Best Bang for the Buck?

[rapidray]

Then you will have the same cookie cutter bike everyone else has. Making a 1 off GS that is stupid fast, with good brakes & suspension will NEVER go out of style. Plus, it will GAIN in value.
Ray.

[Octain]

Then you will have the same cookie cutter bike everyone else has. Making a 1 off GS that is stupid fast, with good brakes & suspension will NEVER go out of style. Plus, it will GAIN in value.
Ray.

Kinda reminds me of the Harley guys sinking tons of go-fast money into their bikes when they can simply buy a bike made for speed.

A fool and his money are soon parted.

[jimb12]

My bike has, I believe the stock Mikuni CV34s. From the info in my sig, what carbs would you recommend, and how much additional rear wheel HP do you think could be squeezed from them?

If you have the stock motor and don't plan on going much beyond that then RS34s would be fine I think. However if you think that you might do a ported head/cams/1166 then I'd choose the RS36 in that case. I don't have dyno figures before and after, just the undeniable fact that the bike went noticeably faster with the flatslides.

BTW if you do get flatslides then install a push-pull throttle.

[GS1150Pilot]

Kinda reminds me of the Harley guys sinking tons of go-fast money into their bikes when they can simply buy a bike made for speed.

A fool and his money are soon parted.

In the case of the Harley guys, yes, it's folly. It ruins what reliability there is and still doesn't produce a bike that can outperform the big Japanese fours.

[tkent02]

Why not just buy a bike made for speed? Most any modern 600cc sport bike will do what you want and then some without the hassle or worries of trying to make an old bike fast. Plus it'll stop and handle better than most any classic GS.

When I want to ride a stupid fast bike I'll roll it out of the garage and ride it.

If I want to build something unique I'll do that too. It's not like anyone here is wasting tens of thousands of dollars to get a new Harely almost as fast as a stock 1978 Suzuki.

[GS1150Pilot]

Why not just buy a bike made for speed? Most any modern 600cc sport bike will do what you want and then some without the hassle or worries of trying to make an old bike fast. Plus it'll stop and handle better than most any classic GS.

The big GS bikes were made for speed. Making them quicker and faster is easy, doesn't have to compromise their reliability, and when you blow by the kid on the 600, the sleeper effect is awesome.

[stetracer]

When I want to ride a stupid fast bike I'll roll it out of the garage and ride it.

If I want to build something unique I'll do that too. It's not like anyone here is wasting tens of thousands of dollars to get a new Harely almost as fast as a stock 1978 Suzuki.

I did not know you have a stupid fast bike.

[stetracer]

Why not just buy a bike made for speed? Most any modern 600cc sport bike will do what you want and then some without the hassle or worries of trying to make an old bike fast. Plus it'll stop and handle better than most any classic GS.

There is nothing a modern 600cc bike would do for me. I would not mind adding a GSXR1000 to my stable but I would still put a turbo on it so it would be faster.
One mans stupid fast is another mans silly slow.

[Octain]

When I want to ride a stupid fast bike I'll roll it out of the garage and ride it.

If I want to build something unique I'll do that too. It's not like anyone here is wasting tens of thousands of dollars to get a new Harely almost as fast as a stock 1978 Suzuki.

Much money is relative.

[posplayr]

billet falicon helical basket and HV pump gears.
OEM clutches with 3 gold barnett springs/3 stock springs.
the engine had never been apart except for the cam/clutch area.
this was 88-90 and my bike had 2k miles on it.
my brothers 1150 had st.3 kits and a V&H street pipe.
one night at the track he was running 11.0's like always...i popped my carbs on his bike and his next past was a 10.71...the quickest and fastest his bike has ever been.
1150's have always been easy for me to make power with having minimal cash to spend.

My 1166/0.340/28mm ported/bs36/pods/4:2:1 and all 6 barnett springs stock clutch and the clutch still slips a little at high rpm.

How do I know? I can see it in the data. 3rd gear pull to close to redline
Starts to slip at about 8.5K RPM and then catches again 9.5K rpm

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showpost.php?p=1303763&postcount=12

[Octain]

doesn't have to compromise their reliability

No, you're right it doesn't "have" to. But it does..

[stetracer]

No, you're right it doesn't "have" to. But it does..

It all depends on how you build it. I built my 85 GS1150 in 1999 and the only problem I have had is a blown one head gasket. I have taken it to Daytona for bike week with the wifey on the back a few times. I would consider that pretty dependable.
Surely you don't really know what you talking about because you can make a bike quicker, faster and more dependable than the factory made it. The factory's have made a few mistakes over the years that hurt their dependability

[GS1150Pilot]

Octain really doesn't know what he's talking about. He loves HD and can't understand just how cool-and reliable-a performance modded vintage Japanese bike can be.

[GS1150Pilot]

I should add that my '82 GPz 550 was heavily modded, the RZ350 I had had a built Banshee motor in it, and my GPz 750/810 Turbo made over 200 rwhp and none of those bikes ever left me stranded.

[blowerbike]

The only problem with that is if you buy used stuff then you have to tear it apart to make sure everything is in good shape. But you can save a bundle buying used stuff. I built my 85 GS1150 and my 98 Bandit with mostly used parts. But I don't buy used cams not very often. What Most guys think is a good cam is junk to me. Worn cams will eat up your rockers in a heart beat.

don't buy from joe blow...gotta be smart about it.
pop the head/check with the machine shop that did the work/make sure the person is reputable ect..
you know the game if you been around as long as i have.
building a 5-6 grand engine that's worth 2-2500 after you start it is crazy in my book.
hell there is deals on complete drag bikes now a days..crazy times!