Colorado Springs GS750 Cafe Build

[jus1087]

Hi everyone,

I just bought a '79 GS750 yesterday. I'm not gonna lie...I'm pretty stoked. It's not only my first build, but my first bike as well. I've been lurking around the forums for the past few days reading and learning from a lot of you guys. This seems like a great place to be. The guy I bought the GS from had it in storage for the past 6-8 months. The two previous owners have put a lot of work into this bike. The frame has been trimmed, and a lot of the bulky stock extras have been removed. The starter and the electric ignition system have been removed, and the bike is kick start only.

I went and bought a new battery today (the old one wouldn't charge), and hope to have my baby running by tommorow. If not, diagnosis begins!!! Assuming thats the primary issue, I'll give her a good tune up and start to make her mine.

The only condition my girlfriend gave me on the bike is that there has to be a seat for her. So thus begins my fabrication of a seat with a removeable cap. I love my girlfriend, but I love the look of a single-seat cafe racer also. If I work this right, I'll have the best of both worlds.

I look foward to posting a lot of noob-type questions and learning a lot here.

[cowboyup3371]

Welcome to the forum. Where in the Springs are you at? SRSupertrapp is downtown, I'm out east of town in Yoder, and at least one other person is in Falcon. Great looking bike. Just make sure you follow through on all of the maintenance stuff Basscliff will give you on his website.

Take care.
Scott

[jus1087]

Welcome to the forum. Where in the Springs are you at? SRSupertrapp is downtown, I'm out east of town in Yoder, and at least one other person is in Falcon. Great looking bike. Just make sure you follow through on all of the maintenance stuff Basscliff will give you on his website.

Take care.
Scott

I'm on Fort Carson. I've seen posts from several guys here in CO. It's kinda cool to know there are other GS fans in the area.

[Octane80]

Welcome man, I also took on a gs750 project this past winter and now that most of it's back together I will be finishing up with the seat and cap. I also have in the works a double seat with a cap to go over the rear section so my gf can ride. It will be interesting to see what you come up with. Good luck!

[Smokinapankake]

Hey jus1087,

I spent 4 years at Carson, in the 4th Aviation brigade, then 52nd engineers, and finally 64th forward support battalion from 90 - 94. I loved living there! My roomie Alex and I had an apartment at the corner of Nevada and Cheyenne, behind the McDonald's there and across the street from Smiths. I'd ride my mtn bike up the canyon, take Buckhorn and then Captain Jacks, and come down the Chutes. Made a nice 7 or so mile round trip.
Sold my first 82 Katana to some dude there, then saw it listed online several years later from the same guy. Came so close to buying it back but never did.

A fun motorcycle ride is through Manitou, up 24 to Woodland Park, and then across the divide behind Pikes Peak over to Cripple Creek / Victor. There used to be a one lane tunnel back there controlled by a stoplight. Probably gone now. I particularly remember one fall afternoon making that run. Perfect 75 degree weather, the aspen all in gold, and that special quality of light that only the Rockies can produce. Those aspen looked like they were on fire! I had some of the best times of my life while there.

[jus1087]

Hey Smoke!

I'm with 10th SFG and I've been here for just over a year. I love this place! I can't wait to check out that ride. It sounds amazing, especially now that spring is rolling around up here. I mtn bike too, but I haven't been out all that mucch lately, and I've only done Cheyenne Mountain because it's so close to post.

[Smokinapankake]

Sweet Jus!

Buckhorn and Cap'n Jack's, combined, make up my all time favorite ride ever. Throw in the Chutes and it's like icing on the cake, baby! If you've ever heard of Manitou mountain bikes, well, they were built right there in Manitou Springs by a dude named Doug Bradbury before Answer bought him out in the early 90's. Yes, the same Manitou that makes forks now. I met the guy once when I was working part time at a shop called The Pedal Revolution. Super nice guy with a real Grizzly Adams' beard. He, along with Paul Turner of RockShox fame, pretty much revolutionized the mtb industry with suspension forks.

Where is your native hometown? I hail originally from SLC, UT. They say that Denver and Salt Lake are sister cities because they are so similar but I disagree. Denver is way bigger and way uglier than Salt Lake will ever be.

And don't let anybody fool you about the interstate. I-70 from Denver all the way to Grand Junction is superb riding, both twisty-wise and scenery. Up at the top, Loveland pass I think, is a long tunnel (prolly a mile or more) that I always thought was fun to motor through. And once you get to Glenwood Canyon hang onto your butt because it is the coolest section of interstate I've ever ridden.

I'd ride my 82 Katana home on a long weekend (partly) just so I could make that part of the freeway. Most times I'd do it in 8 hours or less, its approx 600 miles from Colo Springs to SLC. Course, I was 20 then, and my bones were still flexible, my brains were located in my crotch, and my girlfriend was located in SLC.

Anyway, sorry to derail off your original thread. Only advice I can give you is take the advice of the old timers here to heart. They know that of which they speak as they've been there and experienced it many many times before.
And congrats on your purchase! You'll find that these old GS's are the greatest motorcycles built!

[jus1087]

Day 1

So yesterday was my first day to work on my GS. My goal was to get it started and address any issues that I found from there.

(Pics are a bit blurry)

I started out by pulling the seat and tank to do a quick once-over of the carbs, spark plugs, and the rest of the electrical system.
I pulled the top covers and the air filters from the carbs, and from what I could tell, they looked like they were in pretty good condition; no carbon build-up and no gummy mess.


I went ahead and changed out the spark plugs, and check the basic electrical stuff (headlight, tail/brakelight).

I reassembled everything and put some 91 octane in the tank. It took quite a few kicks, but she finally started; however would only keep running on full choke. I adjusted the idle screw on the top of the throttle, which seems to have fixed the problem.

I rolled it into the parking lot for a quick test run, and ran into my next issue. I put it in gear, and as I let off the clutch, the RPMs would drop really low and the bike would die, no matter how much I turned the throttle. The bike starts up fine. One kick. It does fine until I try to put it in gear. Any ideas or suggestions?

[jus1087]

So yesterday was my first day to work on my GS. My goal was to get it started and address any issues that I found from there.

(Pics are a bit blurry)

I started out by pulling the seat and tank to do a quick once-over of the carbs, spark plugs, and the rest of the electrical system.
I pulled the top covers and the air filters from the carbs, and from what I could tell, they looked like they were in pretty good condition; no carbon build-up and no gummy mess.


I went ahead and changed out the spark plugs, and check the basic electrical stuff (headlight, tail/brakelight).

I reassembled everything and put some 91 octane in the tank. It took quite a few kicks, but she finally started; however would only keep running on full choke. I adjusted the idle screw on the top of the throttle, which seems to have fixed the problem.

I rolled it into the parking lot for a quick test run, and ran into my next issue. I put it in gear, and as I let off the clutch, the RPMs would drop really low and the bike would die, no matter how much I turned the throttle. The bike starts up fine. One kick. It does fine until I try to put it in gear. Any ideas or suggestions?

[shinzon1]

what kind of handle bars are those?