First road bike - 1982 GS550L

[cdahl383]

Picked up a nice 1982 Suzuki GS550L last weekend. Runs good and it appears to be in great shape. Only 4800 miles on it.

This is my first road bike. I’ve been riding dirtbikes for 30 years, but never had a dedicated road/street bike. Sold one of my dirtbikes that I didn’t ride that often and picked this bike up. Just got the title transferred and plates/insurance for it last week. Took it for a few test rides and it’s a fun little bike!

I bought a set of stock bars for it as I’m not a fan of the shorter bars the previous owner had on it. I also picked up a couple new tires as the tires on it appear to be the originals!

Looking forward to riding the bike more and learning more about them on this forum!

 

[DimitriT]

I love my 550. I have over 60k miles on it and it runs great. I really like the period look white letter tires you have on it.
https://immortalsunited.com/s/6mzADf4YZ2Gf3d3

 

[cdahl383]

I love my 550. I have over 60k miles on it and it runs great. I really like the period look white letter tires you have on it.
https://immortalsunited.com/s/6mzADf4YZ2Gf3d3

Wow 60k miles! That's insane! Have you rebuilt the engine/trans yet or no?

I'd like to keep those tires but I just don't trust 42 year old tires. They don't have any cracks or dry rot on them, but the rubber is probably hardened up pretty good now after all those years. I'd feel a lot safer on some new tires.

 

[Nessism]

Wow 60k miles! That's insane! Have you rebuilt the engine/trans yet or no?

I'd like to keep those tires but I just don't trust 42 year old tires. They don't have any cracks or dry rot on them, but the rubber is probably hardened up pretty good now after all those years. I'd feel a lot safer on some new tires.

Replace those tires. They are too old.

There is a member here with something like 125k miles on an original GS550. GS bikes are tough. Biggest impediment to high mileage are people that don't do maintenance. Valve adjustment in particular.

 

[DimitriT]

Wow 60k miles! That's insane! Have you rebuilt the engine/trans yet or no?

I'd like to keep those tires but I just don't trust 42 year old tires. They don't have any cracks or dry rot on them, but the rubber is probably hardened up pretty good now after all those years. I'd feel a lot safer on some new tires.

The bottom end is untouched. The top end had new (used) cylinder sleeves and a new (used) valve head. The only reason I replaced these was because I cross threaded a spark plug and stripped the threads. I tried inserts but eventually found a great deal on a replacement head. I also blew a piston once due to a carb problem and re-sleeved it when I had it apart. I can say that the bike has always brough me home.

I have a GW250 and a GSX750F but I will probably let those go before the 550. And it was my first road bike as well.

Yea replace the tires.

 

[rphillips]

I apologize up front and apologize for asking. I'm unfamiliar with the term "blew a piston"... What happened to that piston?

 

[DimitriT]

I apologize up front and apologize for asking. I'm unfamiliar with the term "blew a piston"... What happened to that piston?

The carb was dirty and wasn't delivering enough fuel. I had it wide open throttle and it burned a hole in the piston.

 

[rphillips]

Thought that might be it, around here we've always called it burnt (burned) a piston. Blew a piston just seemed maybe more serious

 

[rphillips]

cdahl, giving you a big WELCOME, and congrats on getting out of the dirt and up to a real bike. I don't like the bars too low either. Did you get stock "L" bars or just stock 550 standard bars? You're familiar with bikes, so I'll be interesting your opinion of the "L" bars, if that's what you got, after you ride with them for a while.

 

[cdahl383]

I believe I got the L bars. The eBay ad said stock bars from a 1982 gs550l. But I can’t say for sure as I wouldn’t know the difference between the two.

I did end up getting new tires. Dunlop D404s front and back. Took the wheels off and had them mounted at the local bike shop.

Took it for a few rides and put almost 100 miles on it now. It’s a fun bike!

I think the carbs could probably be dialed in a little better but overall it runs well. I read where these bikes are jetted kind of lean from the factory. If I end up taking the carbs off one day I might look into going up a size or two on the jets and see how it goes.

 

[Nessism]

For reasons unknown, the 550's are more cold-blooded than many other GS bikes. Be sure to change the intake boot O-rings, and maybe the boots themselves, if you haven't already done so. Also, go through the carbs, using the tutorial linked in my signature. If you can't see the signature, be sure to turn on "view signatures" in your profile. In the tutorial, at the back, you will find a section describing how to lift the slide needles. Do that, and increase the pilot screws out to 3 full turns. Do not change jets.

 

[scratch]

Picked up a nice 1982 Suzuki GS550L last weekend. Runs good and it appears to be in great shape. Only 4800 miles on it.

This is my first road bike. I’ve been riding dirtbikes for 30 years, but never had a dedicated road/street bike. Sold one of my dirtbikes that I didn’t ride that often and picked this bike up. Just got the title transferred and plates/insurance for it last week. Took it for a few test rides and it’s a fun little bike!

I bought a set of stock bars for it as I’m not a fan of the shorter bars the previous owner had on it. I also picked up a couple new tires as the tires on it appear to be the originals!

Looking forward to riding the bike more and learning more about them on this forum!

b
Somebody babied that thing... look at those pipes! Nice score, I have a pair of 550e's and an ex had a 550L that she put MX bars on, surprisingly, they were actually perfect for both of us on that bike. Have a picture of it somewhere... and will try to dig it up.

 

[cdahl383]

For reasons unknown, the 550's are more cold-blooded than many other GS bikes. Be sure to change the intake boot O-rings, and maybe the boots themselves, if you haven't already done so. Also, go through the carbs, using the tutorial linked in my signature. If you can't see the signature, be sure to turn on "view signatures" in your profile. In the tutorial, at the back, you will find a section describing how to lift the slide needles. Do that, and increase the pilot screws out to 3 full turns. Do not change jets.

Yep, definitely a bit cold blooded. Seems like upping the jets would help that. You're saying to stick with the stock jets, but just raise the needle and open the pilot fuel screws more though?

The guy I bought it from said he went through the carbs, cleaned them, replaced all the o-rings, and shimmed the needle up with three washers so it was higher up (richer mix). He also synchronized the carbs. It seems to run pretty good overall, just seems a bit lean still to me.

The pilot fuel screws are up on the stop of the carb nearest the intake boot to the cylinder correct? I believe they originally had little caps on them to prevent people from messing with them. The ones on my carbs are drilled out so you can access them. I haven't messed with them yet. I'll turn then in all the way to see how far they were out to begin with, then I'll try the 3 turns out you mentioned.

I read on another forum a guy said to pull the airbox lid and go up to 112.5 mains and 42.5 pilot. I think stock is 92.5 main and 40 pilot from what I've read online. I think I'll try what you mentioned first as that's the easiest/cheapest thing to try. It's easy to play with jetting on my old 2 stroke single cylinder dirtbikes, just one carb to deal with. Buying four main jets and four pilot jets plus shipping won't be cheap haha!

I'm not sure on the condition of the intake boots. They seem okay. I don't see any cracks or dry rotting going on. I guess if I end up pulling the carbs off one day I can get a better look.

 

[cdahl383]

b
Somebody babied that thing... look at those pipes! Nice score, I have a pair of 550e's and an ex had a 550L that she put MX bars on, surprisingly, they were actually perfect for both of us on that bike. Have a picture of it somewhere... and will try to dig it up.

It seems that way. Under 5k miles on a bike that's 43 years old is pretty wild. Only thing on the bike that's a little buggered up is the stator cover. The aluminum must have got some corrosion or something on it and some point from sitting, maybe some moisture got on it?

I like the L bars better, but I think it would be even better if they were just a hair shorter and maybe went down further. These will be fine for now though. I need more seat time first before I mess with changing the bars again. The old bars that came on the bike were way too short. The front master cylinder was almost blocking the tachometer and the throttle cable was getting bound up and hung up on sharp right turns. Now it's fine.

 

[Nessism]

Yep, definitely a bit cold blooded. Seems like upping the jets would help that. You're saying to stick with the stock jets, but just raise the needle and open the pilot fuel screws more though?

The guy I bought it from said he went through the carbs, cleaned them, replaced all the o-rings, and shimmed the needle up with three washers so it was higher up (richer mix). He also synchronized the carbs. It seems to run pretty good overall, just seems a bit lean still to me.

The pilot fuel screws are up on the stop of the carb nearest the intake boot to the cylinder correct? I believe they originally had little caps on them to prevent people from messing with them. The ones on my carbs are drilled out so you can access them. I haven't messed with them yet. I'll turn then in all the way to see how far they were out to begin with, then I'll try the 3 turns out you mentioned.

I read on another forum a guy said to pull the airbox lid and go up to 112.5 mains and 42.5 pilot. I think stock is 92.5 main and 40 pilot from what I've read online. I think I'll try what you mentioned first as that's the easiest/cheapest thing to try. It's easy to play with jetting on my old 2 stroke single cylinder dirtbikes, just one carb to deal with. Buying four main jets and four pilot jets plus shipping won't be cheap haha!

I'm not sure on the condition of the intake boots. They seem okay. I don't see any cracks or dry rotting going on. I guess if I end up pulling the carbs off one day I can get a better look.

Go back and reread what I wrote. You are free to do what you want, but increasing jet sizes is not needed, and to lift the needle, you don't want to add washers under the needle clip.

 

[cdahl383]

Go back and reread what I wrote. You are free to do what you want, but increasing jet sizes is not needed, and to lift the needle, you don't want to add washers under the needle clip.

I didn't see anything about lifting the needle in the back of that file. Just stuff about the pilot fuel screws. Before that there's stuff about syncing the carbs.

 

[Nessism]

I didn't see anything about lifting the needle in the back of that file. Just stuff about the pilot fuel screws. Before that there's stuff about syncing the carbs.

Go look again...

 

[cdahl383]

Go look again...

Already looked. Didn't see it.

 

[cdahl383]

Ok I was looking in the back of that file like you said. It's further up. Why can't you just put shims in there rather than sand down the original part? I guess either way would work.

 

[scratch]

It seems that way. Under 5k miles on a bike that's 43 years old is pretty wild. Only thing on the bike that's a little buggered up is the stator cover. The aluminum must have got some corrosion or something on it and some point from sitting, maybe some moisture got on it?

I like the L bars better, but I think it would be even better if they were just a hair shorter and maybe went down further. These will be fine for now though. I need more seat time first before I mess with changing the bars again. The old bars that came on the bike were way too short. The front master cylinder was almost blocking the tachometer and the throttle cable was getting bound up and hung up on sharp right turns. Now it's fine.

Lucky for you stator covers are easy to come by…

Bars are highly personal, I get that. I’m tall and lanky so the elkhors never suited me… anyway as promised I dug up a couple of pictures of the ex’s old bike with the dirt bike style bars, the cross bar was odd to me at first but coming from a dirt bike background, she loved them. I will say that the height, width and pullback were fantastic on that bike. That said, it’s the only L I’ve ever ridde and again, it’s a personal thing for sure… you’ll be the best judge at the end of the day.

Yep, definitely a bit cold blooded. Seems like upping the jets would help that. You're saying to stick with the stock jets, but just raise the needle and open the pilot fuel screws more though?

The guy I bought it from said he went through the carbs, cleaned them, replaced all the o-rings, and shimmed the needle up with three washers so it was higher up (richer mix). He also synchronized the carbs. It seems to run pretty good overall, just seems a bit lean still to me.

The pilot fuel screws are up on the stop of the carb nearest the intake boot to the cylinder correct? I believe they originally had little caps on them to prevent people from messing with them. The ones on my carbs are drilled out so you can access them. I haven't messed with them yet. I'll turn then in all the way to see how far they were out to begin with, then I'll try the 3 turns out you mentioned.

I read on another forum a guy said to pull the airbox lid and go up to 112.5 mains and 42.5 pilot. I think stock is 92.5 main and 40 pilot from what I've read online. I think I'll try what you mentioned first as that's the easiest/cheapest thing to try. It's easy to play with jetting on my old 2 stroke single cylinder dirtbikes, just one carb to deal with. Buying four main jets and four pilot jets plus shipping won't be cheap haha!

I'm not sure on the condition of the intake boots. They seem okay. I don't see any cracks or dry rotting going on. I guess if I end up pulling the carbs off one day I can get a better look.

Having had a heap of these… recommend hunting everywhere for air leaks before playing with jetting. I could go on about this all day…But the short version: the usual suspect method never worked for me. Now I start at the exhaust and work my way back to the snorkle. Every gasket, every joint, every bit of rubber. They are all guilty until proven innocent lol…
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