New 850 Ride. Big Road Trip

[Guest]

So AZR was helping me sort out my latest struggle with getting my GS1000 in shape (badly scored cam bearings). Still working on it and will eventually sell it when it's bak in shape, but in the meantime started looking for a new ride.

AZR pointed me to this bike saying "too bad you're not out west".. Well I got hooked, and decided a cross country road trip was a pretty good idea. Bought it!
So I"m flying out from Toronto to Victoria June 20th and going to ride her back to Toronto over the following week. Already booked a couple of campsites, one in Dinosaur Park Alberta and one in Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba.

So have a look. For those in B.C. I'd appreciate your thoughts on stretches of road between Vancouver and Calgary that you would recommend I not miss. I've done the trip before on the 1000 but it was many years ago and I stuck to the Transcanada Hwy mostly.

Also as I pack, your top suggestions for tools/spares for a big road trip?


The GS850 had the paint work done at Perfections in Victoria. Original Euro style decal kit from England and the tank badges made into
decals; they are exact replicas only decals. Pingel petcock on the
tank, electronic ignition, upgraded stator and regulator/rectifier, new
battery. The engine had a rebore (.5mm over) Suzuki rings/piston. Valve
seats recut and valves re-surfaced (At JB Precision, Gene did them there.
The guy is an artist.)All new gaskets and seals,new clutch springs all
internals checked to ensure within factory specs (bike only had 18,000 km at
time of rebuild...it had been parked for about 15 years).Starter rebuilt,
secondary drive, transmission, final drive all disassembled and
examined....all fine. Installed sealed wheel bearings, upgraded to
stainless steel brake lines...from England and they have stainless
steel ends so will never rust. They are black vinyl coated so look near
original.All new cables (clutch, speedo, throttle (2), tach) New front
master cylinder, rebuilt rear master cylinder, rebuild calipers, upgraded
pad material (SBS), recovered seat. The frame went down to bare metal, all
welds examined and then painted. Tapered steering head bearings installed,
re-chromed front fender, kickstart lever, rear grab bar, headlight rim,
engine case guards. All aluminum on engine professionally polished at Vic
Plating (where chrome plating was done). All nuts, bolts, washers cad plated
at Vic Plating.Carbs rebuilt, re-jetted to match Vance & Hines exhaust. K&N
air filter, seat re-covered with original style cover. Rebuilt forks with new seals, it's also had the first service
(oil/filter change and valve adjustment, carb synch, secondary and final
drive oil change at same time)

[bccap]

Nice score. Sounds like a great ride. I've thought a few times about going east to buy a bike and then a one way trip back. Watch out for that Victoria crowd though, they like to force feed you beer when you visit.....

[azr]

Congratulations Robert you've really got yourself a brand new bike there. As for roads home, you've got a couple of choices. You can't go wrong the #3 along the bottom of BC, beautiful. You could also do the #20 in Northern Washington. I'd say the #20 is the nicer road, but the #3 has nicer views, really you can't go wrong with either one. There's tons of roads you could take in BC but it depends on the time you have to get back, #3 is direct. I guess you could go up over Whistler, Cache Creek, #97C down to Merritt, then to the 5A and down to Princeton, THAT would be a very nice drive and you'd get to a lot of different views of BC, FANTASTIC roads and view along that trip but it will ad an extra 1/2 to your trip. I've heard going to Toronto via the US is almost a day quicker but I guess it depends on what you want to see. As for packing, don't come to the coast without some sort of rain gear. Ask Len if the bike has the stock tool kit, if it does you won't really need much more than that. I really can't imagine you'll need any spare items as it's all new on the bike. I suppose the one thing you should bring is extra throttle cables and an extra clutch cable. You could borrow the ones from your 79' 1000, they're the same. Likely will not need them but they're the only two that if broke leave you in a pickle, the others don't matter. I'd bring along some spare glass fuses, 10, 15 & 20 amps, I'm not sure but I don't think any upgrades were done to the fuse box.

[RobertGS]

Thanks, I'll watch out for the Victoria group...it would be cool to say hey to anyone out that way. I'm hearing there are quite a few Victoria area GS'rs.

Just for fun here's another of the bikes the PO has just finished restoring. I hear he has 8 collector plates on hand. Really looking forward to seeing what he has.

[RobertGS]

Had a look and #3 highway does look pretty tempting. That might be the ticket.
Good suggestions on what to bring AZR thanks.

Did these bikes come with stock toolkits???

[GS1150Pilot]

That 850 is stunning!

[RobertGS]

Thanks I'm pretty stoked.

Here's a shot without the saddlebags. The rear shocks are new $400 progressives.

[DAYNE 77]

Thats gonna be a great trip! Very clean, nice profile on your bike.

[steve murdoch]

Sounds like a great adventure, Robert.
Congrats on the "new" bike.

[azr]

Yes, the stock tool kit consisted of wrenches, 8mm up to 17 or is it 19mm, pliers, spark plug socket, which also fits the oil plug, screw driver, and some other items. It's actually a pretty good kit for these bikes. You can basically do any repairs you need other than an engine tear down. If it doesn't have one get one. Someone on here might have one or they're always on ebay. On thing I did for my 412's on my 80 1000G was upgraded the medium springs, 95/130's to heavy duty ones 105/150. Big improvement for two up loaded trips. Those 412's and the progressive springs up front make for a nice combination.

[RobertGS]

I've started putting together a toolkit.
-sockets from 6mm to 14, plus a 19 for cranking the engine if necessary.
-Spark plug socket with extension. Small extension for the other sockets.
-wrenches from 8-14mm
-Large and small adjustable wrench
-Leatherman multi-tool (has needle nose pliers)
-spark plug gap tool
-extra cotter pins, various sizes
-couple sizes of multi-srewdrivers

not too heavy so far.

I'll bring a clutch and throttle cable, some fuel line, a litre of "good" oil that shall remain nameless.

What am I missing?

[850 Combat]

I've started putting together a toolkit.
-sockets from 6mm to 14, plus a 19 for cranking the engine if necessary.
-Spark plug socket with extension. Small extension for the other sockets.
-wrenches from 8-14mm
-Large and small adjustable wrench
-Leatherman multi-tool (has needle nose pliers)
-spark plug gap tool
-extra cotter pins, various sizes
-couple sizes of multi-srewdrivers

not too heavy so far.

I'll bring a clutch and throttle cable, some fuel line, a litre of "good" oil that shall remain nameless.

What am I missing?

I like bringing a Visa card.

Seriously though, it might make sense to bring a little harness pre-made to improve the grounding at the R/R, something I like is just jumper from the starter solenoid bolt to the negative terminal on the battery to the front battery box mount to the frame. That has actually settled some odd charging voltage readings for me a couple times. I might also consider planning an R/R upgrade before you set out. You have the oddball early stator, which I understand isn't the easiest thing to find. I might even consider seeing if you can locate one, or see if Steve has any.

[bccap]

My tool kit is rather light but I'd suggest a spare head and tail light....

[RobertGS]

Ah spare bulbs, good suggestion thanks. And I assume the picture of the CAA card was a suggestion? or is that your signature... I did make sure I was paid up and on a plan that includes bikes.

About the stator, I think it's been upgraded along with the R/R, but probably a good idea to check the grounding thanks.

[bccap]

That's half of my tool kit. Here's the other half....... { Maybe a couple of spare fuses as well }