Oops I did it again...

[Hayabuser]

... it followed me home, can I keep it?








With Mark(1) having stolen my beloved 80 GS1100E restomod recently... when I was drunk... and high (I have a prescription!)... and maybe comatose (why does my bum hurt?), I was empty nesting in GS-land. That changed today when I scooped up this 81 GS1100E for a screaming deal. "Just get it out of my garage" were the magic words, some cash exchanged hands and next thing I knew, I had this winter's project taken care of. Yay me!








She needs TLC, the bike had been off the road for three years. The saving grace is it was given the necessary preparation for its slumber... fresh oil, battery removed, carbs drained, fuel tank drained (and sent for paint, and lost by the paintshop... anyone have a spare tank for me? ??? ), etc. Besides the tank, there are some missing parts... indicators, seat grab rail, half a pillion footrest bracket (sawed off... can't explain)... some in need of replacement... cracked tail light lens, front master cylinder (not sure where the current one originated, it's not Suzuki as far as I can tell).. but I did get a Rubbermaid full of stuff, just not the stuff I think I need. Time will tell.


Bike is cool though. Decent engine (1135cc big bore, Yosh Stage 2 cams, smoothbore carbs, Supertrapp exhaust... all period correct mods Mr ICBC!) , custom underbraced Katana swingarm (could be period correct... ish), push/pull throttle (correct for the smoothbores... which are period correct!), yadda yadda. Should pull pretty hard I'd imagine, never ridden an 1135 before. Might feel tame compared to my 1340 however... meh, it's going to be a blast!


Need to get over to Trevor's place to scope out his 81 1100 and see what's right on my bike and what's not. Pretty much what I did when I got the 83 1100 from him! Good times.


I love new bike day!

[Cipher]

The sidecar machine is very nice.

[steve murdoch]

Looks to be a great starting point.
Rather impressive swingarm bracing.
Don't usually see the extra side bars near the rear.

As to the events surrounding the sale of your white hot rod.....too much information!

[tkent02]

Looks like a good project. I probably have a gas tank. Not sure if it's a '80 or '81, they are the same except for the petcock location.

[Rob S.]

Rather impressive swingarm bracing.
Don't usually see the extra side bars near the rear.

True that. One beefy swingarm!

[Hayabuser]

Scored a gas tank locally!

[tkent02]

Cool, I still have a spare!

[Hayabuser]

Tank arrived today, thing is mint inside! Paint is so-so but it's not staying blue so no biggie. Overall, very pleased!



I had the bike running last week after an oil/filter change with a borrowed battery from my GSXR and fuel bowls filled from a funnel and jerry can. Hey, that's how we roll on the Island! Fired on partial choke on the first hit of the starter and continued to run... ish. I was amazed since it had been sitting for three years but it does need some tuning.

[Hayabuser]

Been working on the GS... painted the exhaust...





... removed the chain and gave it a hot oil treatment... cleaned the sprockets and rear wheel while I was back there...





... and installed the missing indicators and some bar end mirrors since the originals were AWOL.





Now having done all of this, I'm looking to get out from under this project. The reason is that I received my seasonal layoff really early this year, my last day of work was this past Wednesday, and with EI still 8-10 weeks away, I need the money. As it sits, I have about $1400 (Canadian) in the bike which I wouldn't mind getting back out. Any interested parties feel free to get in touch. Bike does have a rebuild title, something I was unaware of when I picked it up... it went into a ditch back in 1990 and was put back together by Kenco in Sooke. That's also where the 1135 overbore, Yosh Stage 2 cams and Supertrapp 4-into-1 were installed. Only visible damage on the bike is a dent in one of the left rear subframe tubes that was never replaced/repaired. The main frame is perfect. Bike will come with a pile of spare stuff (tail section, tail light guts, stators, fuel taps, head lights, foot pegs and a bunch of miscellany that the p/o gave me) and to sweeten the deal, I will toss in the 86 GSXR750 BST34SS carbs that I have for sale. In the event that the smoothbores need help, the Slabbie carbs will go right on.


So what's left to do? Depends on the desired result. It runs, but not entirely happily. Cylinders 1 and 2 are happy, but 3 and 4 are intermittent. Likely down to the carbs as I haven't done anything to them but hook up the fuel line... I hate carbs so usually farm that work out. Headlight and tail light won't come on, I've checked power and there's only about 6v at the connections front and rear. Bad ground is my suspect but who knows. The harness has been modified for both the Dyna coils and the Honda reg/rec conversion so there could be some electrons going missing somewhere along the line. The indicators work though! Tires are dead, front is cracked so bad that light should be visible through it! Holds air though strangely. I bled the rear brakes but not yet the fronts (ran out of fluid, haven't bought more), nor have I touched the forks. Rear shocks have been replaced with sourced originals as it came with dead old Konis. Chain is good, just needed the aforementioned oil bath to free up a couple of stiff links, as are the sprockets. Bike's only got 30K kms on it. Needs a battery too, been using the one from my GSXR for testing/running and it's staying with Molly.

[bobgroger]

Sorry, my garage is overflowing right now.....

[Hayabuser]

Sorry, my garage is overflowing right now.....

And this one isn't going to get you home under its own power.

[trevor]

Sheesh Dave, 31 days...that's gotta be a record for you...lol

[Hayabuser]

Sheesh Dave, 31 days...that's gotta be a record for you...lol

If I wasn't running out of money, I'd keep it. Would have been a fun project but life, as usual, had other plans for me.

Thanks for the understanding.

[trevor]

If I wasn't running out of money, I'd keep it. Would have been a fun project but life, as usual, had other plans for me.

Thanks for the understanding.

Sorry Dave, I'm not trying to bust your balls....it's not like you keep your bikes long even when working. I don't see the difference I guess....hey if you don't sell it right away why not bring it to the met on Saturday and slap a for sale sign on it!

[Hayabuser]

Sold! Going to live with some long lost brothers.