Fortnine review of GS 850

[trevor]

3 dudes are making the videos out of North Vancouver, B.C.

Hey Max, where on the island are you?

[maxredline]

between Qualicum and Nanaimo

[bwringer]

Ryan and this guy and one other guy do videos. And there's another guy who does bicycle stuff occasionally. No, I don't know their names. There's some running gag about deceased clones, so one of them is always referred to as "45" (I think his actual name is Connor).

This bike is definitely wearing a purple paint job applied sometime in the last 40+ years, with chrome piping around the edges of the tank. Their videographer is VERY good; he would not put out a video showing a blue bike as purple.

And a V&H 4 into 1 pipe, too. Nice! Good luck finding one of those nowadays.

The one disappointment I have is that it's a '79 model, and so a lot of people will think this is the final word on all 850 models.

The '80+ models have a LOT of significant improvements, including MASSIVELY upgraded brakes and CV carbs. I don't remember whether horsepower is any different, but the later 850 definitely spins a little more freely and feels a bit faster. Uh, less slow, anyway.

The '79 also came with tubes in the tires, and IIRC they weren't fully tubeless stem and stern until 1982. The vide shows "TUBELESS" on I think the front wheel, but that may have been a replacement from a later model. In any case, both wheels on this bike were converted to tubeless valve stems long ago, long enough for the valve stems to get all rusty.

As to the power loss claims, that's utterly ridiculous. You do lose some energy - it's certainly not as efficient as chain drive -- but if it were 15%-20% the gearboxes would start glowing red in a few miles.

But I'm nitpicking. And overall, they do touch on why the 850 is so appealing, and why it handles so much better than it has any right to. Yeah, it's a heavy bike, that could do with more power, but damn did Suzuki get the geometry just right.

The later CV carb models also have more of that wonderful rush from 6,000 rpm to redline. When you twist it up and let it spin, the 850 comes alive in a very entertaining way.


By the way, the F9 crew made a movie called "Yalla Habibi" about riding around the world and setting a record, and it's pretty darn good. You can stream it for a measly $10, and it's well worth it.

[argonsagas]

It's a load of nonsense.

I am inclined to agree.

Modern writers are accustomed to modern bikes....forty year old (and older) machines tend to be well outside their mid- or long-term riding experience.
There is an inherent bias in their perspectives. How much of a bias, and how it reveals itself, varies by individual, but it is there.

Reality check: The 850 was built for the times and it was not built to be a sport bike.

It has been a few years since I last rode an 850. At the time I had my own shafty 1100G.

Tim White, a member of GSR, and the owner of that 850, was a giant compared to me, so there was an obvious difference in perceived performance as the bike worked harder under him.

Yes, the 850 was slower than the 1100G, but very smooth and very capable of delivering a good ride that would take you anywhere you wanted to go...in comfort... and the handling was superb.

Translation: It did exactly what it was designed to do.

As to chain vs shaft.....Two other GSR members I rode with then had chain-drive 1100s.
We tried throttle roll-on performance comparisons a few times: the difference was small.