G
GS1000G Shopper
Guest
I realized I've been posting about this bike piecemeal here due to the several questions I've had during the rebuild, so I thought I'd make a thread for the whole thing.
My GS story starts when I bought a brand new red 1000G in 1981 (my 4th bike I had owned at the time). It was a bike someone else had ordered, but they backed out and got an 850 instead. It had a Vetter fairing. I rode it as main transportation here in Florida for a few years, but as the congestion & traffic grew in South Florida, I eventually parked it. Ended up selling it to a friend of my wife's for a fraction of what I had paid for it- nothing new there.
After retiring to beautiful and un-congested North Florida, our Pastor was preaching one Sunday and mentioned our needs versus our wants. He told the story of a church member needing to borrow his pickup, and how the only vehicle he could trade the Pastor was his motorcycle. The Pastor related how he & his wife spent the day riding the backroads here and how great it was. This allowed me to recall how nice my GS had been, so I ended up selling a car and getting back into the bike market. I was torn between a nearly 30 year old GS and a more modern bike. I wanted a shaft drive and a UJM style. I was very disappointed to see no one made anything like my old GS anymore. I joined this forum and the Concours Forum and ended up with a 2006 Concours.
I still had the bug for a GS and sold another car, so the other half of the finance committee approved the deal. I came back here and lived up to my user name. I found some 1100 models that I liked, but I really wanted my old red 1000. I spent a lot of time looking for it, only to find the DMV records do not go back far enough, and the guy I sold it to (found him in 1 day after almost 20 years- gotta love the Internet) didn't remember who he sold it to.
After a good bit of shopping, I found a red '81 1000G in Colorado on Craigslist with around 54K miles. Keep in mind it usually doesn't matter so much where a bike or vehicle is, as I usually buy out of state to get what I want- the Concours came from North Carolina. The seller was asking $900, so I replied to him only to get blown off. I posted here for some local help to contact the seller & look it over. Enter member Tkent02 to save the day. He met with the guy (who didn't think I was a real person), and did a thorough inspection, which he related to me. I ended up buying it, and arranged for transport through a fellow TKent lined up.
The bike got here and had a dead battery & stuck choke cable. The transport guy was very helpful & we got it going so I could ride it the short distance home. This is where the fun begins!
Here's a list of what I've done so far in no particular order:
At about this point, I thought I was ready to roll. I took it for a short spin around my yard, and noticed an exhaust leak. Turns out a bolt on one of the collars had broken off in the head, and then apparently an extractor had as well. Long story short here, I was able to get the head repaired, but "while I was at it" (a common state of mind in my garage), I ran a compression test that seemed a little low, so I ended up replacing the rings and valve seals, and two sets of gaskets (I missed the writeup on the Athena gaskets and had to redo a couple with OEM gaskets after I had the cylinder back on). Added studs to the head. Ended up pulling out one of the studs I had installed, but this was an easy repair.
I then adjusted the valves and it fired up! It ran great until I noticed a little over 10V on the voltmeter (should be around 13). Next round of testing, and it turns out the stator and R/R (regulator/rectifier) are toast.
I've ordered new parts for this repair, but in the meantime I charged the battery & rode it for the first time today. I put about 10 miles on it, and it rides great! I told my wife I have a new favorite bike. It rides much smoother down our gravel driveway than does the Concours, and on the road the riding position is much more natural and the Vetter does a better job of keeping the wind off you. The oil cooler works great- on a 65 degree fall day, the gauge got up to a little over 180 and then settled right below it. For contrast, the Concours never gets much above 130 due to no thermostat and liquid cooling.
Here is a picture Tkent sent me, we'll call this before:
Pictures I took during this time:
Arrival in August:
GPS add-on work (did not go with this gauge unit):
Oil cooler adapter & thermostat:
Triple gauges:
Added wiring in fairing:
Vetter trunk:
Brake light video
Completed 11-25-10, we'll call this after:
Here's a before & after shot:
I can't thank the members here enough for all the help and advice I've received. As I told my wife, I have a new favorite bike & can't wait to take it on some of our back roads here for some quality time.
My GS story starts when I bought a brand new red 1000G in 1981 (my 4th bike I had owned at the time). It was a bike someone else had ordered, but they backed out and got an 850 instead. It had a Vetter fairing. I rode it as main transportation here in Florida for a few years, but as the congestion & traffic grew in South Florida, I eventually parked it. Ended up selling it to a friend of my wife's for a fraction of what I had paid for it- nothing new there.
After retiring to beautiful and un-congested North Florida, our Pastor was preaching one Sunday and mentioned our needs versus our wants. He told the story of a church member needing to borrow his pickup, and how the only vehicle he could trade the Pastor was his motorcycle. The Pastor related how he & his wife spent the day riding the backroads here and how great it was. This allowed me to recall how nice my GS had been, so I ended up selling a car and getting back into the bike market. I was torn between a nearly 30 year old GS and a more modern bike. I wanted a shaft drive and a UJM style. I was very disappointed to see no one made anything like my old GS anymore. I joined this forum and the Concours Forum and ended up with a 2006 Concours.
I still had the bug for a GS and sold another car, so the other half of the finance committee approved the deal. I came back here and lived up to my user name. I found some 1100 models that I liked, but I really wanted my old red 1000. I spent a lot of time looking for it, only to find the DMV records do not go back far enough, and the guy I sold it to (found him in 1 day after almost 20 years- gotta love the Internet) didn't remember who he sold it to.
After a good bit of shopping, I found a red '81 1000G in Colorado on Craigslist with around 54K miles. Keep in mind it usually doesn't matter so much where a bike or vehicle is, as I usually buy out of state to get what I want- the Concours came from North Carolina. The seller was asking $900, so I replied to him only to get blown off. I posted here for some local help to contact the seller & look it over. Enter member Tkent02 to save the day. He met with the guy (who didn't think I was a real person), and did a thorough inspection, which he related to me. I ended up buying it, and arranged for transport through a fellow TKent lined up.
The bike got here and had a dead battery & stuck choke cable. The transport guy was very helpful & we got it going so I could ride it the short distance home. This is where the fun begins!
Here's a list of what I've done so far in no particular order:
- I found it had aftermarket flat bars. I replaced them with stock bars.
- Resealed the cam chain tensioner.
- Added engine guards bought from a member here.
- Replaced the speedometer with a new in box 140MPH unit from ebay.
- Replaced the gauge covers front & rear.
- Replaced the choke & clutch cables.
- Replaced the horns, and added relay wiring.
- Added a WJ V fairing and tail trunk. I got the whole set with bags (did not use the bags) from a Goldwing owner for $150, and the bracket on ebay for $50- had to weld on a tab.
- Added a brake light flasher for the trunk lights.
- Added a HID bulb for the headlight.
- Replaced the headlight housing with a new Bosch unit.
- Converted the Cyclesound housing to a gauge housing and installed a marine voltmeter, oil temperature gauge, and outside temp gauge. Added a photocell to allow the gauge lights to come on at night.
- Added a small oil pressure gauge on the motor.
- Added a small oil cooler with inline thermostat, bought the cooler adapter from a member here.
- Added a luggage rack bought from a member here.
- Changed oil & filter, as well as secondary and final drive oil.
At about this point, I thought I was ready to roll. I took it for a short spin around my yard, and noticed an exhaust leak. Turns out a bolt on one of the collars had broken off in the head, and then apparently an extractor had as well. Long story short here, I was able to get the head repaired, but "while I was at it" (a common state of mind in my garage), I ran a compression test that seemed a little low, so I ended up replacing the rings and valve seals, and two sets of gaskets (I missed the writeup on the Athena gaskets and had to redo a couple with OEM gaskets after I had the cylinder back on). Added studs to the head. Ended up pulling out one of the studs I had installed, but this was an easy repair.
I then adjusted the valves and it fired up! It ran great until I noticed a little over 10V on the voltmeter (should be around 13). Next round of testing, and it turns out the stator and R/R (regulator/rectifier) are toast.
I've ordered new parts for this repair, but in the meantime I charged the battery & rode it for the first time today. I put about 10 miles on it, and it rides great! I told my wife I have a new favorite bike. It rides much smoother down our gravel driveway than does the Concours, and on the road the riding position is much more natural and the Vetter does a better job of keeping the wind off you. The oil cooler works great- on a 65 degree fall day, the gauge got up to a little over 180 and then settled right below it. For contrast, the Concours never gets much above 130 due to no thermostat and liquid cooling.
Here is a picture Tkent sent me, we'll call this before:
Pictures I took during this time:
Arrival in August:
GPS add-on work (did not go with this gauge unit):
Oil cooler adapter & thermostat:
Triple gauges:
Added wiring in fairing:
Vetter trunk:
Brake light video
Completed 11-25-10, we'll call this after:
Here's a before & after shot:
I can't thank the members here enough for all the help and advice I've received. As I told my wife, I have a new favorite bike & can't wait to take it on some of our back roads here for some quality time.
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