What do you think of this GS450L for sale?

[ChickenGutz]

The ad says it's a GS450L but doesn't say the year. He's asking $350 and it ain't too far from me. But here's what he says in the ad;

"The bike runs well. I'm no motorcycle mechanic, never will be, but she runs well for me. It does have a compression leak on the left side spark plug chamber. Kind of sounds like a card in the spokes. I'm told this is a $200-$300 repair (replacing the head). By checking with local mechanics and parts online, both verified this to be accurate. That means, you'd get a bike with a new head for $650, tops. Pretty good deal.
I've chosen not to replace the head because the bike runs fine for me. I'm about 215 and I top out around 65. It's not a fast or heavy enough bike to take on the highway anyway, so for around town, that's plenty.
New battery in November. Bike DOES NOT start currently. Has an electric starter, problem seems to lie there. Just no response from the starter. Bike will turn over doing the drop clutch method, if you have a big enough hill. Should be a cheap and easy fix, but you'll need a truck or trailer to haul it out of here more than likely."

It is a little disconcerting to me to think this 'heavyweight' is riding it in it's present condition. But I'm taking this before the pros on GS's, that's YOU GUYS! So tell me whatcha' think okay? Thanks guys...
Here's a pic of the bike, can anyone guess the year???

 

[Adler]

I would guess 1980... But that IS a guess. I doubt you would need to replace the head for a compression leak. Especially if it was still running "fine". I would worry that its a leak past the rings though. You wouldn't happen to have the means to perform a leakdown test would you?

 

[ChickenGutz]

Well, the bike is about 150 miles from me Adler. But I seem to get the impression this guy is talking about a cracked head. Read it again yourself and let me know what you think. It does look really clean and may even be ultra low miles. That's beside the point though.... I dunno! I'm real tempted to just roll the dice and take a chance. I'm real low on funds and I'm basically thinking of trying to resell it to make some money. I can't find work, seems nobody in Utah wants to employ an old geezer/ex-felon like me, and I don't get SSDI so I gotta' make it somehow. Bruce

 

[Guest]

Don't know anything about the L's other than what I've seen on here, but going by the carb and engine shapes it seems to be '80 - '82.

Replacing the head could be straight forward or a PITA, all depends on the condition of the valves etc. Mind you, sounding like a card in the spokes could simply be a leaking exhaust gasket and they're telling you worse because they don't want to fix it or want to rip you off if they do fix it.

Don't know that I'd pay $350 for a 30 year old bike that doesn't start, has a known issue, and was ridden with the known issue with no intention of fixing it.

That's just all my opinion though...

 

[Hornswaggle]

For $350 and the chance that with a little wrenching you could get it runnable it's not a huge gamble. I'm a 'little' bigger than he is and the 450 is not a big bike by any means but I don't have any trouble going down the highway on mine and doing much faster than that If it turns out to need more work than it's worth you can resell or part it out to get you money back and then some. For starters you could sell me that engine case guard...... Offer $150 and see if he takes it.

 

[ChickenGutz]

Pete, that's a good point you brought up about "sounding like a card in the spokes". I had forgot that a bad exhaust gasket can produce the same sound. I don't know why I didn't think of that (LOL... I musta' forgot to take my Alzheimer's meds today). Thanks guys, you're the best!!!

 

[Guest]

Let us know what you do... my opinion may be a little pesimistic, but I like to hope for the best but expect the worst in all situations...

 

[ferguson30]

Well, the bike is about 150 miles from me Adler. But I seem to get the impression this guy is talking about a cracked head. Read it again yourself and let me know what you think. It does look really clean and may even be ultra low miles. That's beside the point though.... I dunno! I'm real tempted to just roll the dice and take a chance. I'm real low on funds and I'm basically thinking of trying to resell it to make some money. I can't find work, seems nobody in Utah wants to employ an old geezer/ex-felon like me, and I don't get SSDI so I gotta' make it somehow. Bruce

Sounds about right price-wise. It looks to be a lot cleaner than my 450L was when I bought it too. You could easily double your money by parting it out should you find something wrong with the head. If you have the ability take cash, you can often get the seller down in price having the cash right in front of them. I'd start at $250. Nothing worse than having the seller accept your first offer! (Been there done that!)

 

[Hornswaggle]

Might check with the guy on this thread about cylinder parts if needed:
http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=172343

 

[Flaming Chainsaws]

It is a 1980-1982. Let's take a closer look. Look at the rims. It's not the star/snowflake pattern. And the paint job and decals. I don't think 1980 or 1981 came in that color or decal pattern. I'd say that's a 1982. But it's still just a guess .

 

[Flaming Chainsaws]

Might check with the guy on this thread about cylinder parts if needed:
http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?t=172343

Right. This guy has been working on the GS450 a lot so he has quite a few GS450 parts. I already see a few engine parts in his pics.

If I were you, I'd offer him $200 and work from there.

 

[Mike]

Since pretty much everything about the bike has been answered, I'll address this.

Image tags only work with pictures that are hosted online, not ones stored on your computer. For that, you'd have to attach the image(s) to your post. Set up an account with a site like Photobucket/Flickr/etc and you can upload images from your computer for them to host, then use the image tags here.

 

[Guest]

The pin stripe makes it an '82. $350 isn't a bad price. See if you can get him down, but if it looks solid I'd get.

BTW...I've buried the needle in mine in 5th with one gear to go...not that I recommend doing that.

 

[Guest]

Did you get it?