Went for the first ride last night...noticed some things

[ride_002000]

1978 GS750E

Well got the bike back together from me tearing it apart replacing parts, painting things, and finally after a week and a half of owning it I get to ride it.

Its not done yet but I wanted to take her for a ride to see if I needed to change/fix anything else.

So the first thing is...this thing runs beautifully, revs nice, shifts good (tho the clutch lever is stiffer than hell) and accelerates awesome. So glad I dont have to get into the carbs at all. This bike was sitting in a heated building for at least a year from the PO and he never even rode it. So I was pumped to see that it runs great, of course after I replaced the airbox weather stripping and reoiled the filter, replaced clutch and throttle cables, put on a R1 throttle tube, sprockets/chain, and new fluids.

After knowing it runs great, was pulling into home depot to get some odds and ends for her and I was braking and hit what seemed like a crater and the front bottoms out. I got home and seen that there was a huge dent in the front fender where the forks compressed and the brake splitter thing slammed into the fender. So I was very disappointed with that and realize I have to put in new springs and oil...will be going with progressive and 15W oil cuz I like a stiffer ride and im a bigger guy.

I will have pics up soon.

[Steve]

Congrats on the "first ride.

Although there is little doubt that the forks need new springs, you might want to check the oil level now. If they compressed easily enough to dent the fender, there might not be any oil in there now, making damping rather non-esixtant.

.

[ride_002000]

Will do, whats the best way to measure oil level?

Just take the top caps off and stick something down in there?



EDIT: Just searched and read up on this thread... http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...ork+oil&page=3

Some good info, just to confirm....it needs to measure 140mm from the top of the fork with them fully compressed without the springs in?

[hikermikem]

...just to confirm....it needs to measure 140mm from the top of the fork with them fully compressed without the springs in?

Don't know the if 140mm is the correct distance (seems all forks are different) but yes, springs out, forks compressed.

There should be a small "plug screw" on the side of the fork near the bottom. Remove it & see what comes out (nasty stuff I bet). Flush a little mineral spirts through each fork leg whlie compressing them up & down to clean it out a little before you refill.

Of course, once you do all that you may find you need fork seals anyway - might want to bite-the-bullet & completely disassemble/clean the forks & put new seals in at the same time you put the progressives in.

Good luck,

mike