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The cold and wet went away for about a day and Little Suzy fired right up. Had been sitting unused for a week or so at least. Still as amazing to me as ever.
It's been a while since my last update so I figured a little more now and maybe some more later. Those who have been following this saga may remember the front wheel/fork/suspension instability or scary wobble I was getting with the new tires, last year. It almost completely went away slowly or I got used to it.
A month or so ago, the speedo stopped working. I translated RPMs in my head to keep to a reasonable speed for a while. Then the tachometer stopped working as well. I need to revisit that. I had it apart several months ago to reattach the face. Boths screws had backed out. I'm not sure I got the top sqouzed back on all the way correctly. It worked fine for a while until I needed it most.
So what did I do ? I looked into why the speedo was dead. I had removed the front wheel sometime last Sumemr because the front fender was rubbing on the tire occasionally. I drove it for a few months trying to decipher what the intermittant grinding noise/feeling was from, before discovering the reason. I ended up peening over the rivets that attach the front fender to it's mounting bracket. They had been loose a LONG time and eventually got loose enough to make the intermittant noise less intermittant and almost constant before I could figure it out.
The occasionally sudden jerk and loud "ping" noise had finally ceased also. From day one, it seemed, I would occasionally pick up a piece of gravel while driving up or down my dirt driveway. The front fender sometimes would have gotten josteled loose just so, and it sometimes was close enough to the rubber that it popped the piece of gravel out of a tread groove as it came around to the back edge of the front fender. I was always thinking that small stones had been getting jammed for a brief instant into the brake calipers but could never find evidence of that when I would look for what the noise was from, exactly. The reason had eluded me ever since I started using the bike for daily transportation pretty much year-round. Somewhat of a relief to finally figure that one out. It wasn't until the front fender got loose enough that it had enough play and would rattle almost all the time, that I was able to understand.
So I thought that my work to fix the loose fender had done something to the speedometer drive. I took it off and the grease it seemed, had hardened. Now I don't keep records really but I'm pretty sure I had been into the speedo drive already in my few years of using this bike. Sure enough I realized I had used from left over stock, a BMW oil drain plug aluminum washer as a spacer inside the speedo drive. The aluminum washer/spacer had worn on on side, allowing the drive dogs to back out of the slots in the wheel. I probably got about 20-25,000 miles out of it so I put in another. Maybe someday when the latest one wears down for instance, I'll try to come up with a better part to go in there.
Whatever ... In putting the front wheel on, I decided I woudl look into why the front brakes seemed like the rotors were so warped. Maybe I had put them back on out of phase when I changed the tire. The front brakes always exhibited some amount of pulsation when used although they always brought the speed down quickly, whenever I needed them too. The pulsation was always most noticeable as I'd come to a complete stop, upon a mild application of the brake.
OK, so now Im at the point of this whole update. I discovered the front wheel has about 1/4" of lateral runnout !!! No idea why I never noticed it before but I'm sure it has to do with all the front end scary problems I experienced, when I put the new tires on. So now I'm in the market for a replacement front wheel and the first palce I thought of looking was in this forum. Figured while I'm here, I may as well give anyone who's interetested, an update on my continuing ownership and regular use of this 1980 GS 850 GL"T" model.
It's been a while since my last update so I figured a little more now and maybe some more later. Those who have been following this saga may remember the front wheel/fork/suspension instability or scary wobble I was getting with the new tires, last year. It almost completely went away slowly or I got used to it.
A month or so ago, the speedo stopped working. I translated RPMs in my head to keep to a reasonable speed for a while. Then the tachometer stopped working as well. I need to revisit that. I had it apart several months ago to reattach the face. Boths screws had backed out. I'm not sure I got the top sqouzed back on all the way correctly. It worked fine for a while until I needed it most.
So what did I do ? I looked into why the speedo was dead. I had removed the front wheel sometime last Sumemr because the front fender was rubbing on the tire occasionally. I drove it for a few months trying to decipher what the intermittant grinding noise/feeling was from, before discovering the reason. I ended up peening over the rivets that attach the front fender to it's mounting bracket. They had been loose a LONG time and eventually got loose enough to make the intermittant noise less intermittant and almost constant before I could figure it out.
The occasionally sudden jerk and loud "ping" noise had finally ceased also. From day one, it seemed, I would occasionally pick up a piece of gravel while driving up or down my dirt driveway. The front fender sometimes would have gotten josteled loose just so, and it sometimes was close enough to the rubber that it popped the piece of gravel out of a tread groove as it came around to the back edge of the front fender. I was always thinking that small stones had been getting jammed for a brief instant into the brake calipers but could never find evidence of that when I would look for what the noise was from, exactly. The reason had eluded me ever since I started using the bike for daily transportation pretty much year-round. Somewhat of a relief to finally figure that one out. It wasn't until the front fender got loose enough that it had enough play and would rattle almost all the time, that I was able to understand.
So I thought that my work to fix the loose fender had done something to the speedometer drive. I took it off and the grease it seemed, had hardened. Now I don't keep records really but I'm pretty sure I had been into the speedo drive already in my few years of using this bike. Sure enough I realized I had used from left over stock, a BMW oil drain plug aluminum washer as a spacer inside the speedo drive. The aluminum washer/spacer had worn on on side, allowing the drive dogs to back out of the slots in the wheel. I probably got about 20-25,000 miles out of it so I put in another. Maybe someday when the latest one wears down for instance, I'll try to come up with a better part to go in there.
Whatever ... In putting the front wheel on, I decided I woudl look into why the front brakes seemed like the rotors were so warped. Maybe I had put them back on out of phase when I changed the tire. The front brakes always exhibited some amount of pulsation when used although they always brought the speed down quickly, whenever I needed them too. The pulsation was always most noticeable as I'd come to a complete stop, upon a mild application of the brake.
OK, so now Im at the point of this whole update. I discovered the front wheel has about 1/4" of lateral runnout !!! No idea why I never noticed it before but I'm sure it has to do with all the front end scary problems I experienced, when I put the new tires on. So now I'm in the market for a replacement front wheel and the first palce I thought of looking was in this forum. Figured while I'm here, I may as well give anyone who's interetested, an update on my continuing ownership and regular use of this 1980 GS 850 GL"T" model.
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