1981 GS850G preparing for road trip

[Steve]

Your new petcock is what we call "the dreaded '80 petcock". It was used only in 1980, and fortunately, not on all bikes. The shafties were spared that horrible creation, so it should never have been specified for your bike.

Just order a proper petcock from Suzuki. You have already shown that your carbs are not sealing properly because the petcock failed. If you happen to forget to turn your Pingel off, it is no different than accidentally leaving the stock petcock on PRIme or having a leaky petcock. A new, properly-working petcock is a wonderful device. You just get on the bike, start the engine and GO. When you arrive at your destination, you turn the engine off, park the bike and leave. No worries about forgetting to move the petcock to OFF. And, I believe that a new Suzuki petcock is cheaper than a Pingle.

.

[Juke Nukem]

Your new petcock is what we call "the dreaded '80 petcock". It was used only in 1980, and fortunately, not on all bikes. The shafties were spared that horrible creation, so it should never have been specified for your bike.

Just order a proper petcock from Suzuki. You have already shown that your carbs are not sealing properly because the petcock failed. If you happen to forget to turn your Pingel off, it is no different than accidentally leaving the stock petcock on PRIme or having a leaky petcock. A new, properly-working petcock is a wonderful device. You just get on the bike, start the engine and GO. When you arrive at your destination, you turn the engine off, park the bike and leave. No worries about forgetting to move the petcock to OFF. And, I believe that a new Suzuki petcock is cheaper than a Pingle.

.

Okay, good points here. What would be a good online shop for ordering a genuine Suzuki petcock? If I go to a local Suzuki dealership here in Finland, I suspect they'll order it from wherever and charge me plenty.

[Grimly]

Okay, good points here. What would be a good online shop for ordering a genuine Suzuki petcock? If I go to a local Suzuki dealership here in Finland, I suspect they'll order it from wherever and charge me plenty.

Fowlers can have surprisingly good prices on OEM stuff and will happily ship to Finland.
I nearly bought a petcock from them, but they were on back order and I couldn't wait so fitted a manual tap.

https://fi.fowlersparts.co.uk/

[wymple]

I have an 81 850G that has many miles, tiny oil leaks, and has taken out 2 deer. I coated the tank years ago with Red-Kote, upgraded the stator & R/R, went tubeless. I would not be afraid to circle the entire continent on it.

[Juke Nukem]

I have an 81 850G that has many miles, tiny oil leaks, and has taken out 2 deer. I coated the tank years ago with Red-Kote, upgraded the stator & R/R, went tubeless. I would not be afraid to circle the entire continent on it.

Thanks for the encouragement!

[Juke Nukem]

With the bike came some crash bars which were in a bit of a rough condition. Initially I thought I'll never put them on. Then I got to thinking that if I happen to tip the bike over somewhere far from home, they may save me from catastrophe. They buffed up reasonably well, an on they went.

crashbars.jpg

[Grimly]

With the bike came some crash bars which were in a bit of a rough condition. Initially I thought I'll never put them on. Then I got to thinking that if I happen to tip the bike over somewhere far from home, they may save me from catastrophe. They buffed up reasonably well, an on they went.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]61873[/ATTACH]

Exactly. They prevent an unpleasant event from turning into a stranding.
Some people don't like the look of them. I don't see them when I'm riding.

[Juke Nukem]

Some update after a long time. Been mostly busy with the luggage rack. The bike is in a garage with welding equipment few km away, so everything happens sloooow, mostly between 10pm and 1am. Anyway, some shots:

Finding a good shape for the rack with cardboard, and then bending:
tarakan_raami.jpg

[Juke Nukem]

Fabricating the side bag supports from 4mm flat iron bar:
tarakka_latta.jpg

[Juke Nukem]

Close to finished:
tarakka_semivalmis.jpg

[Juke Nukem]

It was a cold and long winter this year!
lumi.jpg

[Grimly]

Is there enough clearance for the seat to open?

[Juke Nukem]

Is there enough clearance for the seat to open?

Not properly. It opens enough to put something in the small under seat compartment if necessary. But then the whole rack comes off in a few minutes if necessary so I thought this is acceptable.

[Juke Nukem]

Measured the valve clearances. Manual says they should be between 0.03-0.08mm. They were all under the 0.03mm which is the smallest gauge on my set. However 7/8 of the tappets could be rotated by hand, so they had at least some clearance. One tappet needed some effort to rotate, so it's touching a bit.

My shed had only warmed up to something around +5 C, and the motor could have been pretty close to 0 C. I suppose this will have an effect on the clearances. Can it have such big effect? Will have to warm up the shed properly and re-measure.

[cowboyup3371]

The engine should be cold as it not ridden for at best since the day before. If they were all under .03 than please verify and replace as needed