1983 GS 850G: She waited for me, but can I wait for her?

[Corporal91]

Unless I have grown in the last 18 months, I will have to drop the height on it about 2 inches. Just taking a little cushion out of the worlds most plush motorcycle seat should get me most of the way there. I have been searching the forums for a quick guide on that this morning as well.

[GS1150Pilot]

How tall are you? Inseam?

[Corporal91]

65" flat footed, usually a minimum of 1" heel on my boot. Inseam right about 30"

[GS1150Pilot]

Careful how much you cut that seat down: It's legendary as one of the best saddles ever put on a motorcycle.

[gsrick]

Is it worth bringing back to life, heck yeah, it's a GS. Your also lucky, because you can upgrade to a 1000 or 1100cc engines if you have a need for more. Not that there is anything wrong with the 850 engine.

"I pulled most of the wiring off before I left, which was incredibly smart because now I will have to fumble putting it back together. "

No worries, all multi-pin connectors has it own mate and where there may be others with the same wire count they will be of a different color and location. With single wire bullet connectors, just match up the wire colors. As far as I've seen Suzuki only changes wire color when they pass through a multi-pin connector.

You may try shaving the sides of the seat foam to give a little leg room. I had that done to a 550T I had reupholstered to make my wife's legs longer. lol It allows you to keep that seat nice and cushy for when your legs are on the pegs, which is 95% of your time on the bike.

[Corporal91]

Going from my 91 Honda vtr250 which had... fiberglass covered in fabric to this one... I can totally agree. I just don't like the feeling of having my toes holding up 500lbs of getthisoffme at stop lights.

[gsrick]

Just a though, I though about getting my wife some of these babies. lol

Mens

I had a pair like these in '79 for my 9th grade dance. My date was tall and I didn't get my growth spurt till High School.

[Corporal91]

Speechless.

[gsrick]

Just pulling your leg, but shaving the sides of the seat helped get an inch of clearance.
I'll see if I have some pics.

BTW, my shoes were still to short for eye to eye slow dancing.

[Corporal91]

There is nothing wrong with eye to breast slow dancing when you are too short. Best seat in the house, right? Ahh, I see, '79 was before homoginized milk and skanky 9th graders lol. Go with the big shoes.

[gsrick]

Before


After


Hard to see a big difference in the shape, but the taper is a little different.

[Corporal91]

Nice job, did you do that yourself?

[gsrick]

You can also squeeze out some more height by dropping the forks in the triple an inch without too much of a change in handling. Are your rear shocks set on the least amount of preload?

[gsrick]

Nice job, did you do that yourself?

No, I have a guy that does side work out of his garage. $75, marine grade vinyl.

[Corporal91]

I never adjusted the shocks or the forks, but I will search through the forums for pointers.