Gs850g

[Grimly]

79 (solid discs, round blinkers, looks like the old hockey-puck calipers) with an 80+ engine.
Worth while replacing those old rubber brake lines at the very least.

[rphillips]

Did the 850G's go to painted front fenders in "80"? I know my "80" 1000G had a painted one.

[Grimly]

Did the 850G's go to painted front fenders in "80"? I know my "80" 1000G had a painted one.

The Euro 79 and 80 had the chrome fenders. Very prone to rusting out from underneath, which is why mine have had plastic fenders for years.

[dpep]

The Euro 79 and 80 had the chrome fenders. Very prone to rusting out from underneath, which is why mine have had plastic fenders for years.

Interesting. The switch from chrome to painted in the U.S. was definitely 79-80. I bought the first '80 model to hit the dealership in Dec '79 and it already had the painted fender. .

[Diver]

Seems mine is a mixture of several years.

[Rich82GS750TZ]

Seems mine is a mixture of several years.

In the word of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle via Sherlock Holmes.....'"when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth"

[bwringer]

Seems mine is a mixture of several years.

Agreed. Nothing at all wrong with that, you just have to be aware of what's what when your maintaining and repairing it.

I think the proper term for your bike is "bitsa". Bitsa this, bitsa that...



The badges are interesting. In the US at least, the 1979 side covers were wearing a "GS850" badge with no final "G" and of course I don't recall any models with a model badge on the tail. Maybe someone got a good deal on GS850G badges.

We also don't really have a good solid idea of what differences there were in these bikes between Ireland and the US or other countries. For example, headlight switches disappeared in the US in 1980 by Federal mandate. (Well, some disappeared; some were just hastily modified at the factory to stay "on".)

[rphillips]

I may have missed it. Eng. # ?? The "chart" says GS850GN eng. #'s (79 model) started at 100393 and GS850GT eng. #'s (80 model) 116520. if you eng. # is between those it should be a "79" eng. higher than 116520 should be an "80" or newer eng, according to the chart.

[Diver]

At least I have identified it as a Suzuki GS850 Bitsa.

[rphillips]

Well, we got it narrowed down to after 1978 and before 1989... Also if registration says 1979, and that registration has same number as frame, It's gonn'a be hard to make folks believe it ain't a 1979

[Diver]

Reckon so. Thanks for all the help.
Best regards
Chris.