Why not one more...

[Guest]

Hey guys, great forum here for GS's, it's been very helpful recently. I just picked up a 1978 GS550 with 22K miles on the clock. My very fist motorcycle 16 years ago was a 1978 GS550 and I got sentimental and bought another one. Had it shipped to TX from Pittsfield, MA. Just getting familiar with this bike again before the mini-restoration ensues. Overall the bike is already in excellent condition and will just require a little elbow grease, a few odds and ends, and probably some new suspension components. My plan is to keep the bike fully stock and ride it occasionally. I have a Triumph Tiger Explorer XC that does the heavy lifting but we all remember the first bike that made us fall in love with riding. Here is a photo from the place I bought it, once I get the dust knocked off from transport, I'll take a few of my own.

-Jay

GS 550 - 2.jpg

[jsandidge]

Wow, that bike is a beauty. Welcome to the forum!

[AMK]

Dust? Did you buy it from a museum.
Beautiful bike!

[steve murdoch]

Looks like you could knock the dust off with a feather from that pic. Very nice.
Welcome to the site.

[ddaniels]

Beauty! Welcome to the forum!

[azr]

Welcome to the site, excellent bike to start you're new addiction with.

[Doug]

Glad you joined - this is a great group

Great looking bike. I hope you didn't have to pay much more than $10,000 for it.

How did you have it shipped? Commercial auto/bike carrier? Or contract (they bid on the job) hauler? If you don't mind, can you give us a flavor of what the shipping cost you?

USA MAP SMALL.jpg

In my shop;
83 GS1100e - not running
27ish Ford Street Rod - not complete

[dorkburger]

Welcome. A fine looking bike for sure.

[nejeff]

Glad you joined - this is a great group

Great looking bike. I hope you didn't have to pay much more than $10,000 for it.

How did you have it shipped? Commercial auto/bike carrier? Or contract (they bid on the job) hauler? If you don't mind, can you give us a flavor of what the shipping cost you?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]47186[/ATTACH]

In my shop;
83 GS1100e - not running
27ish Ford Street Rod - not complete

$10K, your kidding right?

[JNG]

Thanks for the warm welcome! I might have overpaid but sentiment demands it occasionally. Cost me $1799 + $585 shipping and after receiving it, I would have paid more. The bike is unbelievably clean and runs excellent. Idle is a little high at 2K RPM's and the suspension is a little soft but that is being pretty picky for a 38 year old bike! It even has the original owner's manual and tool kit. The owner's manual has the date of purchase (8/18/1978) written in it along with all the services that had been done, love finding little things like that.

Shipped it through Keyboard Carriers. They did an acceptable job, hired them 8/4 and they delivered 8/23. A little longer than I wanted but still acceptable and the bike arrived undamaged.

[bobgroger]

Glad you joined - this is a great group

Great looking bike. I hope you didn't have to pay much more than $10,000 for it.

How did you have it shipped? Commercial auto/bike carrier? Or contract (they bid on the job) hauler? If you don't mind, can you give us a flavor of what the shipping cost you?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]47186[/ATTACH]

In my shop;
83 GS1100e - not running
27ish Ford Street Rod - not complete

I just had a bike shipped from WI to WA with haulbikes.com. They have a summer special going on, $450 anywhere in the lower 48 to anywhere else door to door, or $400 if the start or end is CA, NV, or I think AZ. They said it might take 28 days, I think it was 21 but they wait until they have a full truck (60 bikes!). They drove an 80 foot semi up my residential street and unloaded from the top level of the 2 level trailer. Their previous stop was only 5 miles away so good logistics. I was very happy with the service, especially considering the quotes I got on uShip were $1100.

[JNG]

I considered the $450 haulbikes.com special but when I called them they quoted me six weeks. I didn't think I could be that patient.

[geol]

Welcome to the club! Just some time, advice in case you haven't done a bike purchase before. Make sure the PO fills out and signs a TX Form 130-U. Registration is difficult without this form. Also, if the PO signed and DATED the title you received, the clock is ticking to get the bike titled. If you don't get it titled in a certain amount of time, you will pay penalties if you do. I can't recall how long you have but I seem to recall 30 days from the date he put on the title. You can get the bike titled without the registration at this point. If you fiddle around for a long time, the penalty can be a couple hundred bucks as I recall as I have paid it. My education has often come pretty expensive!

[JNG]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but to respond to geol, I didn't get the bike in time to get it inspected for the new registration so on the title, there is an exception form at the bottom that you can fill out and save yourself the penalty. Ironically, the helpful clerk at the DMV pointed this out to me. I didn't think such a level of assistance was available from them! Haha

[RichDesmond]

I didn't see this thread the first time around, so...congratulations!!

Looks like a really nice bike.