March 2025 Bike Of The Month
1981 Suzuki GS1100E
Owner: Don Rosenberry
donr567@gmail.com
ID #418
A Note From The Owner...
The March 2025 bike of the month is my 1981 GS1100EX.
I heard about it from a fellow drag racer friend who knew the owner. He hadn't ridden it for years and it was parked in an attached garage. The garage was the entrance to his wife's beauty shop so the door was open and closed all year around. He has respiratory issues, and his doctor advised him to sell his Top Dragster and Motorcycle.
I bought it over the phone, and when my brother and I picked it up the next day, we stopped at a truck stop that had a Korean war era jet fighter plane that we also took a picture at when we picked up a KZ1000 a few years before.
The bike needed the tank de-rusted, new petcock, carbs cleaned, battery, tires, all of the usual items that have deteriorated or expired.
It's a good learning experience for me, at 72 it's my second non-Honda bike, the other being a 78 KZ1000. I've repaired several seriously over-tightened or butchered items, adjusted the valves, removed the Mikuni 29 smoothbore carbs and put on a set of RS36's. The 29's with 1.5 slides are more suited to a smaller KZ or CB750 than a four valve GS1100. I learned about the spun flywheel, bad voltage regulator which I did the upgrade to and fixed some suspect wiring.
It's a fun rider and an ongoing project.