W
William Groebe
Guest
Hello GSR. My name's Will Groebe. I recently bought this zippy little 1982 GS650GL for $500 in the San Francisco Bay Area.
I had been without a motorcycle for about three years and I was ready to get back on two wheels, but I also wanted to have something I could work on myself. The idea of buying an older, air cooled shaft-driven bike sounded perfect for me. And so far I love it. It's a little funky, what with the exhaust from some Mad Max movie, but it's got a lot of heart and isn't a daunting machine to tinker with. And now that I've recently moved into a new house with a larger garage I've carved out a space for any motorcycle projects to take place.
As I do any work on it I'll be posting my progress and cries for help. Thanks already for the feedback I've gotten from those of you who replied about my "how to fix a speedo" thread.
Here's my list of fixes that need to happen in order of severity.
-Needs a new 2nd gear, so I'll be opening the whole crankcase pretty soon.
-Oil leaking from the head. I'll take care of this when I open the engine up for the transmission overhaul.
-Needs a new instrument cluster. I'm thinking of going with an aftermarket simple speedo and tach and do away with the big plastic cluster and gear indicator lights. (Of course I need them for now until I fix my transmission because 2nd gear is a doozy)
-The bike vibrates quite a bit making the rearview mirrors blurry at high RPM. I assume this has something to do with the engine and transmission problems. I'm hoping this goes away once I've opened up the engine and fixed any issues I can find in there.
-I'd like a new seat and new mirrors and new handlebars, and I may cut down the rear fender to pull the rear light closer to the seat. I'm not planning on keeping it stock, but I don't want to change it too much. We'll see.
See you all around, and be safe on the road everyone.
-Will
