Who has owned their GS for more than 37 years? This guy!

[1978GS550Minnesota]

Hello from Saint Paul, Minnesota. Back in 1986, I was in college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, living at home with my mom and sister, taking a city bus down to campus. One day, while I was minding my own business, my mom came up to me and said, "Tom, you should get a motorcycle." I kid you not. It was HER idea. She even put up the first $250. I had a buddy with a motorcycle quickly teach me how to ride, then I purchased my 1978 GS550 with 13k miles for $450. I still have that same bike today. The photo is me giving my grandmother a ride shortly after I bought it.

 

[1978GS550Minnesota]

And here's a photo from 1987 with my college girlfriend

 

[1978GS550Minnesota]

Here's a selfie I took yesterday while riding around in Saint Paul and Maplewood, Minnesota. Notice I'm wearing the same Schott Perfecto leather jacket from the first photo, except now my belly is too big to zip it up!

 

[bonanzadave]

41 years for me. I'm down in Lakeville not far from Buck Hill. Welcome to the GSRs !!

 

[Grimly]

34 and 32 years, repectively, for each GS.

 

[rphillips]

Welcom... Congrats, my parents didn't even want me looking at motorcycles.

 

[steve murdoch]

Welcome to the site. Great post.

 

[Guest]

If you count dust collectors, I have one but the plastics are slowly disintegrating.

 

[1978GS550Minnesota]

41 years for me. I'm down in Lakeville not far from Buck Hill. Welcome to the GSRs !!

Nice! I'd be up for a group ride. Do GSR members around the Twin Cities ever get together?

 

[pdqford]

See my sig lines. 40 years last month!

 

[Paint It Black]

Only had mine since ‘87,
back then I was a long haired hooligan,
these days I’m a grey thinning haired hooligan
​

 

[bccap]

Bought my 1983 GS 750 E brand new, so 40 years for me. However for health reasons { safety in riding } it doesn't look like it will make 41 ..... Someone will likely be getting a bike with 20,000 km on it before the year is out .....

 

[dpep]

I purchased an '80 model GS850 new in December, 1979 and owned it until September, 2017 when it was 'claimed' by Hurricane Irma along with four other bikes. So, 37 years and 9 months or so. Otherwise I would still have it.

At the time of the storm I had another 850 getting work in a shop away from the flooding which I still have and I also purchased another one since then. So what I can truthfully say is that I have owned at least one 850G continuously since 1979--soon to be 43 years.

 

[1978GS550Minnesota]

Only had mine since ‘87,
back then I was a long haired hooligan,
these days I’m a grey thinning haired hooligan
​

Great old photo! You're in Birmingham, so that must be one of those right hand drive bikes for the UK market, yeah? ;-p

 

[1978GS550Minnesota]

Bought my 1983 GS 750 E brand new, so 40 years for me. However for health reasons { safety in riding } it doesn't look like it will make 41 ..... Someone will likely be getting a bike with 20,000 km on it before the year is out .....

Still, a nice long stint of ownership

 

[1978GS550Minnesota]

I purchased an '80 model GS850 new in December, 1979 and owned it until September, 2017 when it was 'claimed' by Hurricane Irma along with four other bikes. So, 37 years and 9 months or so. Otherwise I would still have it.

At the time of the storm I had another 850 getting work in a shop away from the flooding which I still have and I also purchased another one since then. So what I can truthfully say is that I have owned at least one 850G continuously since 1979--soon to be 43 years.

Sorry for your loss. Hurricanes suck.

 

[1978GS550Minnesota]

See my sig lines. 40 years last month!

Happy "Bike Birthday"

 

[Paint It Black]

Great old photo! You're in Birmingham, so that must be one of those right hand drive bikes for the UK market, yeah? ;-p

That’s correct
21 in that picture and only owned the bike a couple of days
was taken by a co-worker in the car park at the land rover factory, where I worked’84-‘99

 

[Grand Rouge]

Purchased new October 1983

 

[Grand Rouge]

GS still is pristine and ageless. Me...well.....Life is good.