Top 10 Newbie Mistakes

[Nessism]

Alright, I STILL don't get what you're actually supposed to do in #7 despite having read the excessively worded "Stator papers" TWICE now. Although I appreciate the work that went into putting it together I can't help be be reminded of the Robert Persig quote "Metaphysics is like a restraunt with a 10,000 page menu that serves no actual food" In other words, too little substance.

https://www.thegsresources.com/statorpapers.php

Better yet though is go to Basscliff's website and read through the electrical section, particularly the sections about the charging system...http://members.dslextreme.com/users/...-ends.html#A20.

[LAB3]

Alright, I STILL don't get what you're actually supposed to do in #7 despite having read the excessively worded "Stator papers" TWICE now. Although I appreciate the work that went into putting it together I can't help be be reminded of the Robert Persig quote "Metaphysics is like a restraunt with a 10,000 page menu that serves no actual food" In other words, too little substance.

[bwringer]

It's springtime 2018, and all over the northern hemisphere, motorcycles are being awakened from their winter's slumber.

Or their 20-years-in-the-back-of-the-shed-covered-in-bird-poop slumber.

And sometimes the attempts at awakening are less than successful.

If you're new to the forum, welcome! Please start at the beginning of this thread and read it through. Then place your hand over your heart and solemnly swear you will avoid the mistakes documented here, and strive to at least invent new and creative mistakes.

Even if you're not new and you're wondering why your bike won't start, please re-read the first post... your answer is virtually guaranteed to be found there.

So being a forum, and motorcycle gearhead newbie I am in need of some help on my bike. I have been grilling Steve constantly ( I am sure in his mind I have a squeaky mouse voice screaming out by now). I am hoping that there may be somebody on here who is in my general vicinity that can provide some physical help from time to time (including some day soon). I am in the Kansas City metro area. I would rather gain some of the technical wisdom required by watching and learning firsthand. This thread is awesome to be sure! I would add to this list... remembering you actually have a tool to accomplish a given task after having already scratched or slightly damaging some part with a wrong fitting or unqualified tool.

[Nessism]

Don't ever take your bike to the shop and tell them what to do based on any internet discussions from people who have never physically seen your motorcycles.

That being said, use the advise given on the internet to further educate yourself for if and when you do take it to the shop, but don't belittle them (coordinator/technician/human) with too much B-S from the digital world.

I take it you work in a shop.

Don't ever take your bike to the shop and tell them what to do based on any internet discussions from people who have never physically seen your motorcycles.

That being said, use the advise given on the internet to further educate yourself for if and when you do take it to the shop, but don't belittle them (coordinator/technician/human) with too much B-S from the digital world.

And the standard:

• You don't tug on superman's cape
• You don't spit into the wind
• You don't pull the mask off that old lone ranger
• And you don't mess around with the forum mods (if you care about sticking around)

Amazing wisdom. Thanks for all the advice, wish I would have seen it sooner. Thankfully I havn't done anything drastic, as it is still not running. In the process of a complete carb rebuild now. Looking forward to keeping tabs on everything here! Until I get it in my profile...1980 GS450s, northwest Illinois.

[Larry D]

For #7, the rewiring, I'm a little confused by what R/R is. Can anyone give me a quick definition?

http://www.thegsresources.com/statorpapers1.php

[Charlie G]

For #7, the rewiring, I'm a little confused by what R/R is. Can anyone give me a quick definition?

Regulator/rectifier

For #7, the rewiring, I'm a little confused by what R/R is. Can anyone give me a quick definition?

This is all gold. I'm finding several things (swingarm, suspension, carbs, and etc) to fix in my 550 daily. But now I know what to do after I get the bike built. Thanks for the wise words!

New to the community here I have always loved Suzuki 's I recently picked up a 79 gs850 great shape runs great he sold it to me for $375 because it would not charge even after he replaced the stator following the stator papers I found the stator was not putting out enough ac voltage 25v at 5k rpm each leg anyway after reading through these forums thoroughly I bought my Clymer book today going to have patience and go through this right I've rode her for 25 miles fell in love can't wait to go through her and get maintenance done up properly before I ride some more planning on a nice winter run through thanks to you all for this thread I agree it should be sticky. Oh and my wife agreed on telling me it's dinner 10 minutes early because it's hard to tear me away when I have something unfinished.

As an admitted newbie, just beginning a rebuild, I just wanted to say I greatly appreciate this post. I have read it and will likely be rereading it about 16 more times as I make progress on my project. So, in short, thank you

Ok, my buddy came over...we have compression!!! So, in the process...my throttle is stuck...one of the carbs are stuck...kinda odd, Hoping it was the mice I found in the air intake left an acorn or something in the carb...haha..also tank is rusty...bad...I will do more searching on the forums!! I'll start a new post with updates!! Thanks for the input!! I live near Lima!!

[Allie]

Hello!! I am a complete noob!! I was given a 1982 GS850L...the bike has sat in a barn for about 5 years! I was about to put full synthetic10w-30(all I had sitting in my garage) Drain the gas tank, put fresh gas in and see if it would turn over...I want to make sure it is going to before I put some time into it!!How bad would this be to do??

What you might do is make sure it has some oil in it, pull all the plug wires and see if the engine will crank. If it does then do a compression check. If the engine cranks and has good compression everything else is a slam dunk. Best not to run the engine until you sort out all of the basics though.