How fast is is your old GS?

[SAYONARA]

I hear you not bad for a 400 cc engine.well done. I have a 1979 KZ 1000 LTD with stock engine and VM26 carbs jetted with velocity stacks and Mac 4-1 with Kerker comp baffle hits 140 MPH full throttle even do starts to shake at 120 mph. the same bike had a 1400 cc engine with Cam motion Z6 cams and VM33 and did hit 150 mph I felt that I needed an extra pair of nuts to ride that engine bike that fast I loved yo go next to the Harley's guys and leave them behind

[SAYONARA]

you need to check your steering and adjust it with the front wheel in the air that bike should hit 120 straight like a dart.

[xkaes]

When I was 27, I once hit 80. That was fast enough for me.

Now that I'm approaching 80, I don't go much above 27.

Maybe that's why me and my bikes are still going strong.

[mriddle]

I saw 80 mph (hugging the tank, long downhill) on my 1982 GS300L. With me then commuting on it - standing probably 265 lbs with my work backpack. Going up that hill was grateful to get to 65.

[Rob S.]

My CB350 topped out at 96. My first year 903cc Z1 would probably have gotten well into the 130's, but that bike's notorious high speed wobble dumped me once and killed my cousin! So I never took her over about 117mph.

Fast forward several decades without riding when I bought my 11EZ. The Cycle World review in 1982 said it was geared for 142, but by that time my testes had started to retreat from whence they came so 115 or 120 a couple of times, but 100mph pretty much every time I took her out. With the open exhaust and intake, and Dyna jetting and tuning, I like to think it might hit 150.

My 883 Superlow Sportster topped out at 100 on level ground with me laying flat on the tank, blowing smoke on big twins pushing police windshields and pulling all manner of saddle bags.

Of course, as a result of my last Sportster ride I now top out at about 1mph with a noticeable limp. Good times!

[wymple]

When I was younger and far more stupid I had 9200 RPM on my 82 1100 EZ on a long straight lonely road. I think that was about 142. I will most likely never again see more than about 80, and that would be passing someone.

[rphillips]

Back in the 80's they were never fast enough, today it really don't matter.

[xkaes]

The speedometers on my two GS550's top out at 140mph, but as I recall, the 550 engine tops out at 110mph or so in sixth gear -- but I never got close to either of those marks anyway!

[GS1150Pilot]

Back in the 80's they were never fast enough, today it really don't matter.

Well said. I spent more time and money trying to make my GPz 550 faster, but after a terrifying ride on the GPz 750 Turbo I had built, speed began to fade as an obsession.

[Noreg]

I think I might have gotten mine up to 100 mph in Sweden once. According to GPS not the speedo. But at those speeds it gets uncomfortable. I can't imagine taking the bike to its top speed (134mph I believe).

There is just too much wind.

[rphillips]

Fastest I remember seeing indicated was just past 155mph. on a 1984 Kawasaki Ninja 900, that's just all it had. Don't seem that long ago, but today that's nearing 100 mph. more than I need.

[oldGSfan]

Mine topped out at about 184MPH but it was well over 100 degrees F in the desert in August, and at 6000' or so (hint hint).

[bonanzadave]

When I was younger and far more stupid

BTDT !!

I had 9200 RPM on my 82 1100 EZ on a long straight lonely road. I think that was about 142. I will most likely never again see more than about 80, and that would be passing someone.

Did that alot ! Never really had any idea of speed cause of the 80mph speedo. Cant do that now as the ol girl developed a speed wobble several years ago. Probably not a bad thing......

[oldGSfan]

In the summer of '83 I was stationed in in the AF in San Angelo TX for a few months. My friends and I would ride the 277 down to Ciudad Acuna over the border. It was (is?) s a very smooth and lightly travelled road, a pork barrel project if I ever saw one. One time we had a guy on a '76 CB400F, one on a '82 GPz550, another on an '82 GS1100E and me on my '82 KZ1000J. At some point my friend left from a pit stop in the wrong direction, I think a different highway, on his CB400F. I volunteered to chase him down and took off after him, pegging the KZ at 8500 RPM in 5th on the open road. That's about 135. My friend on his GS1100E just walked past me, and as I recall he was inside me on the breakdown lane (WTF) but it didn't matter much, roads were wide, visibility good, and not a car in sight. That's when I got the GS bug. I'm sure he was over 140. Found this pic, great memory.

And yeah that's a Wes Cooley fairing on my KZ1000J, go figure. The dealer painted it with gold and red stripes and I think it was about $150. I wanted the Eddie Lawson so badly but couldn't afford it, so I put rear sets on the KZ and the fairing, it worked for me!

[rphillips]

Gosh I'd almost forgot the KZ 1000 J, nice bikes but just wasn't a place for them anymore, by "81" everyone had gone to 1100's, except Honda who had 900F's, not much street competition for the 1000cc bike. Then in "82" they went to the KZ1000"R" Eddy Lawson look-a-like with GPZ1100 body work painted green. Those things have got to be out-a-sight in price. I remember I ran handlebars from an "81" 1000J on my "80" GS1100E, they fit me better than anything else I could find. Only remember 2 1000 J's in our area, a black one, like yours & a maroon one. Man I love the old memories.