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Hi, guys, I'm Lawrie White from Yorkshire in the UK, and a "born again"!
I spend many enjoyable hours on this great site gleaning info, hints & tips, love all the stories. So i'm afraid i'm going to stick my oar-in & submit one of my own and possibly bore the nuts off some of you!
My last bike was a 1961 650 bonniville (pre-unit) sold it in 1969 to get married for ?140- what a dippstick! I had many years of magic riding all over the country, but I fell foul of the guys in blue once or twice! One time I was nicked for speeding two times in one day, did my street-cred a power of good with the lads down the milk-bar! I was so proud when my court appearance made the front page of the local 'rag'!
About 6 years ago (just turned 50 & wanted to be young again)I went hunting for another bonnie, most were junk & anything decent was silly (expensive) money.but one guy had a 79 GS 1000e, a bit tatty but I thought what the heck & bought it.
As soon as it was unloaded from the van I started to pull it down, I knew f. a. about GS's, but I soon would, having spent over 30 years in plant fitting,engineering,diesel fitting & working steam, pnumatic & hydrulic systems, I should'nt find too much to worry me.I was right, I found the GS to be well over-engineered & very simple to work on.
It was stripped down to the last nut & bolt, every bit of steelwork was taken for blasting, I resprayed everything myself,all brightwork was re-chromed, 95% of fasteners were replaced by polished stainless ones.
I noticed a slight oil leak under the crank area, prodded it & a lump of body-filler came off! some numb-nut in a previous life had used the wrong length engine-mount bolt & it'd punched into the sump case, but he fixed it did'nt he! When I lifted out the crank I saw what looked like a spider inside.
Ground it out, alloy tig-welded it up, fettled it, can't even see it now. After about 3 months of absolute enjoyment I started to get withdrawal sympoms & bored, "her-indoors" (you guys know who I mean, don't you) said 'for god sake get another one',...milliseconds later I was flicking through the VJMC 'blue book' & rang a guy who had a 77 GS 750 rolling chassis, a total basket-case, perfect! The van did its work yet again & as the bits were poured out the back, the lady of the house, took one look at the pile of scrap & rolled her eyes skyward, don't you just hate it when they do that?
All the same work was done to the 750 as I did on the thou, I've since done a GS1000g, a GSX1100ESD & a 250 X7 2stroke as well. I still have them all, why get shot of them, i'd only regret it!
Guess what guys? i've just bought a new GSX1400 as well, the ultimate 21st century retro, 'only' 106 bhp but 98 lb/ft of tourque, its redlines at 9000, supposed to run it in at no more than 5000, 100 mph is 4500, i've not had it above 6000 yet! But it screams out its GS heritage at you when you see it!
Some of my attempts at restoration are in the gallery, i'm not as good as some of you guys & they won't win any prizes, but I look on it as a hobby & at least i've somehow 'saved' them from a murky future.I don't think they look too bad.
I did keep a bit of a pic-progress of the 750 if anyone want's a look.
the site is at :- http://bikes.port5.com
It would be great to hear from anyone about comments, criticisms,or just to take the p..s, you won't upset me, i'm too old to get upset! I just enjoy life, am always having a laugh & I like people
I spend many enjoyable hours on this great site gleaning info, hints & tips, love all the stories. So i'm afraid i'm going to stick my oar-in & submit one of my own and possibly bore the nuts off some of you!
My last bike was a 1961 650 bonniville (pre-unit) sold it in 1969 to get married for ?140- what a dippstick! I had many years of magic riding all over the country, but I fell foul of the guys in blue once or twice! One time I was nicked for speeding two times in one day, did my street-cred a power of good with the lads down the milk-bar! I was so proud when my court appearance made the front page of the local 'rag'!
About 6 years ago (just turned 50 & wanted to be young again)I went hunting for another bonnie, most were junk & anything decent was silly (expensive) money.but one guy had a 79 GS 1000e, a bit tatty but I thought what the heck & bought it.
As soon as it was unloaded from the van I started to pull it down, I knew f. a. about GS's, but I soon would, having spent over 30 years in plant fitting,engineering,diesel fitting & working steam, pnumatic & hydrulic systems, I should'nt find too much to worry me.I was right, I found the GS to be well over-engineered & very simple to work on.
It was stripped down to the last nut & bolt, every bit of steelwork was taken for blasting, I resprayed everything myself,all brightwork was re-chromed, 95% of fasteners were replaced by polished stainless ones.
I noticed a slight oil leak under the crank area, prodded it & a lump of body-filler came off! some numb-nut in a previous life had used the wrong length engine-mount bolt & it'd punched into the sump case, but he fixed it did'nt he! When I lifted out the crank I saw what looked like a spider inside.
Ground it out, alloy tig-welded it up, fettled it, can't even see it now. After about 3 months of absolute enjoyment I started to get withdrawal sympoms & bored, "her-indoors" (you guys know who I mean, don't you) said 'for god sake get another one',...milliseconds later I was flicking through the VJMC 'blue book' & rang a guy who had a 77 GS 750 rolling chassis, a total basket-case, perfect! The van did its work yet again & as the bits were poured out the back, the lady of the house, took one look at the pile of scrap & rolled her eyes skyward, don't you just hate it when they do that?
All the same work was done to the 750 as I did on the thou, I've since done a GS1000g, a GSX1100ESD & a 250 X7 2stroke as well. I still have them all, why get shot of them, i'd only regret it!
Guess what guys? i've just bought a new GSX1400 as well, the ultimate 21st century retro, 'only' 106 bhp but 98 lb/ft of tourque, its redlines at 9000, supposed to run it in at no more than 5000, 100 mph is 4500, i've not had it above 6000 yet! But it screams out its GS heritage at you when you see it!
Some of my attempts at restoration are in the gallery, i'm not as good as some of you guys & they won't win any prizes, but I look on it as a hobby & at least i've somehow 'saved' them from a murky future.I don't think they look too bad.
I did keep a bit of a pic-progress of the 750 if anyone want's a look.
the site is at :- http://bikes.port5.com
It would be great to hear from anyone about comments, criticisms,or just to take the p..s, you won't upset me, i'm too old to get upset! I just enjoy life, am always having a laugh & I like people
Ya right......refinishing not as good as some of us guys...That 750 looks GREAT!!!
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