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GS850G after I unbolted some ugly

  • Thread starter Thread starter jdvorchak
  • Start date Start date
J

jdvorchak

Guest
I bought this 81 GS850G in December as a non running bike. After a few months I got her running pretty good but never like the looks of the fairing and bags. Probably be ok if they were color matched to the bike. But to me they just looked wrong. So I bought a head light assembly from eBay and got the wrenches out.

Here are some Before and after pics.

The day I brougt it home:



After some clean up



How she looks now:





 
Still need to find front turn signals and the Vetter fairing and all mounting hardware is for sale if anyone is interested.
 
Nice transformation. :encouragement:

While the Vetter is a decent fairing, white just doesn't do any bike any favors.

The headlight looks all-chrome. What bike is it from?
 
The headlight is from a 81 L... I know it's not black but for $49 shipping included with the mounting ears and complete bucket I couldn't pass it up. I had to get a new bulb but I had a $5 off coupon at O'Reilly so I got the bulb for $5....
 
Just got back from a ride around town. It is very throttle responsive and handles like a dream. Doesn't work is the fuel gauge and the self cancelling turn sigs. The self cancelling didn't work when I had all 4 turn signals hooked up. With only rear signals it won't flash and that is to be expected.

I had about a gallon in it and the gauge read just above E then put 2 more gallons in and now it read E???? I guess I have to pull the unit out again and see if I can clean up the wiper and make sure the float actually floats....
 
Not that it matters to anyone but you, but those yellow front side reflectors mount on the side of the black lower triple cover, and the back of the headlight cover can be painted in black.....your call.
She does look cleaner sans extra stuff.
 
80GS850GBob said:
Not that it matters to anyone but you, but those yellow front side reflectors mount on the side of the black lower triple cover, and the back of the headlight cover can be painted in black.....your call.
She does look cleaner sans extra stuff.
Click to expand...
Wow thanks! At this time those reflectors are mounted with hose clamps and I thought they looked pretty lame there. I'll move them if I can. And the chrome on the bucket is too nice to paint. I'm not going for a resto here just a clean good running bike. I was kinda hoping the bucket wasn't that nice when I bought it on eBay last week. But it looked so good I just couldn't bring myself to paint it. Besides I like "shiny stuff"....
 
The back of the reflectors should have a threaded stud, and that stud will thread into the side of the lower triple cover...there should be a threaded hole for that. I'm sure they moved it due to the fairing...
 
Looks good. I consider the reflectors a necessary evil, especially since I do a decent amount of riding after dark.
My father had on his snowmobile some black reflective tape on it. Inconspicuous by day, highly reflective at night. I've thought about ditching the reflectors on my black forks and using that.
 
80GS850GBob said:
Not that it matters to anyone but you, but those yellow front side reflectors mount on the side of the black lower triple cover, and the back of the headlight cover can be painted in black.....your call.
Click to expand...
Nice idea, but he does not seem to have a cover. :-k

I can clearly see the two bolts on the lower clamp. All of the covers I have seen on 850s have been chrome.
 
Yeah what he said. No cover to bolt to. So I just cleaned up under the reflectors and put them back. Rode it again yesterday. I really runs well. Keeps getting better throttle response and pulls harder every time I ride her. I'm guessing the rings are freeing up and making more compression. Never had a bike that would idle at about 800 RPM and be this smooth. I turned up the idle to about 1100 when warm to insure I have charging voltage and oil pressure. So it appears that I have the idle circuits and ignition timing correct. Only one nagging problem with the fuel gauge. The fuel sending unit has too high resistance and always reads E. I'll pull the tank again and see if I can find the cause of the high resistance. Should read 110 ohms at empty but mine is 390 ohm. Hoping just a dirty connection.
 
Are they worth anything? I have a set of Vetter hard bags off an 850, the ones with the angled sides, up in the attic next to the stack of old fairings. I thought they were just junk I'm too lazy to toss.
 
The bags are Bates not vetter. I guess if you want them I'll sell but I was just going to hold on to them for a while and see if someone wanted them. I have the Vetter fairing on CL but the bags are probably going to move to the attic storage above the garage. You want them? Make me an offer.
 
If the paint on this GS wasn't so good I would have cut down the windshield on the fairing and painted the whole bike, bags and fairing flat or satin black. Kinda murder it out.
 
Right now, Vetters and hard bags are worth four-fifths of nothing, relatively speaking. You get the odd ebay dreamer who recalls what they sold for back in the day and thinks they're worth a lot. For the past couple of years there's been a glut of them appearing as owners die off, their bikes get sold off and new owners junk the plastic.
That suits me, 'cos I like a decent fairing and never liked the high prices Vetters sold for when new on this side of the pond. The high prices spawned a copyist trade, some of which were quite good, others of which were dreadful. Anyway, with the current over-supply of genuine articles going for peanuts, I'm happy enough to finally get a couple of the real McCoys and not pay through the nose for them.
Btw, I've never found the presence of a fairing slowed me down any; plus it protects my hearing, as I can't wear ear plugs.
 
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