Old Bike, new rider, same ol' problems - 1980 GS550E

[NateDogg83]

"Clutch Slipping": Is that coming from your Dad, the same Dad that initially told you not to bother removing all the jets and thoroughly cleaning them? Maybe i read you're post wrong: "they were all gunked up and I should have just pulled them out the first time (against the advise of my dad)"

I'm not disparaging your Dad. I'm a Dad who tries to impart my knowledge onto my sons, and my Dad taught me a lot about a lot, including motorcycles.

But, "dad (who used to own sport bikes when he was my age)" might have done a lot of "high RPM shifts" on his sport bikes. And I'm not saying he's wrong. Your clutch very well may be slipping. But letting off the throttle, clutching and upshifting is the way you should be doing it (in other words - low RPM). Unless he's talking about rev-matching for the down-shift. You're just starting out on motorcycles, for get about that for now. I didn't read where you did an oil change (maybe I missed it). But that is where I would start. Cheap motor 4-stroke motorcycle oil from Walmart is just fine, or Rotella T4 15W-40 is fine too. Anything with a JASO MA spec. I don't want to turn this into an oil thread. But treating your clutch to fresh proper oil could clear up the "slipping" with a few miles. IMHO

Best of luck with your MSF. That really is the best place to start. Their course bikes are likely 250CC and typically very comfortable even for short riders.

My dad said it was slightly slipping on high rpms shifts, but wasn't on lower or normal shifts. He has plenty of riding experience since he's ridden all sorts of bikes since he was kid, but none of them were carb'ed, so hes just as new to it as I am. He really pushed it on the ride home after getting it tuned up and other than the slightly slipping its otherwise fantastic, compared the seat to a nice cushy couch compared to his old sport bikes.

we talked some more this afternoon, and it might be that i picked up synthetic heavy duty diesel 15w-40 instead of the normal Rotella stuff. Ill look to see if Oreillys has the JASO MA oil, since their the only local parts store that sells motorcycle stuff or just grab the non synth oil and change it over.

I also will pull the clutch cable and give it a fresh lube, the throttle and choke cables were a little stiff and needed some, so it probably does too.

[salty_monk]

It’s quite common that clutches need new springs on these old bikes (if you buy aftermarket use 50% of them (3 old and 3 new alternate in the circle) as otherwise you’ll need a hand like King Kong!).
It’s a cheap thing to try as it’s only $10 plus a gasket.

my guess is that will sort out what Dad is feeling.