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I've had my 1982 GS450TXZ for about a year now. It is my first motorcycle and this thread will be a sort of pictorial journal of the work I've done. While it had clearly been taken care of, the more I worked on it the more I realized that it didn't get all of the maintenance it should have over the years. What I've done with the bike is less restoring or modding and more just learning my way while catching it up on 10+ years of deferred maintenance. Truth be told everything it took to get on the road probably could've been done over a couple weeks. I bought the bike in May 2019 and it wasn't on the road much last year before I stopped working at the end of September. But between keeping the bike at my parents' (my dad has a lift), waiting for ordered parts then needing to order something more, and then me just being slow as I learn, it simply took much longer than it would with more planning and experience. But that's part of why you learn, right?
I bought the motorcycle from an older gentleman who said he first got the bike to ride with his son who bought one of his own. They must not have rode much because based off the title he only put 1,000 miles on it in 10 years. Despite that he kept it in the garage and said it was maintained in place, which I believe because the battery held a charge, the gas tank was clean, and the oil decently fresh. It is in that perfect balance for me where it is nice enough to want to take care of it but not perfect enough to feel bad about actually riding it. It looks like the bike has been dropped on the left at some point. You can see the scuff on the headlight, the headlight mounts are also bent, and there are marks on the turn signal and clutch handle. Yes that is a drop of oil from the tach cable, but tightening the connection stopped further seeping. Though a replacement of the oil seal there is probably worth doing. It started up without a fuss and seemingly was close to getting on the road. In my introduction thread I hoped for no big surprises, there was really only one which is covered below.
It is amazing how much you can learn. Thinking about my meeting with the man and my first look at the bike, I now realize how little I knew what I was looking at. At the time I was just watching Craigslist for classic UJMs in decent shape. Now I have a better idea of what to watch for, not that I have any significant knowledge compared to most of you guys. I'm very glad I lucked into what has turned out to be a solid motorcycle with such a great community and decent parts availability.
The gauges, switches, and seat are in really nice condition. After riding, however, the speedometer is wildly off in the wrong direction. It reads 10-15mph slower than you are going. A digital speedometer to supplement may be in order.
The first thing to do was to replace those tires. The date codes were 1983 so if they weren't original they were pretty close to it! The stock sizes are slightly odd so I ended up keeping the front stock and going slightly larger on the rear. While the wheels were off the bike got new brake pads and shoes, kudos to LAB3 here who pointed out the bike might be a TXZ model. It is, so the rear shoes are a different size than if you just search for "GS450 drum shoes". The chain and sprocket are in good shape and got a cleaning and lube.
An interesting aside is that the GS450TXZ was Suzuki's entry-level 450. Not only are the rear shoes a different size, but it has spoke wheels and it also lacks the air adjustment on the forks. Other than those it has the same features as any other GS450. They apparently had high hopes for its sales and the model first retailed for $1,649. Not sure that it hit their goals, the price was dropped a couple hundred within a year and the more traditionally styled T model was dropped completely after 1983.
This is where I learned my first lesson. I've done the brakes on my car since I've been driving. Tightening the caliper bolts to snug then giving it a little more has been enough. Did that on my bike and took it around the block (country block that is, my parents have a farm). Came up on a stop going 55 and pulled my brake, nothing. I will give myself credit that I did not panic, I downshifted and used the rear brake to roll to a stop. My caliper bolts backed out and my front brake was hanging by the brake line. Those torque numbers in the manual are there for a reason, good to know.
While all this was going on I passed Ohio's version of the MSF course, which gives you a full endorsement. I had some good instructors and the class was a good base to start from, I'm definitely glad it was my first extended time on a motorcycle. However it is odd to me that riding around a parking lot for two days is enough to ride any bike you want without restrictions.
Luckily there are endless low-traffic country roads around my parents' house, perfect for practicing. My bike still had a bit of a to-do list, but I wanted to ingrain some of what I learned in the course so I took some short rides. But then an oil leak sprouted, it was coming out pretty good! It was the cam chain tensioner. Thanks to bwringer's excellent guide it was a painless repair that fixed the leak.
That would be the cause of the leak!
Disassembled and cleaned.
All complete and ready for install. Playing with the mechanism, it is pretty clever!
Continued Below
I bought the motorcycle from an older gentleman who said he first got the bike to ride with his son who bought one of his own. They must not have rode much because based off the title he only put 1,000 miles on it in 10 years. Despite that he kept it in the garage and said it was maintained in place, which I believe because the battery held a charge, the gas tank was clean, and the oil decently fresh. It is in that perfect balance for me where it is nice enough to want to take care of it but not perfect enough to feel bad about actually riding it. It looks like the bike has been dropped on the left at some point. You can see the scuff on the headlight, the headlight mounts are also bent, and there are marks on the turn signal and clutch handle. Yes that is a drop of oil from the tach cable, but tightening the connection stopped further seeping. Though a replacement of the oil seal there is probably worth doing. It started up without a fuss and seemingly was close to getting on the road. In my introduction thread I hoped for no big surprises, there was really only one which is covered below.
It is amazing how much you can learn. Thinking about my meeting with the man and my first look at the bike, I now realize how little I knew what I was looking at. At the time I was just watching Craigslist for classic UJMs in decent shape. Now I have a better idea of what to watch for, not that I have any significant knowledge compared to most of you guys. I'm very glad I lucked into what has turned out to be a solid motorcycle with such a great community and decent parts availability.
The gauges, switches, and seat are in really nice condition. After riding, however, the speedometer is wildly off in the wrong direction. It reads 10-15mph slower than you are going. A digital speedometer to supplement may be in order.
The first thing to do was to replace those tires. The date codes were 1983 so if they weren't original they were pretty close to it! The stock sizes are slightly odd so I ended up keeping the front stock and going slightly larger on the rear. While the wheels were off the bike got new brake pads and shoes, kudos to LAB3 here who pointed out the bike might be a TXZ model. It is, so the rear shoes are a different size than if you just search for "GS450 drum shoes". The chain and sprocket are in good shape and got a cleaning and lube.
An interesting aside is that the GS450TXZ was Suzuki's entry-level 450. Not only are the rear shoes a different size, but it has spoke wheels and it also lacks the air adjustment on the forks. Other than those it has the same features as any other GS450. They apparently had high hopes for its sales and the model first retailed for $1,649. Not sure that it hit their goals, the price was dropped a couple hundred within a year and the more traditionally styled T model was dropped completely after 1983.
This is where I learned my first lesson. I've done the brakes on my car since I've been driving. Tightening the caliper bolts to snug then giving it a little more has been enough. Did that on my bike and took it around the block (country block that is, my parents have a farm). Came up on a stop going 55 and pulled my brake, nothing. I will give myself credit that I did not panic, I downshifted and used the rear brake to roll to a stop. My caliper bolts backed out and my front brake was hanging by the brake line. Those torque numbers in the manual are there for a reason, good to know.
While all this was going on I passed Ohio's version of the MSF course, which gives you a full endorsement. I had some good instructors and the class was a good base to start from, I'm definitely glad it was my first extended time on a motorcycle. However it is odd to me that riding around a parking lot for two days is enough to ride any bike you want without restrictions.
Luckily there are endless low-traffic country roads around my parents' house, perfect for practicing. My bike still had a bit of a to-do list, but I wanted to ingrain some of what I learned in the course so I took some short rides. But then an oil leak sprouted, it was coming out pretty good! It was the cam chain tensioner. Thanks to bwringer's excellent guide it was a painless repair that fixed the leak.
That would be the cause of the leak!
Disassembled and cleaned.
All complete and ready for install. Playing with the mechanism, it is pretty clever!
Continued Below
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