1980 GS450e new to motorcycles

[villac]

Hi, my son and I are working on our first motorcycle. Found this 1980 gs450e in great condition for its age and having rested in a barn for a couple of years. With a new battery and a little work it is running well. Still needs a front tire replacement to pass inspection and front brake is sticking. We have planned a change of both tires, brake line/fluid, chain, and carb cleanout. It's really nice to start with a running motorcycle, our last project was a Motofino scooter that hadn't run for 5 years and took a while. We have already found a ton of help here on the forum and great details on Cliff's site. Nearly every question I've had has been answered with a quick search of the forum. Thanks for all the help you all didn't know you were giving me!

 

[WolfworksCustoms]

Add yer general location info into your profile....could be someone just a few miles away that could help you out even more....

 

[steve murdoch]

Welcome to the site, villac.
Can't think of a better way to spend quality time with the kids than working on a motorcycle.

 

[Jedz123]

Pictures??? Welcome aboard, Bass Clifs site is AWESOME! I found going over those basics on even newer bikes I acquire and work on have been beneficial.

Good luck with it!

 

[Charlie G]

Welcome! The 450 is a great bike. It looks like my old bike, except it's has stock pipes.

cg

 

[Gorminrider]

Hi, villac! I surely do like your bike! It is a good prospect!

Nearly every question I've had has been answered with a quick search of the forum.

Outstanding! I still find a lot of help in the mass of old posts too.

 

[dorkburger]

That's a cool 450. Good luck and enjoy the family wrenching..... and welcome.

 

[Redman]

Vi,

Welcome to GSR.
THanks for introducing yourself and posting pic.
Do keep us updated on progress.

Looks like nice stock condition bike there.
(maybe shorter flatter bars)

Maybe you and your son can have further experience together by taking a MSF class together.

Do add your general location to user profile.

.

 

[tkent02]

Looks exactly like mine, except when I got it the bike was in about twelve boxes, that frame over there, those wheels over there, cylinders over there, and by the way it skips out of fifth and sixth gear, a true basket case. Actually more of a box case.

Nice bike, I rode it a while today, I like it.

 

[WolfworksCustoms]

except when I got it the bike was in about twelve boxes, that frame over there, those wheels over there, cylinders over there

Sounds like 30% of all my bikes !....lol

 

[Nessism]

Nice project. I got my GS start with a 450 too.

Be sure to check the Newbie Mistakes thread linked in my signature so you can be aware of some things to look out for. Make sure to check the valves and pull the piston out of the caliper and clean out the grunge. Flushing won't adequately clean out the sludge sure to be inside if it's sticking now.

Good luck

 

[Guest]

Welcome! And yep, the 450's are great little bikes, I still enjoy riding mine nearly every day! Lots of fun in the twisties too.

 

[villac]

Thanks! Appreciate the hello, Pete, Nessism, WolfworksCustoms, tkent12, Redman, dorkburger, Gorminrider, Charlie G, Jedz123, steve murdoch, (breath)

We are in Danville PA: right in the middle woodsy part between Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and State College. Great local roads! I'll update my profile.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! Was a warm wet one here, slippery roads.

We have made a little progress: We replaced the front tire, and gave PennDot their gold coins so now we are inspected and street legal. We found the IRC GS11 tire which was an even swap with the cracked old tire on the GS450 so the handling feels the same. The change wasn't much tougher than a mountain bike tire with some hefty tire levers and baby powder. One casualty is that the speedometer cable has a little buzzing noise at speed so that's going to have to be redone.

I'm realizing as I write this that I have to start putting this stuff in the part-appropriate threads.

Nessism: thanks for the Newbie mistakes thread, I realize I'm tempted to take lots of short cuts that will probably bite back.

tkent02: Your GS looks great! Ours does look very similar, except no black fenders and our chrome shines a lot less than yours!

I don't have new pics of progress, just a shot of the very cool instruments on the GS450 (nothing digital!) and a picture of the Chinese scooter that was our warm up project.

 

[villac]

(The scooter is serving well as the transport vehicle to pick up parts)

 

[villac]

And one more thing, Come summertime, Pennsylvania runs a great FREE skills course that my son and I are going to take together. I'm sure we will appreciate the safety skills and it also lets us take the full license skills course without having to visit the DMV. That's the best bonus.

 

[tkent02]

One casualty is that the speedometer cable has a little buzzing noise at speed so that's going to have to be redone.

Try lubing the cable, and if that doesn't fix it lube the speedo by turning it upside down and shooting some spray grease between the threaded part that the outer cable screws onto, and the part inside it that spins with the cable. I use spray Lithium Grease but probably anything would do.

One or both of those will usually fix a buzzing or jumpy speedo or tach.

 

[dorkburger]

(The scooter is serving well as the transport vehicle to pick up parts)

Scooters are fun!

 

[villac]

Try lubing the cable, and if that doesn't fix it lube the speedo by turning it upside down and shooting some spray grease between the threaded part that the outer cable screws onto, and the part inside it that spins with the cable. I use spray Lithium Grease but probably anything would do.

One or both of those will usually fix a buzzing or jumpy speedo or tach.

Yes, thank you, that did it!

We had already messed around with the wheel-end of the speedo cable: making sure nothing had fallen out, that the angle entered the hub correctly, etc. and all seemed OK. In fact, a trip around the block with the cable disconnected gave no noise, so it helped pin the blame on the speedo (not something scraping between brake pad and disc.)

I found a ton of threads with a "speedometer noise" search here, so I followed advice and detached the cable from the back of the speedo (it seems the 1980 GS has a detachable cable, but no lubrication port: sounds better than the years that don't have the detachable cable). We found so many recommendations for lubricant, including the spray lithium grease you use: 3 in 1, axle grease, motor oil, silicone. We also had triflo my son uses for RC cars, but in the end I settled on a can of WD-40 for the advantage of that little straw and the aerosol propellant. We were able to spray down the cable housing while spinning the wheel, and then spray up against gravity into the back of the speedometer itself. Of note, the oil lifted a brown residue out of both ends - probably a little coating of time and travel. With the cable reconnected, speedometer worked without noise at speed.

The exposed tip of the cable had an odd look: it was dark brown, was a square cross-section, seemed to have a texture of hard plastic, and had fine grooves in it like serrations or tooling. I figure all of this could be due to being 35 years old and somehow rubbing without proper lubrication, but since it works, I don't care how it looks! If the noise recurs or the cable breaks, we will deal with hunting down a replacement on ebay, etc.

I'm glad I found a good explanation and info here.

@dorkburger, that scooter looks like the classic Italian style our scooter is imitating!

I'm going to copy this into the most recent speedo noise thread too so it's in a proper place. Thanks again!

Chris

 

[OleDirtyDoc]

Sweet bike.I've had two of them and loved them.there is a vast amount of knowledge and talent here