1980 GS850GLT Road-worthiness Project

[Dogma]

It's a very good thing that you're interested in being the best rider you can be. It drastically improves the odds of survival.

Do you know Proficient Motorcycling by David Hough? Highly recommended. It's a collection of articles he's written over the years, of various bits of riding wisdom you'd otherwise have to learn the hard way.

[GSXR7ED]

I took the MSF course on Dover Air Force base on Sept 11, 2011. It's a $200 course here but since I am a Veteran, it cost me $50.

We had mostly Buell motorcycles and I had one with a tight throttle cable. It was a 2-day course with riding test and written test all inclusive. One guy dropped his bike during emergency braking but the rest of us passed.

I live 1 mile from a testing ramp and 3 miles from the Air Force Base where there is another tarmac to hone my skills. I tried doing the figure 8 on my "T" but I couldn't stay within the lines...didn't really try too hard though like I did for my "M" Endorsement.

Thanks for sharing your story...it's good to get a refresher course done.


Ed

[DanTheMan]

I took the MSF course on Dover Air Force base on Sept 11, 2011. It's a $200 course here but since I am a Veteran, it cost me $50.

We had mostly Buell motorcycles and I had one with a tight throttle cable. It was a 2-day course with riding test and written test all inclusive. One guy dropped his bike during emergency braking but the rest of us passed.

I live 1 mile from a testing ramp and 3 miles from the Air Force Base where there is another tarmac to hone my skills. I tried doing the figure 8 on my "T" but I couldn't stay within the lines...didn't really try too hard though like I did for my "M" Endorsement.

Thanks for sharing your story...it's good to get a refresher course done.


Ed

Wow, Buells? All we have supplied by the state for the courses I teach (all over the state), 13 bikes per trailer, TU250s (new training bike of choice, they're sweet), some GN250s (they're getting retired this year), Yamaha dual purpose fat tire bikes (can't ever remeber their designation, they're 250s), Suzuki dual purpose 250s, and I think some of the trailers down in the twin cities have some horrible Kymco 250s still (failed purchase experiment). We might still have some Honda Shadow 250s as well and couple of rotten old Kawasaki 250 cruiser style bikes as well lurking somewhere.
My first BRC of the season is next week in St. Cloud (90 miles to the south of me, road trip!), classroom on Wednesday, a double on the range Sat and Sunday. I'll be sore and tired Monday night. Today is the 6th day I've been able to ride this "spring", if you want to call it that. People are still ice fishing around here.....

[eil]

It's a very good thing that you're interested in being the best rider you can be. It drastically improves the odds of survival.

That's the idea... I'm a very cautious driver in my cage, I want to be familiar with the bike and a bit more confident in my abilities before I spend much time on the public road amongst the crazies.

Do you know Proficient Motorcycling by David Hough? Highly recommended. It's a collection of articles he's written over the years, of various bits of riding wisdom you'd otherwise have to learn the hard way.

Thanks for the recommendation, my local library has it and I've just reserved it.

ll we have supplied by the state for the courses I teach (all over the state), 13 bikes per trailer, TU250s (new training bike of choice, they're sweet), some GN250s (they're getting retired this year), Yamaha dual purpose fat tire bikes (can't ever remeber their designation, they're 250s),

The TU250 looks pretty nice for a small bike. I'd love to test ride one. The Yamaha you're thinking of is probably a TW200, that's the one I learned on the first time I took the class. I didn't like it much, I'm sure it's far better for trail riding than S-Boxes.

My first BRC of the season is next week in St. Cloud (90 miles to the south of me, road trip!), classroom on Wednesday, a double on the range Sat and Sunday. I'll be sore and tired Monday night.

Being Rider Coach doesn't look like an easy job, but I assure you, we newbies appreciate your guidance, expertise, and endless patience!

[eil]

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for (well, the moment I've been waiting for), the first test ride!

Got home from work, chowed down a quick dinner, and went out into the garage. At this point, the bike has a clean air box, a new air filter, clean carbs, proper valve clearances, rebuilt forks, a bunch of new seals all over the place, a full fluid swap, new battery, new tires, and lots of other little things that I deemed too minor to mention in this thread. Little to no cosmetic work so the bike is still butt-ugly, but at least it's decently maintained now. Having just refreshed my newbie riding skills at the MSF course over the weekend, I myself was in as good a shape as I could hope.

I was semi-confident the engine would run right. It seemed to run great right after I rebuilt the carbs, but after messing around under the valve cover, I was hoping I didn't mess something up. It started, eventually, but I spent a fair amount of time just getting it to idle right. The choke knob kept sliding in... I had to clamp it with a pair of vice grips just so I could have both hands free to start the engine. Shut it off, checked and topped off the engine oil per the service manual.

I then spent a few minutes worrying about the clutch. Although the cable was adjusted properly, it never seemed to disengage the wheel from the engine. With the engine running, the transmission in first, and the clutch pulled in, I couldn't stop the wheel with my boot. Shut the engine off and tried to free it by rocking the bike back and forth in first. That seemed to help somewhat, but it was still dragging quite a bit. Oh well, I guess I see how it works out in the street.

Did a final inspection, threw the seat on, and went in to grab my gear. At this point, I had about 30 minutes of usable daylight left. I waddled the bike out into the street and spent a minute finding the friction zone. (The clutch finally seemed to free itself at this point.) Aight, time to fly. Rev the throttle, ease out the clutch, and away we went! Down the street, around the block. In first. Then second. Then third. Then fourth. Huh, I'd never been in fourth gear before! This is a ****load more bike than that dinky GZ250 from the MSF course.

Behind my house there's a small subdivision where they built a few roads, but hit the recession before any houses went up. There are barricades up to prevent cars from getting in (although that doesn't stop some), making it the perfect place to do a few short runs and turns. I spent a good 15 to 20 minutes tooling around back there. Wife, dog, and daughter walked back to say hi and take advantage of the warmer-than-expected evening.

So I was pleasantly surprised and happy that my cheap craigslist winter project bike runs pretty well. I didn't do any cosmetic work, so it's still ugly, but I'll try to get some kind of "after" shot up later anyway for posterity. For now, this is all I have. The photo below is very grainy, but keep in mind that it was almost completely dark at this point (the image has been brightened quite a lot just to see anything):



The good:

1. By all accounts, this is a big heavy bike but sure didn't handle like it, even at low speeds. In fact, I thought it handled pretty great. I tried not to push it though, on account of having brand-new tires.

2. I was very relieved to see the clutch work itself out.

The bad:

1. The choke knob, as mentioned above, won't stay pulled out. Just slides right back in. Do need to buy a new cable?

2. The front suspension seems awfully bouncy just pushing on it with the front brake held in. It doesn't bottom out but I feel it should be stiffer. Might have something to do with the fact that I couldn't figure out how to get 8.5psi of air //accurately// into the forks. Thankfully the forks in their current state didn't bother me at all just tooling around the neighborhood. I guess that could change at speed, particularly in curves or rough patches of road. I will probably upgrade to 20W fork oil and/or possibly swap out the fork springs with progressives in the future.

3. The throttle doesn't respond like I think it ought to. There's a very noticeable delay between twisting the throttle and and engine actually revving up in the low end. When rolling off, it takes a few seconds to come back down to idle. Mid-range seems much better but not quite perfect. Did not test high RPMs for obvious reasons. It seemed to get a little better after a few minutes of riding, but maybe I was just getting used to it at that point. Perhaps I need to adjust the carbs? Mixture? I plan to do plug chops eventually.

4. With the decade of dust and oil on the cooling fins and headers, she smokes like a chimney! I did my best to blow and wipe away what I could but I guess I still need to point the business end of a power washer at it. As well as some simple green and scrubbing.

In summary, this was a good day. From here on out, I'll just chip away at the few issues left and ride the thing. Woohoo!

[2BRacing]

The choke knob kept sliding in... I had to clamp it with a pair of vice grips just so I could have both hands free to start the engine.

The bad:

1. The choke knob, as mentioned above, won't stay pulled out. Just slides right back in. Do need to buy a new cable?

Congratulations on a job well done so far!

If your choke knob is mounted in the centre below the ignition switch (and not under the left hand handlebar switch) you can tighten the choke as follows to prevent it from sliding back down:

Remove the rubber cover pad over the centre part of the handlebar. Just below the choke knob is a small round rubber cover - pull this up to expose a round knurled plastic "nut" below the round rubber cover. Twist the knurled plastic nut a little in a clockwise direction. This increases friction on the choke cable assembly. If the choke knob still does not remain out, twist the knurled plastic nut a bit more clockwise. Do this until the choke knob stays out, but can also be pushed back down again without too much force.

Move the rubber cover over the knurled plastic nut back down, and replace the central rubber handlebar pad. You should now be good to go with a well-behaved choke knob, enabling you to leave the vice grips in the toolbox !

Your cold start procedure should involve ONLY pulling the choke out and pressing the start button. DO NOT twist the throttle, as this immediately overrides the vacuum generated in the choke enrichment channels in the carbs, and will only result in making the bike more difficult to start.

Good luck with tweaking the rest of the little "to do" things, and ride safe!

[GSXR7ED]

Base Motorcycles

Wow, Buells? All we have supplied by the state for the courses I teach (all over the state), 13 bikes per trailer, TU250s (new training bike of choice, they're sweet), some GN250s (they're getting retired this year), Yamaha dual purpose fat tire bikes (can't ever remeber their designation, they're 250s), Suzuki dual purpose 250s, and I think some of the trailers down in the twin cities have some horrible Kymco 250s still (failed purchase experiment). We might still have some Honda Shadow 250s as well and couple of rotten old Kawasaki 250 cruiser style bikes as well lurking somewhere.
My first BRC of the season is next week in St. Cloud (90 miles to the south of me, road trip!), classroom on Wednesday, a double on the range Sat and Sunday. I'll be sore and tired Monday night. Today is the 6th day I've been able to ride this "spring", if you want to call it that. People are still ice fishing around here.....

Yep, mostly Buells but they had other brands but Idon't remember what they were.

I'm getting lots of seat time on my "T" right now and that's my goal. Considering I waited until I was in my 40s to learn how to ride.

Ed

[GSXR7ED]

Congrats!

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for (well, the moment I've been waiting for), the first test ride!

Got home from work, chowed down a quick dinner, and went out into the garage. At this point, the bike has a clean air box, a new air filter, clean carbs, proper valve clearances, rebuilt forks, a bunch of new seals all over the place, a full fluid swap, new battery, new tires, and lots of other little things that I deemed too minor to mention in this thread. Little to no cosmetic work so the bike is still butt-ugly, but at least it's decently maintained now. Having just refreshed my newbie riding skills at the MSF course over the weekend, I myself was in as good a shape as I could hope.

I was semi-confident the engine would run right. It seemed to run great right after I rebuilt the carbs, but after messing around under the valve cover, I was hoping I didn't mess something up. It started, eventually, but I spent a fair amount of time just getting it to idle right. The choke knob kept sliding in... I had to clamp it with a pair of vice grips just so I could have both hands free to start the engine. Shut it off, checked and topped off the engine oil per the service manual.

I then spent a few minutes worrying about the clutch. Although the cable was adjusted properly, it never seemed to disengage the wheel from the engine. With the engine running, the transmission in first, and the clutch pulled in, I couldn't stop the wheel with my boot. Shut the engine off and tried to free it by rocking the bike back and forth in first. That seemed to help somewhat, but it was still dragging quite a bit. Oh well, I guess I see how it works out in the street.

Did a final inspection, threw the seat on, and went in to grab my gear. At this point, I had about 30 minutes of usable daylight left. I waddled the bike out into the street and spent a minute finding the friction zone. (The clutch finally seemed to free itself at this point.) Aight, time to fly. Rev the throttle, ease out the clutch, and away we went! Down the street, around the block. In first. Then second. Then third. Then fourth. Huh, I'd never been in fourth gear before! This is a ****load more bike than that dinky GZ250 from the MSF course.

Behind my house there's a small subdivision where they built a few roads, but hit the recession before any houses went up. There are barricades up to prevent cars from getting in (although that doesn't stop some), making it the perfect place to do a few short runs and turns. I spent a good 15 to 20 minutes tooling around back there. Wife, dog, and daughter walked back to say hi and take advantage of the warmer-than-expected evening.

So I was pleasantly surprised and happy that my cheap craigslist winter project bike runs pretty well. I didn't do any cosmetic work, so it's still ugly, but I'll try to get some kind of "after" shot up later anyway for posterity. For now, this is all I have. The photo below is very grainy, but keep in mind that it was almost completely dark at this point (the image has been brightened quite a lot just to see anything):



The good:

1. By all accounts, this is a big heavy bike but sure didn't handle like it, even at low speeds. In fact, I thought it handled pretty great. I tried not to push it though, on account of having brand-new tires.

2. I was very relieved to see the clutch work itself out.

The bad:

1. The choke knob, as mentioned above, won't stay pulled out. Just slides right back in. Do need to buy a new cable?

2. The front suspension seems awfully bouncy just pushing on it with the front brake held in. It doesn't bottom out but I feel it should be stiffer. Might have something to do with the fact that I couldn't figure out how to get 8.5psi of air //accurately// into the forks. Thankfully the forks in their current state didn't bother me at all just tooling around the neighborhood. I guess that could change at speed, particularly in curves or rough patches of road. I will probably upgrade to 20W fork oil and/or possibly swap out the fork springs with progressives in the future.

3. The throttle doesn't respond like I think it ought to. There's a very noticeable delay between twisting the throttle and and engine actually revving up in the low end. When rolling off, it takes a few seconds to come back down to idle. Mid-range seems much better but not quite perfect. Did not test high RPMs for obvious reasons. It seemed to get a little better after a few minutes of riding, but maybe I was just getting used to it at that point. Perhaps I need to adjust the carbs? Mixture? I plan to do plug chops eventually.

4. With the decade of dust and oil on the cooling fins and headers, she smokes like a chimney! I did my best to blow and wipe away what I could but I guess I still need to point the business end of a power washer at it. As well as some simple green and scrubbing.

In summary, this was a good day. From here on out, I'll just chip away at the few issues left and ride the thing. Woohoo!

Nice write-up!

You sounded very excited about getting her out on that first ride and I was right there with you. The Choke Cable on mine would slip too but once I tightened the screw that held it in-place all was well.

The way you described the gradual advancement through the gears...like I said, I was right there with you. I've been riding quite a bit lately and the rebuilt clutch is not as tight as it once was. All it takes in daily usage to loosen her up...so get out there and ride when the weather is great and also before the sun goes down. Hopefully, you can get out early on a Saturday morning and enjoy the serenity of your bike.

I'm not too concerned about the cosmetics...I have different colored side covers on mine but my concern is to protect the electrics on either side. It's worked out great so far.

I'm sure you'll take more clearer pics...even though you might think the bike looks ugly right now, it's a gem. Get it into 5th gear and lean forward...these bikes have lots of power!



Ed

[DanTheMan]

Good job! It'll take a while to work out the kinks, you'll find other things along the way as well. And, the oil burn off will cease pretty quickly (unless you discover another leak). You will probably have to torque your valve cover bolts a second time as well. Do it very carefully, all I do is use a small box end 10mm wrench, and put about an 1/8th-1/4 turn on them to snug them down. If you don'e, the valve cover gasket will leak.
I need a haircut, my wife says, so after I get done with the brickwork I'm doing on my fireplace (main floor renovation in progress), I'm going for a ride today, 60 mile round trip for a haircut....

[eil]

Thanks for the kind words and excellent advice.

Re the choke knob: the knurled plastic nut on my knob is actually broken. I thought it was just there to hold the knob housing secure, but if that's what creates the friction for the shaft as well, that would explain why mine doesn't stay in. Guess I need a new choke cable.

Re the valve cover bolts: yes, I'll be sure to torque them down again. It's now on my TODO list.

Re the haircut: I have a friend who has been known to ride half an hour for his Sunday morning cup of coffee.

[cowboyup3371]

Congratulations on the ride.

[pureinstinct]

Im sorry to post a question on your forum. Im in the process of cleaning my carbs and im not sure if I can carb dip the needle valve seat and the starter plunger (choke).
Both have an o-ring thats none removable.

[GateKeeper]

Im sorry to post a question on your forum. Im in the process of cleaning my carbs and im not sure if I can carb dip the needle valve seat and the starter plunger (choke).
Both have an o-ring thats none removable.

yes you can....

just don't dip the diaphragms, remove those

this is also assuming yout not using any realy caustic.....as your dipping solution...

.

[pureinstinct]

Thanks for the fast response., as im dipping each carb jet's as we speak.
An im using berryman chemical dip.. I've read multiple times on forums not to dip anything plastic, or o-rings.
As I mention my suzuki gs850glz has an o-ring on the needle valve seat attached in the center of it. Wouldn't the dip ruin this. Also thought I mention, the o-ring on the valve seat is pretty used up. Is there a way to place new o-ring?

[cowboyup3371]

Buy your orings from www.cycleorings.com as the owner is a member here and gets everything that we need. That's not easy to do from the vendors.