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Hello everyone! So I've been on the forum since 2017 since I got my '81 gs850. I've taken in around the country three times most recently in July 2020. I rode from New Orleans, to Arkanasas then across Oklahoma to New Mexico. It was super rad. Hung out in Taos, then my friends earthship in Espanola. I met Burke73 who helped me fix an oil leak on the valve cover gasket (I used a to thin one from Ebay) in Albuquerque. We shot the $hit for awhile, one of the nicest people I've ever met. I meant to make a post about it. I wanted to say how the GS850G was a pretty viable touring platform and how it was rad to meet someone from this forum in the flesh. I put off posting about it because I moved into a new place and was settling into my mid pandemic life in New Orleans. I had ridden the rear Shinko down the cords in about 4k miles by my estimate. I decided to bite the bullet and get a nicer tire, had a shop put it on because my pal who usually helps me was busy parked the bike in my driveway and boom next day bike was gone! I thought about posting about it here but I figured some teenager stole it and would crash it, the cops would find it and I'd get it back, in some sorta way. Then I found a pretty mint '86 Kawasaki concours. The guy turned out to be a friend of a friend and he offered it to me for $1,800. It was a revelation, like riding a space ship compared to the GS850G. To be honest I did miss the old girl a bit, yea she wasn't fast, but she was fast enough and she sounded great up around 7k. There was something about how the GS850G was rough around the edges. Plus there's always something about your first bike, right? Recently I was even thinking how I should get another Air cooled Japanese bike from this era. I mean I think I'll always loved big air-cooled Japanese bikes the best for some reason. Probably the fins. All that said I wasn't as sad as I thought I would have been. Like if you had asked me last year how I would feel if this bike was stolen I would say devastated but after it happen I just sorta shrugged my shoulders. Maybe because after all the $hit I've been through in the last couple years this really pales in comparison, I mean it's a machine, it's not a person, it's replaceable and It helps that I had money to replace it.
Maybe ya'll can tell where this story is going and why I posted it in "projects" The bike has been recovered. It's running and appears that the previous "owner" was attempting some sort of hacky stupid Cafe racer sorta thingie? I think? I made a flickr album
If your wondering, the bike does run. You use that switch dangling from the "headlight". It actually runs sorta of ok if you ignore the large amounts of gas the the two right side carbs leak from the pod filters. It does suck how much I had the bike "dialed in" before it was stolen. Yea it was sorta ratty but all the stuff worked and it had a ugly but very comfy sissy bar ( I should probably post some before pics). Now the tank and seat keys are busted off and I dunno much of the nicer features are stripped off. I really wanted to keep her original for as long as possible. She's had a rough time, there are sorts of new dents in the tank. I Digress. I want ya'll to tell me what I should do? I don't think I want to try to bring it back to it's original O.E.M 1981 glory but I think the old girl deserves some sort of new life, could be a fun around town bike? When I pulled it out of the garage to take these pics I started day dreaming. I even thought, huh could be an ok looking custom bike without much work... would maybe be fun to have a project bike since I already have a pretty low maintenance main ride. It's sort of a testament to it's build quality that it's still running. But what ya'll think? Maybe I'll revisit some of these other projects people have posted. I am leaving in about two weeks for maybe two months? Taking the Kawasaki up north, gotta see the family and maybe I'll go to canada if they'll let me in. But could be a cool winter project though
Maybe ya'll can tell where this story is going and why I posted it in "projects" The bike has been recovered. It's running and appears that the previous "owner" was attempting some sort of hacky stupid Cafe racer sorta thingie? I think? I made a flickr album
If your wondering, the bike does run. You use that switch dangling from the "headlight". It actually runs sorta of ok if you ignore the large amounts of gas the the two right side carbs leak from the pod filters. It does suck how much I had the bike "dialed in" before it was stolen. Yea it was sorta ratty but all the stuff worked and it had a ugly but very comfy sissy bar ( I should probably post some before pics). Now the tank and seat keys are busted off and I dunno much of the nicer features are stripped off. I really wanted to keep her original for as long as possible. She's had a rough time, there are sorts of new dents in the tank. I Digress. I want ya'll to tell me what I should do? I don't think I want to try to bring it back to it's original O.E.M 1981 glory but I think the old girl deserves some sort of new life, could be a fun around town bike? When I pulled it out of the garage to take these pics I started day dreaming. I even thought, huh could be an ok looking custom bike without much work... would maybe be fun to have a project bike since I already have a pretty low maintenance main ride. It's sort of a testament to it's build quality that it's still running. But what ya'll think? Maybe I'll revisit some of these other projects people have posted. I am leaving in about two weeks for maybe two months? Taking the Kawasaki up north, gotta see the family and maybe I'll go to canada if they'll let me in. But could be a cool winter project though
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