Speedometer Quit, Advice on shining up and bags

[nate875]

Hey GS junkies,

Mine is a 1980 GS850G. It's a fine bike and I'm having tons of fun on it. Here are some questions I have on it:

1. My speedometer quit working recently. It started making a whining noise and the needle jumped around erratically. Then nothing; stuck at 0. It also seemed to affect the tachometer when the needle was jumping around. I'm assuming it's some kind of cup-and-magnet speedo arrangement, so maybe having the magnetic field going nuts screwed with the tach somehow. That, to me, is a weird one, but maybe it's common on these; I don't know. I still have to check the cable out; make sure it's turning correctly, etc, but what's the best route to take for speedometer replacement if I need to? I see several aftermarket examples on ebay, but I don't know if that makes sense or not. (I don't have a whole lot of wrenching experience on motorcycles. Much more on cars.)

2. A friend of mine gave me this bike partially disassembled, at the beginning of a restoration, so it's looking rough right now, you might say road-warrior-ish. What's the best way to shine up the non-painted surfaces, like the engine, transmission, front fork, wheels, etc. I'm thinking fine wire wheel or beartex wheel on a drill or something like that. Any thoughts?

3. I would also like to put bags on this bike at some point, but I don't see any mounting provision on the back area of the frame. What is the right way to do it?


Thanks to all.

-Nate
1980GS850G

 

[Steve]

1. Verify that your cable is working correctly. Even though it's turning, it might not be turning smoothly, so replacement might be in order for that.

Replacing the speedo with aftermarket can get expensive. I have not seen an aftermarket speedo that will fit into the stock housing that holds the tach and warning lights, so you will likely have to replace EVERYTHING.

2. Polishing up all the "bits and pieces" is going to take some time and a LOT of effort. The best way is to remove the various parts from the bike so you have access to all surfaces. While a hand drill might make it easier (and is sometimes necessary), a grinder with the appropriate wheels is invaluable. In stock form, there was some clearcoat over the aluminum parts which has eroded over the years. Some have used "aircraft stripper" with success, but it's a really NASTY chemical (which is why it works so well). I use what is essentially a Scotch-brite wheel in a drill (available at Harbor Freight) to sand everything down and get it all rather smooth. Follow that with various grades of sand paper (600, 800, 1000, 2000, as far as you want to take it, then follow with a cotton wheel with polishing compound on the grinder. You will have people asking you where you had your "chrome" done.

3. When you say you want to "put bags on this bike", I am going to assume you are talking about HARD bags. Although these bikes work quite well for touring (local, weekend or extended), the manufacturers 'back in the day' did not design the bikes to have stuff added to them. Any of the various accessory manufacturers had to adapt their product to what was available. Sadly, there were not that many that were making things for the 850 (even though the same stuff would fit the 1000G), and even those few are long gone. Also, virtually all of the accessory manufacturers offered 'universal' stuff, but had mounting hardware that was specific to a particular model bike.

So, ... like them, we now need to ADAPT. The good mounting points are: upper shock mount, rear turn signal mount, rear foot peg/muffler mount. Hang brackets from the upper two, brace to the lower one. At least a couple of us have mounted bags and trunk from an 1100GK to our bikes, mine is an 850, the other one is a 1000. Just a little bit of adapting there, but nothing that can't be done with basic hand tools.

Here are some pictures to show the polishing and my 850G(K).

Wife's 850L:

Son's 650L:

My 850G(K):

And some other bits:

Hopefully that is enough to give you some inspiration.

.

 

[Wingsconsin]

I can only address the bags part for now..
I am really found of SHAD cases -- See www.Shadonline.com
Currently I have one of their trunks (top case) and I really like it-
Now they are introducing a removable side case that I think would be perfect-
Of course you will have to adapt their system to your bike to work..but I think it might be worth the effort.

 

[520eek]

This my adaptation for bag mounts...I have a couple of pelican top loaders that get bolted up. Oh, and if that wasn't enough I am currently in the middle of attaching sidecar...that should give me enough storage capacity!

 

[Lorenzo]

520eek they seem tigged on the frame...
Do the bags mount on the four holes on the corner bracket?
Did you bend you own tubing, and with what bender?
Do you experience vibes, on the rear part of the frame, with this arrangement?
Thanks

 

[520eek]

520eek they seem tigged on the frame...
Do the bags mount on the four holes on the corner bracket?
Did you bend you own tubing, and with what bender?
Do you experience vibes, on the rear part of the frame, with this arrangement?
Thanks

Yup...they are tigged on frame. I will mount the bags via the 4 corner holes as you guessed, a friend of mine has the tubing bender and the expertise for that and if vibes are a problem....then a slick little bag mount brace will be fabricated and attached! Gonna run with out the brace at first to see if I need it or not.

 

[Lorenzo]

I was wondering, why not solder a short stub on the frame and them mount the rest of the mount on silentblocks;
maybe you still in time...

 

[hannibal]

I'm puzzled by the speedo affecting the tach. My tach recently died as I was trying to get the bike running and sync the carbs. I opened up the tach and cleaned the cup and magnet as you called it. I also cleaned the needle and 0 rpm post it rests on as I could feel the needle sticking to it. That has fixed my tach issue so far.