Another Aussie GS rebuild - GS1100G

[7981GS]

Man this bike is quick when you get up over 5000rpm. And what a sound! It's 30 years old and goes like the clappers.
I'm still buzzing after my ride today. It was a total blast. The seat is comfy, I could see myself putting a lot of miles on this bike.

Just some of the reasons that so many of us are addicted to them.

The day will come when the H-D collects dust.


Eric

[pete]

Very glad to hear you're enjoying her Jimmy

[landshark]

There is a couple of straight stretches of road between you and us east coasters where you could wind her out Jimmy.

[JimmyR]

Haha! Not a lot of cafes along the way though!

A friend of ours is French and she and her little French family drove up north to around Exmouth or Broome for a holiday. At a stop at some far flung roadhouse she saw a coffee machine and asked for a skinny latte. The woman behind the counter just laughed and said "You're not in the city now love!"

[Johnny Drummond]

You do realise that you are missing out?,get her nicely warmed up then wind her up to 5,000 in 3rd,keep the revs up and snick into 4th then top and keep the revs around 7,500-oh and HOLD ON(just do it away from the local cops) just make sure you have some nice smooth road as they don't like undulating surfaces at over 120mph-or maybe the one I rode was laughing at the fact it had a 59kg rider trying to keep its 230ish kilos in check!!!,but it was a hell of a lot of fun.Glad to see that you are getting there with settings-keep it up!.Johnny

[JimmyR]

Oh I did do some "experimentation and engine research" in the higher rev range. Almost scared the crap outa me! :-) A Harley just doesn't do that! I amazes me how it just keeps going. Twist and keep twisting - it keeps going faster. The acceleration is just crazy. I think the flatslide carbs make it more brutal than the CVs. I like the flatslides!

[john82q]

big big bike

Well Bro, to Paraphrase Toad from the 1974 movie Stone;

"once youve ridden a big big bike really really fast, its like nothing else matters man!"

[JimmyR]

Bit of an anti-climax today. After yesterday's euphoria today's spare time was spent finding an e-clip for the jet needle that I lost. AArgh! So once I got home I re-assembled the carbs with the needle one notch lower to make the mix richer on acceleration but no - it bogged. Tried it one notch higher and it ran like a pig. I guess I'll put it back to the middle and try something else...

BTW john82q I love that film! It's kinda so bad that it's great or something. I also love The Cars That Ate Paris. I reckon it was a huge influence on David Lynch. There were some great films made in Australia in the 70s.

[landshark]

Stone: Mad wheelies on Z1's (or was it Z9's?)

[Charlie G]

You do realise that you are missing out?,get her nicely warmed up then wind her up to 5,000 in 3rd,keep the revs up and snick into 4th then top and keep the revs around 7,500-oh and HOLD ON(just do it away from the local cops) just make sure you have some nice smooth road as they don't like undulating surfaces at over 120mph-or maybe the one I rode was laughing at the fact it had a 59kg rider trying to keep its 230ish kilos in check!!!,but it was a hell of a lot of fun.Glad to see that you are getting there with settings-keep it up!.Johnny

Oh I did do some "experimentation and engine research" in the higher rev range. Almost scared the crap outa me! :-) A Harley just doesn't do that! I amazes me how it just keeps going. Twist and keep twisting - it keeps going faster. The acceleration is just crazy. I think the flatslide carbs make it more brutal than the CVs. I like the flatslides!

You two are a bad influence on me.

[JimmyR]

Cool! :-) Always wanted to be a bad influence.

[JimmyR]

More carb tuning today. Almost there! I have managed to improve low-throttle performance fairly dramatically but it's not quite 100% yet. But still, I have to think that perfection is very close. :-)

I was feeling pleased with how it was running so I took a couple of crappy phone pics at one end of my ride route - City Beach. Beautiful winter's day here. Cool enough to be very grateful for my leather riding jacket but not cold enough to really need it off the bike.



You can see what I need to do next - refinish the tank and front fender. I think that new rings are in this bike's future. It smokes white smoke from the exhaust when starting with choke. It only started doing this recently. Mind you, it IS 30 years old and has done at least 98000km.

[Johnny Drummond]

heh heh heh,told you you would never be the same again Charlie,glad to see that the flatslides are almost there Jimmy,some more "experimantion and engine research" still required????.Nice photo,your winter sun is about as warm as our summer!.Johnny

[JimmyR]

Yeah a bit more tweakage this afternoon and getting better all the time. Amazing how tiny adjustments affect things. Tried the E clip on the needles on the second top notch - really good. Tried them on the same notch but with the nylon washer on top of the clip rather than below - terrible! That's about a 1/2mm difference. I have some #20 pilot jets on the way and I'm hoping that they will sort out my low-throttle issues once and for all. It's getting smoother all the time but the idle and just off is still a bit rough.

And Johnny - Winter here is my favourite season, followed by just after and just before. A sunny winter's day here is one of our little secrets. It makes you feel good to be alive. Summer is just too bloody hot!

[ged]

Jimmy love the pipes...........still waiting for mine