Hello from Minnesota

[gay_bob_vila]

Hello! I’m a union carpenter, parent of a 12yo, 42, lover of old things (fixing up my 120yo house is my main project outside work). I got my first bike (81 450t) late last summer. It has been very fun to learn to ride on. Most of my riding has been around Minneapolis/St. Paul—up and down the river road, around the lakes, and to school parking lots for practice. I rode out to Hastings and up 95 past Taylor’s Falls a couple times. I’m still very new and just getting to the point where I can unclench while on the highway. Acquiring gear and riding in the early morning has helped. I would love to ride all the way around Lake Superior some day. Another desire of mine is to ride down to Pahrump NV and visit my dad, and go riding with him.

So, PO had installed pods and a 2 to 1 exhaust on the bike. As well as lower flatter bars which I don’t hate. (I’m really short, 5’2”). He gave me the original airbox, exhaust, and bars in case I want to restore the bike, which I do. It doesn’t hesitate when I tell it to go, but idles fast, maybe a little uneven, and there’s intermittent popping all the time. After listening to the original exhaust sound of these bikes on YouTube videos, I think I would prefer that. I have been reading this forum for a little while and I know I need to go down the laundry list and make all kinds of improvements. I’m nervous to take it apart but it will probably be ok. It is warming up enough here that I can spend some time in the garage.

My only dilemma is what would I ride in the mean time. I’m trying to convince my partner that one more GS would solve this problem. I’ll let you know how that goes

 

[steve murdoch]

Welcome to the site, Bob.
If the idle adjustment screw doesn't bring the idle down another thing to check is the throttle cables. In your pic the routing of the cables from the shorter bars seems a little severe right by the headlight. It MIGHT be causing the cables to bind up.

 

[Redman]

Welcome, and thanks for the intro and picture.

Is the high idle only after the engine gets warm....?

.

 

[pdqford]

Welcome and wow!
Very nice machine!

 

[gay_bob_vila]

Welcome, and thanks for the intro and picture.

Is the high idle only after the engine gets warm....?

.

Thank you Redman, Yes, that seems right. It likes to hang out at 2500rpm once warmed up. I have tried adjusting the idle screw a small amount while I’m out riding it, and that can bring it down for a few minutes but then it creeps back up.

 

[gay_bob_vila]

Welcome to the site, Bob.
If the idle adjustment screw doesn't bring the idle down another thing to check is the throttle cables. In your pic the routing of the cables from the shorter bars seems a little severe right by the headlight. It MIGHT be causing the cables to bind up.

Thank you for the welcome and for the suggestion, Steve. I will give that a look.

 

[Redman]

Thank you Redman, Yes, that seems right. It likes to hang out at 2500rpm once warmed up. I have tried adjusting the idle screw a small amount while I’m out riding it, and that can bring it down for a few minutes but then it creeps back up.

THen, I would suspect the carb inlet boot o-rings or the boots themselves.

 

[gay_bob_vila]

Welcome and wow!
Very nice machine!

Thank you! I sure do love it <3

 

[SamLack99]

Welcome to the best resource on the Internet for all things GS =)

I had zero wrenching experience when I came here, but thanks to all of the simple, step-by-step guides available for doing things like Stripping down the carbs, adjusting valves, and so on...

I've been able to take small steps along the road.

Cool bike by the way.

I'm restoring a GS750T, I didn't know they made a 450T.

Every day's a school day =)

 

[gay_bob_vila]

Welcome to the best resource on the Internet for all things GS =)

I had zero wrenching experience when I came here, but thanks to all of the simple, step-by-step guides available for doing things like Stripping down the carbs, adjusting valves, and so on...

I've been able to take small steps along the road.

Cool bike by the way.

I'm restoring a GS750T, I didn't know they made a 450T.

Every day's a school day =)

Every days a school day. Love it!!! I’m really grateful this site exists. All the visuals are sooo incredibly helpful.

 

[gtem]

Without seeing the bike, I'd say it sounds like a lean condition. Pull the plugs and see if they look ashy/white. hard to tell with those black jet-coated exhaust headers, but on chrome ones, a lean running bike will blue the stock dual wall header pipes, tho an aftermarket single wall header can blue even with correct jetting. A plug read is the most certain evidence. Could be air leaks at the carb boots like Redman suggested, could be improper jetting for the pod air filters. I guess my first order of business would be to reinstall the stock airbox well (make sure here aren't any open seams or bad connections from the airbox boots to the carbs). See where you land with that. An easy test for leaks around the carb boots (from the engine to carbs) is with the bike hot and running, take an un-lit but open butane torch and "sniff" around the area of the carbs and carb boots. If you hear the revs change, you've got an air leak in that area. Going back to stock exhaust will also eliminate that as a variable.

Keep us posted, this is a remarkably helpful and friendly group, a quality active enthusiast web forum is a dying breed unfortunately.

 

[Lorenzo]

Very neat bike even with the 2 into 1 (which it can only be guessed in the pic, anyway); lile advice: this bikes run better with the original (or pattern) pipes, air boxes and carb boots.