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My father's best friend, and my good friend, is moving on to new adventures. We were discussing clearing out his big and very full shop, and he mentioned getting rid of an old bike. I've always known him to be a Harley guy, but he explained his first bike, purchased when he was 19, was a '79 Suzuki GS500L. I asked how much, and he offered it to me for free. I accepted.
The bike has just under 12k miles, and has been garaged and tarped for at least 20 years. It was put away running, and is completely intact, I even got both the keys. Except for a set of highway pegs, it was never modified.
Before I knew anything about these bikes, I was stoked. I've been looking for a little bike to run errands around town. With a wife and young daughter, I'm not looking for a sport bike, but just to be able to ride something again. I grew up riding and maintaining a few trail bikes, a Honda Trail 50, a Honda GL100, and later a pair of Yamaha TTR 125s. When I was 20 I sold my car and spent a year putting 20k miles on a 1981 GL1100 Gold Wing. It died and I moved onto other things, and I parted with it. Wish I still had her, but alas, new projects are afoot! I've never owned a Suzuki, but have a friend who races, and have spent the last decade drinking beers and holding his GSX-R 1000's while he wrenches on them. I dig that this is sort of the grandpa to those race bikes. Reading a bunch of the posts here, and seeing the potential for an artsy cafe build down the line, have me really excited to start learning about this bike and the world of the original UJM that I was unaware of until about 3 days ago.
Right now I am heading into my final semester as a computer science student at Sacramento State (went back to school after working as a draftsman/modeler for 10 years after high school). I have a baby, and am short on both money and free time. For now, my goal is to get this thing running great. Cosmetics are low on my priority list, save some elbow grease. I want it safe, and I would love it to be reliable. I am as novice a motorcycle mechanic as one can get, but I love to learn. My biggest fear is ruining what looks to be a true gem of a barn find. I want to take my time before trying to turn it over and make sure I'm not damaging it by rushing the gun. I have read about replacing certain fuel components and the rubber throughout. I assume a thorough carb cleaning is in my future, along with a new petcock. Something I haven't read about, but the PO mentioned was a "self-lubricating chain" with o-rings inside. He said I should just replace it from the go. I'll probably replace brake lines, fuel lines, and do new fork seals and oil. I promise to do my duty to read all that has already been shared before asking questions.
Here are some pics!
Cheers!
-Stares@Flames
The bike has just under 12k miles, and has been garaged and tarped for at least 20 years. It was put away running, and is completely intact, I even got both the keys. Except for a set of highway pegs, it was never modified.
Before I knew anything about these bikes, I was stoked. I've been looking for a little bike to run errands around town. With a wife and young daughter, I'm not looking for a sport bike, but just to be able to ride something again. I grew up riding and maintaining a few trail bikes, a Honda Trail 50, a Honda GL100, and later a pair of Yamaha TTR 125s. When I was 20 I sold my car and spent a year putting 20k miles on a 1981 GL1100 Gold Wing. It died and I moved onto other things, and I parted with it. Wish I still had her, but alas, new projects are afoot! I've never owned a Suzuki, but have a friend who races, and have spent the last decade drinking beers and holding his GSX-R 1000's while he wrenches on them. I dig that this is sort of the grandpa to those race bikes. Reading a bunch of the posts here, and seeing the potential for an artsy cafe build down the line, have me really excited to start learning about this bike and the world of the original UJM that I was unaware of until about 3 days ago.
Right now I am heading into my final semester as a computer science student at Sacramento State (went back to school after working as a draftsman/modeler for 10 years after high school). I have a baby, and am short on both money and free time. For now, my goal is to get this thing running great. Cosmetics are low on my priority list, save some elbow grease. I want it safe, and I would love it to be reliable. I am as novice a motorcycle mechanic as one can get, but I love to learn. My biggest fear is ruining what looks to be a true gem of a barn find. I want to take my time before trying to turn it over and make sure I'm not damaging it by rushing the gun. I have read about replacing certain fuel components and the rubber throughout. I assume a thorough carb cleaning is in my future, along with a new petcock. Something I haven't read about, but the PO mentioned was a "self-lubricating chain" with o-rings inside. He said I should just replace it from the go. I'll probably replace brake lines, fuel lines, and do new fork seals and oil. I promise to do my duty to read all that has already been shared before asking questions.
Here are some pics!
Cheers!
-Stares@Flames
This is not the bike for that kind of project.
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