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Hey guys! It's been a while, and I've made negative progress on my bike since I was last active here, years ago. The bike in question, for the unaware, is a '82 GS1100e. Bought it from a dyed-in-the-wool Suzuki guy, with about 11k miles on it. Rode it for about a thousand miles, then started doing maintainance work.
-530 chain conversion, geared for slightly better acceleration
-rebuilt brakes, new pistons and seals, braided lines
-carb cleaning, with Robert's o-ring kit
-Progressive rear shocks, and front fork springs
-rebuilt forks
-various relay mods
-new R/R, stator
-Pirelli Sport Demons
-1/4 turn throttle mod
Then, my tale of woe begins...coming home from a friends house one morning, I spun the motor up too fast on a missed shift, too quickly. Bike began making a distinct rod knock noise, and I feared the worse. Valves were checked, cam chain tensioner was re-adjusted. A mechanic's stethoscope was employed to try and help figure out what was wrong. I pulled the clutch, hoping to find an obvious problem there. Ended up rebuilding the clutch, sending the basket to A.P.E. for their Gorilla treatment. Still the knock persisted. Figured out, eventually, that I had merely shorn the starter gear bolts, a rather pedestrian fix. Doh! During this time, I decided to nix the stock air box in favor of K&N pods, and also installed a Dynojet Stage 3 kit. I nearly had all the carb stuff sorted, when I decided to move. Into a friend's condo, with a terrible, terrible HOA, that wouldn't let me work on the bike in the parking lot. To boot, I was doing shift-work, with completely random start times, and random non-consecutive days off, which further impeded any progress. Thus began the long downtime...about three years, to be exact.
Finally! I met a coworker, while working overnights for inventory, that had a potential room for rent, in an actual house, with an actual garage, that's fairly well equipped. I wheedled and whined, and eventually found myself working overnights, with a set schedule. Moved into the new house about a 2 months ago, and here we are.
So, plans are to re-start my resto-mod. I had pondered selling the bike a few times, but am glad that sense held out, and won the battle. First order of business, is to bring the bike back into rideable condition. Unfortunately, I had left gas sit in the carbs, and thus, will need to re-clean them. Here's my laundry list of things I think I need to do before can take her around the block again.
-clean carbs, re-attach
-new chain and sprockets, chain has rusted quite badly
-recheck valve clearances
-oil change
-flush and replace brake fluid, DOT 5 fluid, new braided lines
-new lithium ion battery
-new tires
-replace fork fluid
-lube anything that moves
- recheck all bolt torque specs
-actually get my motorcycle endorsement for my license
-replace any rubber bits that are no longer rubbery
Hopefully, that'll get me back in the game, and riding. The engine still turns freely with a ratchet, which is good. The body work has taking quite a beating, as the bike sat in the Phoenix sun without a cover. After she's up and running, the real fun begins, with the mod part of resto-mod! After I put a good number of miles on her, of course!
First up, are ergonomics. The stock riding position, coupled with the stock seat, has a tendency to numb my hips and butt on long rides. I have a set of higher-rise mirrors that came with the bike, but realistically, they only give me a great view of my shoulders. I am also not fond of the stock turn signals, with their rather long stalks. So, to fix these issues, I'm looking at the following:
-Corbin seat
-Tarozzi rear sets
-adjustable clubman bar
-Oberon bar end mirrors
-new fancy grips
-Oberon mini LED turn signals, front and back
-Oberon bar end signals, can't have too many indicators!
This will probably end up with a more sport bike-like ergonomic situation, which seems counter-intuitive to ending hip and butt numbness, but I believe the amount of adjustment afforded by these options will allow me to find the "right" fit for me. After these mods, it's onto the paint booth, to refresh the time worn look that's currently being sported. New side panels(too many broken mounting tabs), possibly a new front fender, and fresh paint. After that, it's onto the great electrical project, which will consist of, basically, re-wiring the entire bike, with a few neat pieces of fancy kit.
-Motogadget M-Unit
-Motogadget M-Lock
-Motogadget M-Buttons
-Koso RX-2N gauge, 10k version
-Compufire Series Regulator
-new wiring all the way around
The wiring will probably be the mosy ambitious project, as I don't know if anyone has done the M-Unit on our bikes yet. I'm really attracted to the convince this unit offers, along with the idea of going keyless on the ignition. I fully plan on buying a new stock harness, in the event something goes terribly wrong, and buying a second M-unit as a backup.
To date, I've only removed the mirrors, and turn indicators. I really love how much more slender the bike looks without them. Hopefully, the next few months will be kind to me, paycheck wise, as I've some anticipated overtime coming up. Pictures of the bikes current state will be forthcoming, and I'll attempt to document the process as best I can, photographically. After everything's done, then it'll be time to start thinking about modern suspension, and frame bracing.
Here's to the long road ahead, many hours of happy wrenching, and untold miles of satisfied riding!
-530 chain conversion, geared for slightly better acceleration
-rebuilt brakes, new pistons and seals, braided lines
-carb cleaning, with Robert's o-ring kit
-Progressive rear shocks, and front fork springs
-rebuilt forks
-various relay mods
-new R/R, stator
-Pirelli Sport Demons
-1/4 turn throttle mod
Then, my tale of woe begins...coming home from a friends house one morning, I spun the motor up too fast on a missed shift, too quickly. Bike began making a distinct rod knock noise, and I feared the worse. Valves were checked, cam chain tensioner was re-adjusted. A mechanic's stethoscope was employed to try and help figure out what was wrong. I pulled the clutch, hoping to find an obvious problem there. Ended up rebuilding the clutch, sending the basket to A.P.E. for their Gorilla treatment. Still the knock persisted. Figured out, eventually, that I had merely shorn the starter gear bolts, a rather pedestrian fix. Doh! During this time, I decided to nix the stock air box in favor of K&N pods, and also installed a Dynojet Stage 3 kit. I nearly had all the carb stuff sorted, when I decided to move. Into a friend's condo, with a terrible, terrible HOA, that wouldn't let me work on the bike in the parking lot. To boot, I was doing shift-work, with completely random start times, and random non-consecutive days off, which further impeded any progress. Thus began the long downtime...about three years, to be exact.
Finally! I met a coworker, while working overnights for inventory, that had a potential room for rent, in an actual house, with an actual garage, that's fairly well equipped. I wheedled and whined, and eventually found myself working overnights, with a set schedule. Moved into the new house about a 2 months ago, and here we are.
So, plans are to re-start my resto-mod. I had pondered selling the bike a few times, but am glad that sense held out, and won the battle. First order of business, is to bring the bike back into rideable condition. Unfortunately, I had left gas sit in the carbs, and thus, will need to re-clean them. Here's my laundry list of things I think I need to do before can take her around the block again.
-clean carbs, re-attach
-new chain and sprockets, chain has rusted quite badly
-recheck valve clearances
-oil change
-flush and replace brake fluid, DOT 5 fluid, new braided lines
-new lithium ion battery
-new tires
-replace fork fluid
-lube anything that moves
- recheck all bolt torque specs
-actually get my motorcycle endorsement for my license
-replace any rubber bits that are no longer rubbery
Hopefully, that'll get me back in the game, and riding. The engine still turns freely with a ratchet, which is good. The body work has taking quite a beating, as the bike sat in the Phoenix sun without a cover. After she's up and running, the real fun begins, with the mod part of resto-mod! After I put a good number of miles on her, of course!
First up, are ergonomics. The stock riding position, coupled with the stock seat, has a tendency to numb my hips and butt on long rides. I have a set of higher-rise mirrors that came with the bike, but realistically, they only give me a great view of my shoulders. I am also not fond of the stock turn signals, with their rather long stalks. So, to fix these issues, I'm looking at the following:
-Corbin seat
-Tarozzi rear sets
-adjustable clubman bar
-Oberon bar end mirrors
-new fancy grips
-Oberon mini LED turn signals, front and back
-Oberon bar end signals, can't have too many indicators!
This will probably end up with a more sport bike-like ergonomic situation, which seems counter-intuitive to ending hip and butt numbness, but I believe the amount of adjustment afforded by these options will allow me to find the "right" fit for me. After these mods, it's onto the paint booth, to refresh the time worn look that's currently being sported. New side panels(too many broken mounting tabs), possibly a new front fender, and fresh paint. After that, it's onto the great electrical project, which will consist of, basically, re-wiring the entire bike, with a few neat pieces of fancy kit.
-Motogadget M-Unit
-Motogadget M-Lock
-Motogadget M-Buttons
-Koso RX-2N gauge, 10k version
-Compufire Series Regulator
-new wiring all the way around
The wiring will probably be the mosy ambitious project, as I don't know if anyone has done the M-Unit on our bikes yet. I'm really attracted to the convince this unit offers, along with the idea of going keyless on the ignition. I fully plan on buying a new stock harness, in the event something goes terribly wrong, and buying a second M-unit as a backup.
To date, I've only removed the mirrors, and turn indicators. I really love how much more slender the bike looks without them. Hopefully, the next few months will be kind to me, paycheck wise, as I've some anticipated overtime coming up. Pictures of the bikes current state will be forthcoming, and I'll attempt to document the process as best I can, photographically. After everything's done, then it'll be time to start thinking about modern suspension, and frame bracing.
Here's to the long road ahead, many hours of happy wrenching, and untold miles of satisfied riding!
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