1980/81 GS1000G US Spec UK import

[eddypeck]

I thought I was time for an update.

I've done a little over 1000 miles now since the top end rebuild. At around 800 miles I re-torqued the bolts. Head bolts were OK, only needed a little tweak. The cam cover bolts were a little loser but no drama.

I did however notice I'd lost a couple of bolts from the exhaust header clamps. No surprise really, a few of the bolts seemed like they were only just holding as I guess the threads are quite worn. So I've bought a heli-coil kits, but for now I've tightened up what's left and the clamps seem to be holding with a single bolt.

On the whole been loving the rider though.


Now last night this happened:



No I've not done fork seals before, on the last bike I had to do them on I removed the forks and sent the off to the shop. But at that time I hadn't ever done a head gasket either so I'm a lot more confident now.

So I know it's a simple enough task and won't take long but while the forks are off I think I'll take the opportunity to update the springs and potentially look at refitting without the air gap. But I'll post a separate thread about that.

I also might paint the fork legs. They're currently polished, but not highly polished so quite dull anyway and I'm not a great lover of cleaning and polishing to the extremes so painted forks would be a bit lower maintenance. So I need to work out which colour would look good.

On the plus side, with the front end out the way it's going to give be much better access to those exhaust threads!

More to follow as the story progresses.

[eddypeck]

Overall I'm happy with the bike, the main reason for getting it was to slow me down after years of full faired more modern supersports bikes. Whilst the GS is still capable and in fact goes a lot better and handles a lot better than I was expecting generally it's not the kind of bike you want to go that fast on. It's nice just cruising along - plus the brakes aren't quite there with what I'm used to. I may still need to look further into a twin pot upgrade.

But I have been running hot and cold with whether or not to keep it. I've seen a few alternative bikes up for sale recently that I'd be happy to own and for a decent price. As it stands the money I made from selling the fairing and luggage has paid for the engine work so the bike owes me very little so I stand to make a half decent profit. Thinking I could sell it to fund something a little more modern, but then I'm back to where I came from with a potentially faster bike and one with less character.

I did think I could put it up for sale with an other enthusiastic price tag and if I get a bite then great and if not no harm I'll keep anyway.

The GS seems to be quite rare over here, the G more than any of the other model in particular so it always gets some attention and nice comments. So on the flip side of selling up I'm thinking maybe over the winter I'll do a full strip down and restoration. At which point with money invested it will have to be a keeper.

But now with the fork seal I guess if keeping is more likely then investing in springs and taking the time to paint etc. makes a lot more sense and starts to confirm the long term ownership.

[eddypeck]

Front end dismantled



Forks on the bench



Oil, oil seals and dust seals ordered along with a set of new Hagon Progessive springs. I did look into getting Sonic Springs as recommended by some of you on here but it wasn't cost effective getting them to the UK.

One big concern, it's looks like I had the wrong springs fitted.

Both parts 21 and 22 were missing and the spring instead of being 416mm it was well over 500mm.



Maybe some kind of upgrade to compensate for the 10kg of the Vetter fairing, but my worry now when I get the correct springs I'm going to be stuck without the spacer.

Does anyone have any measurements? I assume I could get a bit of aluminium pipe cut to length?

[Fjbj40]

Does not have to be aluminum, Sonic includes PVC tubing to use as a spacer when installing their springs.

http://sonicsprings.com/catalog/damper_rod_forks_tech_article.php

http://sonicsprings.com/catalog/setting_sag_street_tech_article.php

[steveb922]

PVC pipe would do. It's easier to cut, and easily available.

[eddypeck]

OK, so new springs have arrived. They're slightly shorter than the ones I took out but still longer I gather than what would have been stock with a spacer so I'm slightly unsure now if I need to run with a spacer or without?

new on the right


Anyway, whilst the front was out of the way..









I ended up doing 4 of the 8. And for a first time doing it it went well and was relatively easy.

Also did a quick paint touch up on the front of the frame



I might go for a full refurbish one winter but for now I thought I'd take advantage of the space I had and just do a quick spruce up.

Also painted up the inside of the front mudguard to protect it and prevent rust coming through form the inside prematurely.





And far from a mirror shine but decided to work with what I had and polish up the fork lowers



Ideally I wanted to paint them as I'm not too keen on polishing but that would mean buying paint, choosing a suitable colour and doing more prep.

Fork seals and oil has arrived today, so if I can find out what I need to know about spacers hopefully I can rebuild soon.

[nvr2old]

Everything you've done will really show itself when it's back together. Some nice useful and preventative maintenance there.

[eddypeck]

Overdue an update so here goes.

Before final refit I painted up these:



I also rounded off the lugs on the indicators:



... why? I hear you ask.

Well I believe they're rear ones, or not correct year for the bike or something as they never quite fitted properly.
Plus I've made a little, subtle change.

I've fitted the headlight ears upside-down. This moves the headlight down slightly, only about half an inch or so. I'd previously mounted the clocks under the bracket rather than on top and dropping the headlight allows a bit more clearance again. The square slots for the indicators would have meant they would face up or down, but now I've rounded them off 1. they actually fit properly, and 2. they can be rotated to face forward.

The overall effect just takes a little bit of height off the front end.




Barely noticeable, so still looks factory standard, but in my view it's just enough to make the bike look a little flatter and more aggressive.

Granted it's not cafe racer style:



It was more of an experiment to see if it could be done and to what effect, as I know it cropped up here in a discussion a little while back about flipping over the headlight bracket.


So, after completing it I've been using it for the work commute. Clocking up 300 miles a week ...

[eddypeck]

I took it to show off to my mates at a local car meet ... (there were other cars on the other side of the car park)



and on the weekend attended a bike show in Bristol City Centre ... it's a cool free show that takes over a number of streets around the historic centre and welcomes all sorts.







And here's a few GS(ish) spots....




(Yeah, I know a GT not a GS)



And a couple of randoms to get a feel for the show

[eddypeck]

And that brings it right up to date... Where I now have a couple of issues.

One of the fork seals, the one that started leaked before, I guess hasn't seated quite right as it's still weeping. So I've bought another seal and I'm going to have another go at it.

And after being caught in the rain I currently have no indicators. I think I still have the self canceling control unit fitted so I'm going to look at bypassing this and simplifying the wire loom, hopefully I can solve the issue. I've checked, cleaned and greased the switch gear, checked all the bulbs and even tried a replacement relay.

The sad news is my MOT (Ministry of Transport) test is now due, this is an annual test carried out by an approved garage to check for worthlessness and legality. With it's current issues it will fail so I'm going to have to pull it off the road till I can get it sorted. The good news is, they've recently changed the laws so vehicles over 40 years old no longer need to have an MOT or pay for Road Tax, so in a couple more years I won't have to worry about passing tests, I just need to keep it serviced and safe for my own benefit not to appease the government.

[Charlie G]

Thanks for posting all these pictures. I would have like to have run this type of gathering when I was over your way. Your bike is looking good!

[2BRacing]

.. Where I now have a couple of issues....And after being caught in the rain I currently have no indicators. I think I still have the self canceling control unit fitted so I'm going to look at bypassing this and simplifying the wire loom, hopefully I can solve the issue. I've checked, cleaned and greased the switch gear, checked all the bulbs and even tried a replacement relay....

I suggest that before removing the self-cancelling unit, you make sure that the ring lugs for the ground (earth) wire where the indicator mounts onto the headlight bracket, are clean and making good contact. Poor ground (earth) connections are often the cause of malfunctioning indicators.

[eddypeck]

Checked and double checked, earths are ok. I might take another look at the switch before doing anything rash.

[eddypeck]

Latest update, I took the switch apart - you may have seen my other post. And although nothing obvious the tracks for the 4 way left/right/dip/mainbeam switch seemed quite well worn. I would get an occasionally flash when wiggling but nothing to rely on so I concluded the switch was past it's best. As mentioned above I have a replacement, I believe to be form a Yamaha. However the old unit had 11 wires and the new unit 9, and obviously all different colours. The extra 2 I believe are to the control module so the rest I'd hoped I'd be able to match up.

After much fiddling - Success. I've done it!

In the end I took the original ignition feed to the flasher relay, used an aftermarket relay and sent a fresh wire up the frame to the correct wire on the switchgear, connected under the tank. I now have flashing indicators with a more modern style push to cancel switch. Horn, and pass flasher work....







Now all I have to do is get the full beam switch working! ��




Also not helped by 40 years of discoloration on the original loom, and the wiring diagram is black and white! So I'm looking at a pale green wire.... turns out it's actually Sky Blue designated by S/B on the diagram. And what I though was Pale Yellow was discolored white so it's been lots of fun.




The new switch has a 'pass' button which the old switch didn't even have, an ignition live direct to the full beam to 'flash' someone, this is wired up and works independent on whether the headlight is on or off.


That works, so I know full beam in the bulb is OK.


The full beam rocker, when activated, needs to shut off the dip beam. There's 4 wires in total for this from the switch. White, Black, Blue, and Blue with White Stripe. How hard can it be?




I think White and Black are general Pos and Neg, and blue and b/w feed main & dip. If I swap the 2 blues I get full beam and no dip... so in theory I think I'm right. But it just doesn't work.


Not helped by the fact it's a 2nd hand switch that may have been removed from the bike in the first place because the switch was faulty for all I know, so it might not even be down to my wires. I'm sure I'll get there. It's all learning.

[eddypeck]

Not much more of an update I'm afraid. Time has been my enemy so the bike has sat in the garage now for weeks while I claim just the odd hour here and there.

I have however determined, or at least I think I have. That the 2nd hand switch I had had a faulty full beam rocker, so loads of time wasted trying to solve that. I have now bought a similar switch.

This time of a known bike and year so I have the wiring diagram so at least I know the colours and don't have to start from scratch mapping the wires to link. Hopefully I'll have this done soon.

The MOT has now expired, which means when sorted I'll still need to re-do the fork seal and then get it booked in to a garage and tested before I can go back on the road.

But in other news, I'm celebrating my first year of ownership.