My 1981 GS1000G story

[Guest]

I realized I've been posting about this bike piecemeal here due to the several questions I've had during the rebuild, so I thought I'd make a thread for the whole thing.

My GS story starts when I bought a brand new red 1000G in 1981 (my 4th bike I had owned at the time). It was a bike someone else had ordered, but they backed out and got an 850 instead. It had a Vetter fairing. I rode it as main transportation here in Florida for a few years, but as the congestion & traffic grew in South Florida, I eventually parked it. Ended up selling it to a friend of my wife's for a fraction of what I had paid for it- nothing new there.

After retiring to beautiful and un-congested North Florida, our Pastor was preaching one Sunday and mentioned our needs versus our wants. He told the story of a church member needing to borrow his pickup, and how the only vehicle he could trade the Pastor was his motorcycle. The Pastor related how he & his wife spent the day riding the backroads here and how great it was. This allowed me to recall how nice my GS had been, so I ended up selling a car and getting back into the bike market. I was torn between a nearly 30 year old GS and a more modern bike. I wanted a shaft drive and a UJM style. I was very disappointed to see no one made anything like my old GS anymore. I joined this forum and the Concours Forum and ended up with a 2006 Concours.

I still had the bug for a GS and sold another car, so the other half of the finance committee approved the deal. I came back here and lived up to my user name. I found some 1100 models that I liked, but I really wanted my old red 1000. I spent a lot of time looking for it, only to find the DMV records do not go back far enough, and the guy I sold it to (found him in 1 day after almost 20 years- gotta love the Internet) didn't remember who he sold it to.

After a good bit of shopping, I found a red '81 1000G in Colorado on Craigslist with around 54K miles. Keep in mind it usually doesn't matter so much where a bike or vehicle is, as I usually buy out of state to get what I want- the Concours came from North Carolina. The seller was asking $900, so I replied to him only to get blown off. I posted here for some local help to contact the seller & look it over. Enter member Tkent02 to save the day. He met with the guy (who didn't think I was a real person), and did a thorough inspection, which he related to me. I ended up buying it, and arranged for transport through a fellow TKent lined up.

The bike got here and had a dead battery & stuck choke cable. The transport guy was very helpful & we got it going so I could ride it the short distance home. This is where the fun begins!

Here's a list of what I've done so far in no particular order:

• I found it had aftermarket flat bars. I replaced them with stock bars.
• Resealed the cam chain tensioner.
• Added engine guards bought from a member here.
• Replaced the speedometer with a new in box 140MPH unit from ebay.
• Replaced the gauge covers front & rear.
• Replaced the choke & clutch cables.
• Replaced the horns, and added relay wiring.
• Added a WJ V fairing and tail trunk. I got the whole set with bags (did not use the bags) from a Goldwing owner for $150, and the bracket on ebay for $50- had to weld on a tab.
• Added a brake light flasher for the trunk lights.
• Added a HID bulb for the headlight.
• Replaced the headlight housing with a new Bosch unit.
• Converted the Cyclesound housing to a gauge housing and installed a marine voltmeter, oil temperature gauge, and outside temp gauge. Added a photocell to allow the gauge lights to come on at night.
• Added a small oil pressure gauge on the motor.
• Added a small oil cooler with inline thermostat, bought the cooler adapter from a member here.
• Added a luggage rack bought from a member here.
• Changed oil & filter, as well as secondary and final drive oil.

At about this point, I thought I was ready to roll. I took it for a short spin around my yard, and noticed an exhaust leak. Turns out a bolt on one of the collars had broken off in the head, and then apparently an extractor had as well. Long story short here, I was able to get the head repaired, but "while I was at it" (a common state of mind in my garage), I ran a compression test that seemed a little low, so I ended up replacing the rings and valve seals, and two sets of gaskets (I missed the writeup on the Athena gaskets and had to redo a couple with OEM gaskets after I had the cylinder back on). Added studs to the head. Ended up pulling out one of the studs I had installed, but this was an easy repair.

I then adjusted the valves and it fired up! It ran great until I noticed a little over 10V on the voltmeter (should be around 13). Next round of testing, and it turns out the stator and R/R (regulator/rectifier) are toast.

I've ordered new parts for this repair, but in the meantime I charged the battery & rode it for the first time today. I put about 10 miles on it, and it rides great! I told my wife I have a new favorite bike. It rides much smoother down our gravel driveway than does the Concours, and on the road the riding position is much more natural and the Vetter does a better job of keeping the wind off you. The oil cooler works great- on a 65 degree fall day, the gauge got up to a little over 180 and then settled right below it. For contrast, the Concours never gets much above 130 due to no thermostat and liquid cooling.

Here is a picture Tkent sent me, we'll call this before:


Pictures I took during this time:
Arrival in August:


GPS add-on work (did not go with this gauge unit):


Oil cooler adapter & thermostat:




Triple gauges:


Added wiring in fairing:


Vetter trunk:


Brake light video

Completed 11-25-10, we'll call this after:


Here's a before & after shot:


I can't thank the members here enough for all the help and advice I've received. As I told my wife, I have a new favorite bike & can't wait to take it on some of our back roads here for some quality time.

[7981GS]

Thanks for sharing the progress.

Any links and results from adding these?:

Added a HID bulb for the headlight.
Replaced the headlight housing with a new Bosch unit.

TIA,

Daniel

[GS1000G Shopper]

Daniel,
I have a thread that contains the HID & housing install here.

I have not ridden this bike at night yet, and of course won't do so until the charging problem is fixed. I have the same bulb setup on my Concours and it is a big improvement over the stock halogen. I found out about HID on the Concours forum, and the best place to buy the parts.

The Bosch housing was a steal- I looked at the vendor's page today & see it is still $21 and change.

[7981GS]

How does it compare to a Sylvania Xtra vision halogen?

Daniel

[GS1000G Shopper]

I've never used that bulb so I can't answer the question. The bulb that was in the Concours was a GE 60/55W halogen.

[cowboyup3371]

Looks good. Are you going to add some bags to it to complete the trunk section?

[GS1000G Shopper]

Not planning on it. I've never been a fan of bags since I can fit everything I need to carry in the trunk.

[1948man]

That's a beautiful ride. I commend your taste and persistence.

[ddaniels]

Looks good Paul. A lot like mine in fact, except mine has the side bags as well. But yours has the taller 23" windshield which will be a future purchase for me. Mine has the 21" and there's annoying buffeting at the top of my helmet.
Mine:

[GS1000G Shopper]

What a beauty! But you already knew that. I'm digging the 23" windshield! The Concours has a +7" Titebike windshield & I still have to crouch on it to not get blasted. Just from what I did today, the ride is really better on the GS, but I think I'm biased.

[ddaniels]

I had an '87 Connie a while back and it had a fairly tall Rifle shield on it. Was nice, but not as good as the Vetter. I found a stock shield on Ebay and got it to try it out because I liked the looks of them. But that silly flip at the top really disturbed the airflow. I quickly put the Rifle back on.

[850 Combat]

I had an '87 Connie a while back and it had a fairly tall Rifle shield on it. Was nice, but not as good as the Vetter. I found a stock shield on Ebay and got it to try it out because I liked the looks of them. But that silly flip at the top really disturbed the airflow. I quickly put the Rifle back on.

I aggree. I bought a new Connie in '05. The windshield buffeting was terrible. The Rifle cured it, but with a price. In heavy rain, the water boils up in the air slot and is channeled to your face shield. It doen not benefit your vision, and the still air does not blow it away.

A Windjammer works much better. Overall, I like riding a 1000G much more than I liked riding the Concours, so I sold it. The Connie fork is worse too. I will give the Connie credit for having better controlled rear suspension in bumpy turns, mainly due to more travel, not better quality. Good riddance to the Connie, in my case.

Although the Connie was faster, I did not have the roll on power tof the 1000G at the under 70 mph speeds I generally ride. I stay of the interstates and ride 2 lane roads pretty much.

[GS1000G Shopper]

Update
I had a couple of bugs after riding- high idle, fairing misalignment, and of course the charging system. The title issue I posted about here is being resolved.

The idle turned out to be simply the adjuster screw- always start wit the obvious.

The fairing bracket I got on ebay was bent. I straightened it as best I could, but the fairing was never 100 percent right. I have a bracket on the way that isn't bent. I've also added lowers for the Vetter since cold weather is here for a while.

I pulled the stator today & cleaned the gasket areas so I'll be ready when the parts get here. I also picked up some socket head screws to replace the stripped head Phillips screws.

Should be 100% within a couple of weeks. Really looking forward to weekly rides on it.