GS Road Trip Reliability? 2000 Miles or more?

[fastbysuzuki]

In 2017 we toured Spain & Portugal did around 2500 miles bike had 45000 on clock had no problems.
in preparation usual maintenance, valve clearances, oil/ filter change, air filter clean, check wheel bearings, clean electrical connections, check charging rate, changed secondary & final drive oil, make sure tyres have enough tread, if possible have tyres fitted tubeless, (saves a lot of hassle if punctured)
check your final drive to rear wheel splines are good for the ride length and grease them. Check all fasteners are tight.

Good idea to pack spare brake/clutch lever's, clutch/ throttle cables, 2x spark plugs, small multimeter, spare fuses, few mixed connectors, electrical tape, some good old gaffer tape, tubeless tyre repair kit.

Am am really hoping to go touring Spain July next year on the GS ( if health holds up)

 

[trevor]

My cousin and his wife and me and my wife completed two trips throughout BC on my old GS bikes...two up and loaded with luggage. No issues.

 

[Griffin]

……..
It would be very useful to people preparing to use their GS bike on long road trip adventures to have a short list of spares.
Thanks a bunch!
BiL

BiL,

To answer your final question, here is my checklist for a long trip:

Maintenance

- Oil (Rotella white jug)/oil filter (Suzuki OEM) changed
- Gear oil changed (shafties)
- Air filter clean/oil (K&N oem-style)
- All electrical connectors inspected/cleaned/dielectric greased
- AGM battery fully charged and load tested (free service at Advance Auto)
- All cables lubed, replaced if more than 5,000 miles/5 years old
- Hand levers inspected/replaced if worn
- Full charging system test (per POSplayer's write up)
- Tires inspected/replaced if necessary
- Rear splines (or drive chain and sprockets) cleaned/inspected/lubed (Suzuki Moly paste or WD-40 and Maxima Chain Wax)
- New spark plugs
- Resistances of coils and plug caps checked
- Valve clearances checked/new valve cover gasket
- Brake pads inspected/replaced if necessary
- Brake lines bled and flushed
- Fork oil changed if over 5,000 miles/five years old
- Carburetors balanced
- All fuses replaced
- Nuts and bolts in key places tightened/torqued

I know that looks like a lot, but it can be all done over a weekend if one is organized and things are in reasonably good shape to begin with.

Spare Parts
- Headlight bulb
- Full set of fuses
- Stator
- Reg/rec
- Throttle and clutch cables (old ones that were replaced while still intact will do, emergency use only anyway)
- Spade-style electrical connectors
- Small roll of wire
- 4 spark plugs

Tools
- 3/8" drive socket set (6mm-17mm, comes in a plastic hard case)
- 8, 10, 12, 14mm wrenches
- Needle nose and regular pliers
- Flat and cross tip screwdrivers
- Wire cutting/stripping/crimping pliers
- Electrical tape
- Allen wrench set
- Spanner for shock adjustment
- Maxima chain wax (if necessary)
- Small double-A flashlight

All the tools and spare parts fit in a small nylon bag I picked up somewhere that is easily stashed in a tank bag.​

Although not as complete as the old gentleman's guide for touring in Europe, this seems to cover pretty much any base that can be covered on the road or at a hotel.

 

[Buffalo Bill]

Brett, would synthetic gear oil be mo betta in a shafty? (oops?hope I don't start another endless oil debate!)
All the pics are a big help for considering luggage options.
Thanks!

 

[Griffin]

Brett, would synthetic gear oil be mo betta in a shafty? (oops…hope I don't start another endless oil debate!)
All the pics are a big help for considering luggage options.
Thanks!

I've been using synthetic 75W-90 Valvoline for years and everything is still good:

It's about $9-$10 at Wal mart.

 

[Brendan W]

I used to make 2000+ trips on new bikes. The only issues were a rear wheel bearing failed on a two month old Z650 and a spark plug cap exploded on a two year old R100.
I've put about 15000 on the 850 and apart from electrical issues with the r/r and corroded switches and connectors back at the start it's been as reliable as a Swiss clock. Longest trip on the GS was 400 miles two up.
Prep is the key.

 

[Guest]

In 1986 i was working at a now closed Honda dealership, one mourning a guy pulled into the lot just as i was opening. He was riding a rather worn looking xl500. He was on a ride from Alaska to New York. Had to stop to buy some spark plugs, it used one up about every 600 miles or so....

 

[alke46]

That's odd, I wonder what was wrong with the engine or plug for that to be happening.

 

[Wingsconsin]

In June of this year (2019) I ventured out on my 1983 GS850GL -

I had invested some considerable time, effort and money in getting it up to excellent operating standards and did not fear a break down.
The plan was to ride to southern Illinois, thru Nashville, to the Tail of the Dragon and up to the Back of the Dragon and end up 4 days later at the Brown County Rally in Bedford IN .
In many days of weather both hot & cold ; wet and dry the bike ran perfectly.
Started everyday easily; ran all day long without a miss; stopped well, turned proficiently and generally was a real joy to play on.
Eventually the torrential rains just emptied my soul of wanderlust and I went home 1 day early (much to the pleasure of my fellow rally attendees as I took the rain with me) .

I had the bike up to date on all maintenance and required updates (as much as I could)

Tools on board:
Spare Wire and tools required to make an emergency splice with butt connectors
Spare stator (even though mine is new with a new R & R and coils, wires, plugs etc.)
Assorted sockets, wrenches, screw drivers and tools need to make a road side repair -
Credit Card - Cell Phone - Good Attitude

2500+/- a few miles in 7 days on a 36+ years old motorcycle -

Lesson learned ~~
Surprisingly I used OIL when I was running the interstates at 75 to 80 MPH (or more ) -
The old girl was not leaking it , nor eating it (new valve stem seals installed) -
It was just 'disappearing' ...?
The common consensus was that at those higher RPMs the 4 cylinder beast was consuming it via heat and evaporation -

Once home and just riding as a commuter (slower) the oil disappearing act stopped
Next season I am going to change to Synthetic Oil from the Regular Dino Oil
I have been told that the higher flash point of the Synth may help mitigate this problem.

Average MPG ranged from 35 on the interstate to 47 on the back roads typically low - 40s .
I can live with that -

 

[RichDesmond]

...Lesson learned ~~
Surprisingly I used OIL when I was running the interstates at 75 to 80 MPH (or more ) -
The old girl was not leaking it , nor eating it (new valve stem seals installed) -
It was just 'disappearing' ...?
The common consensus was that at those higher RPMs the 4 cylinder beast was consuming it via heat and evaporation -

Once home and just riding as a commuter (slower) the oil disappearing act stopped
Next season I am going to change to Synthetic Oil from the Regular Dino Oil
I have been told that the higher flash point of the Synth may help mitigate this problem...

It's normal for an engine to use a little oil on extended high speed/high rpm rides. The pistons generate a lot of air movement in the crankcase, and some oil froth gets carried up the breather hose into the airbox and then burned. V-twins are more susceptible to it since the actual crankcase volume changes, but I-4s do it too to some extent. Switching to dino from synthetic won't change anything.

 

[Carter Turk]

Changed oil/filter, checked valve clearances, had an exhaust header crack repaired, thought I checked chain n sprockets well enough before I left.
I brought tools, spare fuses, cables, oil, tent, tarp, sleeping bag etc and went my way from Washington to Michigan on the 83 Kat 1229 w/95k.
Chain n sprockets were toast midway thru Montana, fouled plugs w/pods in a torrential downpour entering Michigan from Ontario.
Had friend send tools and a shop send new chain n sprockets to Michigan.
Almost hit a deer @ 65mph in Wisconsin at dusk, decided to stealth camp right after that.
2 cable wires holding the clutch cable together coming home thru South Dakota.
Had a spare in the tail pack and the sprocket change was all wrong, too short.
Rear tire was all squared off entering Minnesota on the way there, was way less than ideal on the way home.
Ran out of gas nearly twice, but not quite.
2nd to last day home spent 18 hours in the saddle, thinking I could make it...couldn't.
Made it home though the next morning.

 

[Buffalo Bill]

Good story!!! Sounds like you under estimated a few things.
Fails are informative, perfection is not.

 

[storm 64]

You made it home, sounds like a successful trip with some adventure along the way. Don't you love that feeling in your gut when you're about to run out of fuel? Now that's living!

 

[Chuck78]

My sole long road trip this year, from Ohio to Barber Vintage Festival (Birmingham, AL) & back, 600 miles each way "direct route," I stretched out to 9 days & 2500 miles of mostly mountain twisties riding on nearly all 2-lane through West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina & zig zagging back back & forth between those 2 states for a few days...

The only mechanical issues I had this time were a 2nd faulty GS oil pressure sending unit (was flickering on and off randomly after a fill up - had spare as I suspected it was acting up), & also a lot more oil consumption than I've ever seen on a GS. Of course I was running the pi$$ outta the thing on the upper half of the tach, shifting up and down nonstop & heavy engine braking, riding twisty roads nonstop, seeking out the tightest twisty pavement that exists in the east...
My primary blame for the oil consumption was 1.5yrs ago & Vintage Motorcycle Days...Corner Party Burnout Contest....I ran back to my campsite after a few beverages, to retrieve my GS750 with a wasted rear tire needing changed...proceeded to do one of the smokiest burnouts I've ever witnessed, until I saw a kid with his smartphone selfie cam taking a vid of him lighting a cigarette off if my 4 into 1 header, at which point I looked at his phone screen to see my $350 Delkevic stainless header was glowing cherry red hot!!!!!
Terrible judgement on my part, but the rings/cylinders got a bit toasted. And I still rode it the rest of the season and the latter part of this season, on several late season weekend trips 350 miles from home... Tough engines!!! Teardown this winter is mandatory however...

My only other mechanical issue was despite taller shocks, the shorter GS650GZ dual disc forks, combined with the weight of all of my tools, food, water, &camping gear/luggage really made my bike squat A LOT under the G-forces of hard cornering, & the case saver crash bars that I JUST BOUGHT new & installed, I nearly ground through the wider stator side, & bashed it so many times when throwing it into the real tight low-speed curves on this last trip, that I cracked a weld on one of the crash bar mounting plates!!! Geez. Very scary the 1st few times banging it on the pavement, then I got used to "easing it" into corners. Also lost 1/2" ride height up front swapping to 18" rim/tire from stock 19". Taller forks going back on for next season...


My bike has been pretty well prepped for years. My wife makes fun of me - "Why do you always take half of your good running bike completely apart right before vacation!?"
Regulator Rectifier upgrades, newer wheel bearings. Always checking tire tread depths before road trips, oil change, valve adjustments, brake pad checks, fastener checks.
Ignition coils, plug wires, and resistor cap resistance checks have just now been added to my checklist. Fork oil every few seasons. Charging system output check. Stator ohm check and unhooked bike running on battery AC stator output tests may also be in order for the future, I'm running an original stator still...

 

[Chuck78]

In the past, I've broken a clutch cable (always have spare clutch and throttle cable in my tail section trunk), had wife's ignition switch fail (bypassed temporarily), had plastic ignition switch connector crumble apart and short out inside headlight bucket (from a used ign switch we put in wife's bike), rear brake sticking on my 1st ever long road trip (I had not rebuilt the rear caliper or master cylinder ever, no one else I had either!), Had a banjo bolt on the junction block on the triple clamps come a loose once, due to the motion of suspension travel arcing the brake lines into a c shape (since then I don't recommend running a non-crimped splitter, ONLY dual banjo + dual from master cylinder to each front caliper 4 dual disc fronts).
The only real deal breaker I have had was my oversight 8 years ago putting on a Dyna-S ignition and not doing an ignition relay mod. I got 50 miles from home on a week-long road trip on a 3yr old Dyna-S, & 2 cylinders cut out! turned around, went straight to the vintage Japanese salvage yard, bought a Kawasaki Dyna-S brand new, swapped it out onto the GS Dyna-S plate, continued on...
2 years after that I had a Dyna coil fail (not on road trip), so I put on a 13 year older (1999 mfg date) junkyard Dyna coil that has worked faithfully ever since.

I've fully gone through electronics on my bikes ever since, checking & cleaning connections, revised power distribution and fuses, SH775 Regulator Rectifier, good original stators, ignition relays added, DeOxit D9 contact cleaner on all connections, etc. All wiring alterations get soldered, de-fluxed, heat shrink sealed connections. Looking into watertight relays now, as well as aftermarket watertight connectors.

Oh and there have been a few torrential downpours where my K&N open element RC-2222 dual oval filters were so soaked that the bike was barely running... Much better than when running 4 individual pods however, but an airbox is PRICELESS for riding in heavy rain...

 

[Carter Turk]

Don't you love that feeling in your gut when you're about to run out of fuel? Now that's living! ��

Yeah the second time was worse. Was trying to navigate some third tier roads heading roughly east/west thru S. Dakota, when way out in the sticks I found out the road ahead was closed due to flooding. All these towns had the same size black dot on the "period correct" paper map and all had gas stations previous. That black dot was past the flooded road.

Then 3 people (2 guys & gal) pull up in a red mid 90's convertible Mustang w/white interior, all drinking Budweisers, looking pretty rural.
Said they had a gas back at the barn, which immediately sounded sketchy to me for whatever reason.
I thanked them for the offer and roughly doubled back with 128 on the odometer.
About 8 miles outta town the bike began sputtering, so I switched the Pingel to reserve, trying to keep steady low throttle.
Figured I be pushing the bike soon on a straight boring road, I see the yellow clam shell in the distance.
When I filled up I put 4.99 gallons in, w/159 on odometer. Always wondered if my bike actually held 5 gallons.

 

[Chuck78]

Yes I can relate to all of the above! With my bike in a poor state of tune, pilot fuel screws off quite a bit when experimenting, I hit reserve at 100 miles, flipped petcock to reserve, bike still would not run, the plastic filter screen insert in the petcock had shrunken & all of my gas at leaked past it!!!
I don't trust old petcocks with ethanol now! Pingel might soon be the only way...
I replaced the five-year-old petcock with a new one, and got the bike tuned better, & now have realized that my reserve as about 1.6 gallons worth of fuel waiting for me, can push to 165-175 miles on flat ground or uphill now...and that is on a worn-out engine at the lower end of acceptable compression.

 

[gustovh]

At the end of a 8 day 2080 mile ride, I rode in to the gas station in Biggs Junction, just short of I84. I should say coasted in, about a mile and a half downhill grade. I filled the tank on my 1980 GS 1100L with 3.4 gallons of gas, at 157 miles. The worst thing was a nagging vacuum lock caused by a clogged gas cap vent.

Have attended around 8 rallies and ended with more than 2000 miles added to the odometer on all but one. My 850 gave the most trouble with a hidden connection problem. Once that was found, game over.

V

 

[Buffalo Bill]

And now, motorcycle camping??

And now, motorcycle camping??

I have done motorcycle and bicycle camping, same gear.
There is an overabundance of camping gear pimps on utube, with their tedious shilling.
I see a breakdown between tents vs hammocks.
Hammocks look real good, except you need 2 trees. Ok if your bike is off road capable, my GS1100G is not.
Not gonna find a designated campsite with 2 perfect trees, will have to use a tent.
Will have to include motel camping: cooking in your room. I always do that.
Don't wanna encounter motel insect life!!! Have one friend who loves to tell his story about motel bed bugs.

 

[kochic]

Each year I make a motorcycle camping trip with a childhood friend.Me on my 1000 and him on a 1982 naked goldwing.Never had any problem beside a burned headlight bulb.All trip are over 2000-2300 kilometres.I used to carry half a quart of engine oil but not anymore.I carry a small tool kit, small jumping wire, inner throttle/clutch cable, bulbs, master link for the chain,2 spark plugs, chain wax and a small block of wood to support the swingarm or forks if a remove a wheel.Loaded with the camping stuff.I can remove the GK saddlebags with the rack in less than 5 minutes.In this picture the gs is loaded with clothes for 6 days, 2 camping chairs, one small table, a cooler, 4 person tent, air matress, a sleeping bag, 12'x20' tarp, 1 burner propane stove, stuff for cooking,rain suit, a beach towel, spare pair of shoe and lot of small stuff.
Marc