1983 GS1100E Update and Centerstand Question

[grandman]

Thanks for all your help guys - away on business this week (ate dinner with Shaquille O'Neal last night in LA, well...he was eating at a table beside me anyway), but will try again this weekend.

[bwringer]

Also, make sure the bike is level -- in other words, both centerstand feet must be touching the ground at the same time before you start the lift. I think that's the missing piece here.

In the vids, the bike is wobbling from one centerstand foot to the other, causing you to feel it's unstable and you stop pushing down on the centerstand long before it pops up.

So the sequence would be: push down lightly on centerstand until the left centerstand foot (the one nearest to you) contacts the ground. Hold the centerstand down lightly, then push the bike away from you until the right side centerstand foot also touches. This is the hard part, because it will feel at first like you're going to push the bike over.

Then push down on the centerstand while steadying the bike with your right hand on the lift handle. Do NOT pull on the handlebars or pull hard on the lift handle.

It's also a big, big help to wear hard-soled boots instead of sneakers.

Thanks for sharing your struggles with this so clearly -- it's probably a little embarrassing, but it's bound to be a big help to others.


If the bike has been lowered much, it will be about 10X harder to put on the centerstand. It doesn't look lowered on the vids, but in your sig you mention it was your Mom's old bike, so I thought I'd mention it.

[robaroni]

My advice is to find the biggest, ugliest, brutish looking oger that lives on you block to come over and try. If he can't do it the bike is a piece of junk and I'd be happy to take it off you hands for $25.00. (I live to far away)

But seriously, Make sure your on a flat surface and give a nice steady heave backwards. Not just upwards! It won't drop as long as both feet are on a flat level surface.

[tkent02]

Thanks for all your help guys - away on business this week (ate dinner with Shaquille O'Neal last night in LA, well...he was eating at a table beside me anyway), but will try again this weekend.

Invite Shaq over, he can probably toss it up on the stand with one finger.

[grandman]

Finally got the beast on the centerstand (with the help from a friend) and spent 3 hours tearing apart and cleaning the instrument cluster (gauge cluster). Had to remove the ridiculously humongous headlamp in order to get to the screws behind the cluster. Here's the mess I encountered when I opened the back of my cluster:

The pic is not the best, but believe me, I've taken much worse. The temp gauge and the fuel gauge aren't working, and the lenses were fogged on the inside so I thought I'd pull it apart to clean it and make sure the wires were OK before pulling out the fuel sending unit and the oil temp thingy. I had one wire with insulation rubbing off, lots of spider nests, and some corroded terminals but nothing too serious. I was surprised to find that I could get into all of the gauges and dummy lights except the tachometer. It was the only one completely sealed (why would they do that?). I didn't end up cleaning the tach because I really don't want to attempt pry the ring off, or saw it in half. Putting the whole assembly back together is tricky because the individual gauges share screw holes and overlap, so it was a little like putting a puzzle back together upside down.
Result: clean, except for tachometer, but fuel and temp gauges still don't work.
This weekend: fuel sending unit and oil thermometer (wherever that is), also got my new exhaust gaskets and will be replacing those as well.

[TheCafeKid]

Finally got the beast on the centerstand (with the help from a friend) and spent 3 hours tearing apart and cleaning the instrument cluster (gauge cluster). Had to remove the ridiculously humongous headlamp in order to get to the screws behind the cluster. Here's the mess I encountered when I opened the back of my cluster:

The pic is not the best, but believe me, I've taken much worse. The temp gauge and the fuel gauge aren't working, and the lenses were fogged on the inside so I thought I'd pull it apart to clean it and make sure the wires were OK before pulling out the fuel sending unit and the oil temp thingy. I had one wire with insulation rubbing off, lots of spider nests, and some corroded terminals but nothing too serious. I was surprised to find that I could get into all of the gauges and dummy lights except the tachometer. It was the only one completely sealed (why would they do that?). I didn't end up cleaning the tach because I really don't want to attempt pry the ring off, or saw it in half. Putting the whole assembly back together is tricky because the individual gauges share screw holes and overlap, so it was a little like putting a puzzle back together upside down.
Result: clean, except for tachometer, but fuel and temp gauges still don't work.
This weekend: fuel sending unit and oil thermometer (wherever that is), also got my new exhaust gaskets and will be replacing those as well.

That rediculously HUGE headlamp is worth a small fortune if its in good repair. Seen em go for 250 or more on Ebay..so take care of it

[bonanzadave]

This weekend: fuel sending unit and oil thermometer (wherever that is),

When you remove the fuel tank check the fuel sender wire connectors and the connections at the sender itself. Taking the tank on and off can stress these connections if youre not careful.

The oil temp and oil pres senders are right below the cam chain tensioner. Gosh, what a filthy bike.

[grandman]

Found out after delicately removing the fuel sending unit that the fine thread of wire wrapped around the potentiometer had disconnected itself from the terminal. I soldered and it works great. The oil temp gauge is another story: Found it, pulled it out, tested it and it tested bad. So I put it back in with the hopes of finding and ordering one online later. Went for a ride later that day and the oil temp gauge is working! Also installed my new bar-end mirrors (from the Ride Stop) and exhaust gaskets (from eBay).

[Florida Guy]

I use my right foot to lift onto centerstand and have no problem doing so.
I am really surprised you are having so much difficulty.

[oldgrumpy]

bike on centre stand... by weak short guy...

i took a better persons advice from the resources... and behind the rear wheel i placed a 150x34mm x1200mm long ,,i just happened to have in my garage ... behind the wheel and under the end of the plank i placed a red brick ,,,then rolled it beck and bingo,, centre went straight down without weight on it .... regards david from kaniva