New Horse in the Stable

[RedRider]

My Sister-in-Law got me hooked up with a guy that quit riding a few years ago and had a motorcycle sitting around that he wanted to get rid of. Was amazed at how great of shape it was in (especially for what I paid for it).

 

Woohoo!! New toy. 1982 Suzuki GS750. About 8000 miles.

 

I suspect it will take 2 days to get it running unless I run into major surprises.

 

RR

[Scooter Bob]

Just had to fill that gaping hole in the lower shop now that red is back on the road huh?

 

Later, Scooter Bob

[LilBeaver]

Sweeeeet! Congrats on the new ride.

 

I've got a 78 GS750 - I am the 2nd owner. I love the way that these bikes ride

 

Looks like a little cosmetic clean up work will probably be in order too -- esp. that rusty sidestand - that would worry me a little bit.

 

Anyhoo, best of luck to you with getting that puppy going!!

 

Few things that you may want to know:

1) Those bikes are notorious for having oil seepage around the valve covers - solved by re-torquing every bolt on top that you can get to. Just be careful, they are quite soft.

2) The cover that holds the oil filter in place has 3 goofy nuts on them that are very soft and cross-thread real easily. On top of that, they are very difficult to find replacements for. (Don't ask how I figured this one out). -- Also, the gasket that goes between the filter cover and the block ought to be replaced each time with the filter change. They are a couple bucks, (that is if you have to buy it separately -- a few times mine came with the filter -- but it was a buddy of mine that worked the parts counter so I don't know if that had something to do with it or not). Every time that I tried to get away with changing it without changing that gasket, I had a leak. I think I tried 3 or 4 times total.

 

3) There is no "off" position with the petcock. Just "on", "reserve" and "PRI". The "PRI' just dumps fuel into the carbs with no stopping, so use that sparingly, if at all. I find that I can get the same results by opening the throttle slightly while cranking (if necessary).

 

4) I ran some BG44k through the system of mine and was amazed at how smooth it ran - so since the bike sat a while (and you aren't going to take the carbs apart) I would suggest you consider some treatment like that (seafoam, BG44k, camp fuel, whatever).

 

5) The switch that activates the stop lamp actuated by the front brake lever are known to fail. It is a terrible design, but for 10-15 bucks you can get the replacement pieces

 

I don't know if this will be helpful at all (since I certainly have no idea regarding your mechanical know-how) but I figured 1, and 5 may be something that if you've never had one of these GS's before, you may want to know. And number 3 if you haven't had a suzuki before.

 

Hope you enjoy yours!!

By the way, if you decide you don't like that sissy-bar/backrest, I may be interested in taking it off your hands My g/f won't ride that bike with me (since I only have a luggage rack) and she's been spoiled with my GW and Venture.

 

[coldinnd]

5 years ago my son in high school at the time came home and said he had found a motorcyle and he wanted to buy it. To make a long story short we go out to this farm and in the corner of the barn under a tarp is an 85 Suzuki 450 4500 miles, not a speck of rust no dents windshield and sissy bar really in good shape just hadn't been run for 8 years asked the farmer what he had to have for it, he took 1 look at my son and could see how excited he was about it and said is 50 dollars too much? well needless to say we loaded it into the back of my truck took it home and worked on it all weekend had it running right away but had a few other issues to deal with bottom line though was it ended up getting me back into riding which was a great deal:clap2:

[RedRider]

Thanks for the input LilBeaver, this is the type of info I need to know about this bike. I probably won't get started on this bike until late summer or fall since I have been spending quite a bit of time in the garage already. Lots of house and yard maintenance to be done first (now that the Venture and KLR are running well).

 

However, I would really like to spend a couple of days just seeing if I can get this going. It's a pretty cool looking ride.

 

I will let you know about the sissy bar. Not sure yet.

 

RR

[massey130]

that sissy bar ROCKS!