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Hey there from Illinois

  • Thread starter Thread starter tink
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tink

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Good morning all. I am finally a GS owner, and found this page while trying to learn a little about the machine I just acquired, and this looks like the last page I need to find:) When I went after my first street bike years ago I wanted a GS but couldn't find the right one so I ended up with it's later rendition, a first gen Bandit 1200. The Bandit has been gone a while and my streetiest bike has been a '76 TS 400. I've been itching for something just a little more on road friendly and have been scouring Craigslist with no particular bike in mind, but thinking something ratty that I would probably build a custom out of, and found my little GS instead. She isn't ratty enough for a full custom, but more some custom touches maybe

The lady of mention is an '81 GS850G. She needs a little love and a good cleaning, but is a stunner as purchased(at least in my eyes). I will have to give her a good going over just to chase out the 38 years of who knows what that's been going on, but everything mostly works as is so I feel I've got a good starting place.

I look forward to spending time here and learning as much as I can as I get her in shape. Thanks for having me, and for all the help I'm sure I'll be looking for in the future.

I'm gonna share pics of my other stuff and make ya wait til the end to see my new beauty, but hang on for it, she's worth it.

This is my Bandit when I brought her home.


And even back then I was chasing a more GS like experience, so she changed a bit over time


My '74 TS 250. This was bought new by my grandpa, and is priceless to me. I haven't ridden her in a while, so I tucked her in the basement for safe keeping, hence the kitchen shot


The '76 TS 400 that I've been playing with (she may have to find a new home now)


And finally the new to me GS850G. She's not exactly original, but not horribly far from it either. Todays goals are to get some Stabil in the tank and take her for a good ride bc she'll mostly be hibernating til spring



My first priority is to replace the petcock. The previous owner told me he only ran it in reserve. I'm not sure why, but also don't think I want to find out. I'll just replace it and be done. The horns are mounted horribly, so I'll fix that. You can see that they actually hit the fender. So sad:( It also had some aftermarket clocks. The work so I think I'll keep em, but they look horrible the way they are mounted, so I'll work on that. I'll catch up on maintenance and obviously replace the seat cover too as well as give everything a good cleaning and going over.

Sorry for such a long first post, but I'm excited and got diarrhea of the keyboard. Thanks for your time, and I'll try to keep it less wordy in the future.

-Jeremy
 
Tink, Welcome to TheGSR.

No need to comment on the length of the post. Was all good stuff. Thanks for introduction and thanks for pictures.

Post up in appropriate section and you can gets some recommendations for replacement seat covers. (Although, check to see if the seat pan is rusted out, as can happen if the foam got wett too many times.)

Yah, the non-stock instruments and headlight brings up the subject of wonder what happened to it..... collision damage maybe.

If petcock works in REServe but not ON, that is probabley just the filter thing (the portion in the tank) needs to be cleaned. If it has to be in PRIme, that would be a different story. (I see in photo it is in REServe).

Now that you have a GS, do you have a multi-meter? You will want one. Or more like, you will need one.
Now that you have a GS G, do you know about the hub in the rear wheel? (81 probably okay, but you will want to learn about it)

I see that Alton IL is almost Missouri. Am am not aware of any active GSR members in that area. And I see that is about 250 miles from Bedford IN. Is that within your range....? to come see many more GSs all in one place for a weekend? (see posting elsewhere about rally in June)

Tell us more of your adventures.

.
 
Last edited:
Redman said:
Tink, Welcome to TheGSR.

No need to comment on the length of the post. Was all good stuff. Thanks for introduction and thanks for pictures.

Post up in appropriate section and you can gets some recommendations for replacement seat covers. (Although, check to see if the seat pan is rusted out, as can happen if the foam got wett too many times.)

Yah, the non-stock instruments and headlight brings up the subject of wonder what happened to it..... collision damage maybe.

If petcock works in REServe but not ON, that is probabley just the filter thing (the portion in the tank) needs to be cleaned. If it has to be in PRIme, that would be a different story. (I see in photo it is in REServe).

Now that you have a GS, do you have a multi-meter? You will want one. Or more like, you will need one.
Now that you have a GS G, do you know about the hub in the rear wheel? (81 probably okay, but you will want to learn about it)

I see that Alton IL is almost Missouri. Am am not aware of any active GSR members in that area. And I see that is about 250 miles from Bedford IN. Is that within your range....? to come see many more GSs all in one place for a weekend? (see posting elsewhere about rally in June)

Tell us more of your adventures.

.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the welcom Redman,

The seat is in really good condition, even the foam isn't horrible, so I think with a cover it'll be salvageable, although I may change it up a bit to make the pillion less inviting:D.

As far as I can tell the bike hasn't been wrecked. Someone chopped the wiring and removed everything for some kind of "bobber" project. The PO put it back together and got everything working again. The lights and switches are aftermarket, and I haven't dug to see how it integrates with the factory stuff yet.

I'm not sure what the story is with the petcock. It works in reserve is all I know so far. I switched to a Pingel manual valve on my bandit, and thought I may do the same here just to eliminate the question. I haven't really made it to far into the planning process yet though.

I do have a multimeter. The old TS's like to test me with it also. Maybe it's an old Zuk thing. I don't know a lot about the rear hub yet, except that I need to learn. I did order a factory service manual along with the '81 supplement even before I took possession of the bike, so my study guides are on their way.

Making a note about the rally in June, It sounds something I should definitely try to make, even if I have to drive the cage.

-Jeremy
 
Gorminrider said:
tink, THAT is a nice stable!
Here's a useful library in case you haven't seen it.
BikeCliff's Website
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot. I did stumble on BikeCliffs page, and promptly bookmarked so I can get back to it. I have a ton of learning to do and I'm pretty excited about the subject matter. Now if winter would only stay away

steve murdoch said:
Great intro, Jeremy.
Welcome to the site.
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot. I like it here already!
 
I know this prolly isn't the place to ask this, but I'm new here so I'll try it anyway. When I open a thread it reads from the most recent reply to the first reply, which feels backwards to me. I'm sure I'll get used to it, but was wondering if there's any way to reverse the order so that I open a thread to the first post rather than the last.

TIA -Jeremy
 
Peppermint Patti said:
Welcome tink! You've just found a Family!!! How's it going? I used to live in Hinsdale (SW of Chgo).
Got outta there 20 yrs ago! Be safe!
Click to expand...
Thank you Peppermint Patti, Fortunately, I am well south of Chicago, St. Louis metro area. Since it is very much winter, I have barely laid eyes on my new prize, but have been doing a lot of reading and slowly gathering parts and a plan to get caught up on maintenance and such.

I miss the days when forums were all a buzz, as most have gone the way of social media. I am excited to have found this place with actual people still visiting and contributing and can't wait to get some hands on time with the bike so I can learn even more and hopefully contribute myself. I know I'll be full of questions as I dig in.
 
Hey there from Illinois?

I thought they only had hay there in Illonois!

Nice bikes - welcome to the site!
 
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