A Tale of Two 450's - Bike 1

[Kris]

So IanC and I drove up to New York to pick up a 1981 GS450ES and a 1980 GS450E. Paid $700 for the pair of them. We made the 1500 mile trip in 29 hours, in time for me to be back at work at 8:00am Monday. Lucky me. Tonight, after I got home from school and work, we started working on the GS450ES. Seems to be in really good shape as far as we can tell and it is currently hooked up to the battery charger and we are hoping it will start on the first try *fingers crossed*.

Anyways as of today, we have taken off the gas tank, front fairing, side covers, bathed it, used some elbow grease and Simple Greened the heck out of the GS450ES. Also took apart the carbs to check 'em out and hooked them up.

All the bikes in the car port:

The following pictures are all pre-bath, elbow grease, and Simple Green:

Came with the original spare fuse haha

Original Fork Stickers

Anyone know what this sticker is?

Post-Bath pictures to follow...

 

[scottychop]

Nice

Nice

Congrats on the steal. Two is SO much better than one.

Scott

 

[Kris]

Drum Roll Please...

After the bath, elbow grease and Simple Green...

Me, demonstrating how to apply elbow grease

Taking apart and looking at the carbs

Needless to say, it looks a lot better after a few hours work and the parts list is short. Woofta.

I'll post pictures of the other bike in another thread. We will be working on that one after mine is all prettied up

 

[Flaming Chainsaws]

Nice! Two for the price of one

 

[Kris]

Haha yeah, can't really complain about getting such a good deal on them.

 

[Charlie G]

You paid less for two of them than I paid for one. Are you sure thats is a Suzuki "S" fairing? It looks good but I thought the factory ones were more angular.

Charlie G

 

[SVSooke]

As a bit of a connoisseur of the GS400/450(Canada got 4valve 400s instead of 2valve 450s) I can say that is not a Suzuki S fairing.Had one like it on my 82 GS400E,mine was an Emgo if memory serves.The S originally had gold wheels and bar end mirrors.BTW had a 81 bought new to so I remember them newGreat bikes,some of my fondest memories are of the 400s.Have fun with them!

 

[Flaming Chainsaws]

Yup, it looks like an Emgo Viper fairing, which I've had my eye on since I got my GS450. The red paint makes it look fast. Paint the rims black and it will be even faster

 

[Guest]

Nicely done Kris, been waiting to see what you guys were gonna do with them.

Looks like they both should clean up nicely and give you many many hours of enjoyment on two wheels

 

[Kris]

We were starting to think that it wasn't a true S model after looking at pictures and what not. Ian is no expert of 450 and I have even less knowledge haha. But I still like it.

 

[herostar]

What was your trick to get the carbs and airbox out?

I'm in the middle of a valve job on my bike and want to install the carb boots/o-rings that are just sitting on my kitchen table...

 

[IanC]

We haven't had to yet. It came with no airbox, a set of pods and the carbs off. We checked out the carbs last night and got them installed. The pods are only staying on long enough to get it running then we'll borrow the airbox from bike #2 and replace it later.

 

[MilesDad]

I think that is what matters most. Great looking bikes!

... But I still like it.[/QUOTE]

 

[Hornswaggle]

Good luck and enjoy your new projects!

 

[Kris]

The bike lives! We started it up tonight and after a few tries it started. Unfortunately there seems to be an issue with it randomly revving up. Oh well hopefully we will figure it out soon.