heads off? You would need all the gaskets, while alone cost a fair bit. If it is apart, it is also the time do hone, do the rings, stem seals etc. Is this what he was doing?

Be a bit wary here.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the advice guys, just called the guy and as soon as I hung up the phone I remembered to ask if it was running. I'm heading out there tomorrow and if it's not running, I won't pay $500 for it, which will be easy seeing as how I put four new tires on my car today after it was transferred into my name from my mom's. Which means I'm going to be paying my own insurance, at nearly $250/month!!!! I payed twice that for my motorcycle insurance and it was for a full year!

I'll let you all know how it goes,

[Anonymous]

$250 per month!!!!!! Do you bounce off every wall you see? I pay a total of 84 per month for 2 cars and that is high. I went to get a quote for my GS a week or so ago and they quoted me about $7 per month. BTW My GS is also a 79 850G Great bike, Love it.

[Anonymous]

$250 a month is cheap for me here in New Brunswick Canada, I'm an 18 year old male, with one ticket (that they know of) and that's a fantastic rate, relatively speaking. Realistically, it's disgusting. $7 a month? That's fantastic!! I wish I was paying that, you lucky bas*ard.

[Anonymous]

Well move on down here to California. Just joking I would like to get the hell out of this terable state