This is the new home for updates on my latest bike projects. Currently I am working on a pair of 1980 GS850s. One is an 850G, the other an 850L. These are the twins from Belleville. A buddy and I loaded them up and brought them home from Belleville IL on 5/9/05 and I've been busy on them since.

Resources and thanks

So far, my biggest parts suppliers have been ebay, My local Mechanic, Ray Armfield, and Cycle Recycle Part II in Indianapolis, In. The proprietor of CRCII, Rob, is like a walking encyclopedia of Japanese bikes. He doesn't know it all; but, what he does know at the drop of a hat is nothing short of amazing. Hat's off!

Being new to the Suzuki Bikes in general I have to thank the guys and gals at The GS Resources and my bud, Vlad aka William the Bloody at Soulful Spike. Vlad is a long time friend who also has a GS850 and has been riding it for some time. He's helped out substantially and has looked over my shoulder anytime I'm working in order to see something new that he hasn't done on his bike as yet. Been a learning experience for both of us.

Getting Started: The GS850G

Well, The G model was the initial focus of my interest as it needed the least amount of work. I picked up a new CDI unit from my local mechanic who happened to have 2 GS850L models and a 1000L in his parts yard. The 1000 is only half a bike - chopped in half in front of the battery box - literally. After mounting the CDI and checking it, I made a few trips to CRCII and brought home an aftermarket headlight, ears, front blinkers, front beauty plate for the shocks, and a used seatpan I'll need to recover. Also picked up a tach cable and rebuild kits for the Carbs. The Windjammer pictured above went bye bye along with the new travelcade seat that I just didn't like at all.

Note: The Travelcade King/queen seat is comfortable; but, adds about 2 inches overall height to the bike right where you sit. So if you have an inseam greater than 33 inches, it could help to sit you up higher and give you a better ride overall. For guys like me with a 32 inch inseam, it just kept my feet from resting flat on the ground while sitting on the bike.. not good.

After some talk at GS resources, I rebuilt the carbs on the 850G and rebuilt the petcock. Having never rebuilt a petcock before, I found it simple and uninvolved overall. The real aim of the Carb rebuild was to stop a leak the bike had developed. On investigating the problem, I found that the O-rings sealing off flow around the float needle seats had pretty much degraded and exploaded around the seats. There was a real nasty mess to clean up; but, after replacing the seats, o-rings and needles, The bike started up and ran without leaking for the first time since I got her. After then adjusting the idle setting on the carbs, she runs pretty smooth. She isn't totally finished as of now. She still needs a right sidecover to replace the damaged one on her. And the seat still needs recovered. Other than that, she needs paint; but, is essentially road ready.

7/4/05 - Update: The G was having some fuel problems that were causing her to bog at low rpms. The problem has been fixed. The idle/chock circuit that runs through the carb bowls was completely clogged. After clearing those, the bike went out for it's first road test last night. And man was it comfortable. I'm not impressed with the look of the G model; but, it rides well!

Getting Started: The GS850GL

Oh What a mess. But this is the real reason I bought these two bikes - to have a good project and a worthwhile bike to put pack together from the ground up - literally. Looking at the pics above, you can see there was a lot of rust on the bike at time of pickup. The rundown got worse upon closer inspection and after getting her home. She was a parts bike; so, I didn't expect much; but, hoped a lot.

The list of what was wrong as I've ascertained to this date:

As you can see, the list is pretty long starting out. And that's mostly the high points of it. The upside, it's all fixable. And so the project began.

First order of business for this bike comes in two parts. Find another frame to build onto, and get another harness. After several trips to my mechanic/buddy, Ray Armfield, I managed to salvage quite a bit from the wrecks he has and start moving. I brought home a better front fender, speedo, right and left handlebar controls, a really good beauty bar for the shocks, various grommets, and a harness.. which didn't work out well. Also picked up a grab bar from the 1000L that I figured on using somehow if possible.

850GL: The harness

Any old harness, I found out, just won't do. The instruments from year to year on these bikes changed enough that the harness is different and not interchangeable. After unsuccessfully trying to use an 81 harness to match up to my 80 instruments, I gave up and traded it for a 1980 harness I found at CRCII. It was not an even up trade; but, Rob was quite fair. After mounting the harness in the old frame, I ran up against electrical problems that I hadn't seen before. Still working through them; but, making headway.

Latest Update:

6/2/05 - Hit CRCII today and picked up a 1982 GS850GLZ frame. The mount points look to be compatable for my purposes and it will be cleaned up and painted. Also picked up a really good seat, also from an 82 model year (it fits the 80 frame btw). And I brought home carb kits, cables, and various other toys for the bike.

6/3/05 - Cleaned, stripped and repainted the 82 GLZ frame today. Also removed and painted the top end of the triple clamp to match - both high gloss black. Looking very very good. Also got another tip from The guys at GSResources and will be troubleshooting based on that tomorrow night.

6/4/05 - Gloss coating the frame tonight and investigating possible ground problem with the battery box. Will be repainting lever mounts on the handlebars tonight and doing general cleaning/polishing in prep for the big move to the 82 frame.

After several coats of Clear coat, the frame is drying and should soon be ready to build onto. It looks like it just came fresh from Suzuki at this point. And it gives me more drive toward the end of bolting nothing to her that isn't clean and polished. Ok, will have to comromise a little on the engine.. Part of the electrical problems are now resolved. My non-working blinker circuit turned out to be loose connections within the turn signal assemblies themselves. Found problem with front brakelight switch that should be resolved before bedtime. More updates later.

6/8/05 - After several clear coats, the new frame is ready to start mounting parts to. Picked up another battery box, left side peg mount and a fresh set of intake boots for the bike over the past few days. Cleaned left side of the battery box of rust this afternoon and will be starting on the main box later tonight. Hope to have both in primer by bedtime and ready to paint tomorrow. Cleaning and polishing continues. New pics of the frame will be posted later tonight.

Here are the pics of the newly painted frame:



.. and the painted and remounted triple clamp:

These are pics of the existing battery box in place:



..needless to say, it's a chunk of rust held together by the equipment mounted to it - or so it would appear. The stripping of the replacement box will clean that up nicely and give me something solid to ground against.

After the new battery box is mounted, I'll be back to troubleshooting the wiring.



.. I have two electrical problems yet to figure out and am gaining some ground on them. Look for more updates later.

Mounted grommets for the sidecovers into the frame tonight. Running a little behind schedule on the battery box; but, it is looking good at this point and is nearly ready to mount. Cleaned the new left peg mount tonight along with some of the mounting screws, bolts and brackets from other areas of the bike. Will have new pics soon.

6/11/05 - Major breakthrough today. Tested the wiring for the ignition system from front to back and found I was getting no power to any of it. The problem seems to be in the connection between the fuse panel and the wiring harness. Needless to say, that's fixable. The starter motor rolled over off the start button normally when I managed to get a tenative connection earlier. This has been the biggest holdup to getting anything else done so far. With it out of the way, I'll be able to start focussing on the engine and carbs. Thanks again to the guys at GSResources for their input on this.

6/12/05 - The last of the electrical is now working. Took the front brake switch apart and cleaned it. Replaced the contact and wiring. Now have a working front brake switch.

The old frame is shedding pounds fast now. She's down pretty much to what it takes to roll the engine over and keep her standing up. And I'm looking for more things I can strip off her in order to clean up and place on the new frame. Going bits at a time.

I seated the fresh battery box in the new frame last night. A new horn was picked up, cleaned up and mounted for her; but, likely won't stay. The bracket was the main focus. Hate the look of the factory horn. And I'm thinking of replacing it with something digital and would like something programmable. So, that's something I'll be looking into.

The theme of the bike is Firefly/Serenity. And when I'm not actually turning a wrench, I'm mining for graphics to use here and there on the bike. The paint job may not be the only custom treatment though. Well, gotta run; but will be posting new pics tonight. Till then..

06/14/05 - Ok, I welched on posting new pics. Went through the carbs last night and ran into a snag - one of the pilot jets decided to be damaged. The prior owner sheared off the top of the jet such thatj it could only be removed with an "easy out". Took till the next morning (for someone to be open to buy one) and it was fixed; but, my plans for the night were ruined. On the up side, the Serenity bike fired up and ran tonight. And that was the goal - just seeing if she'd run. The carbs had been subject to the same problems many have - overflow into the airbox. Can't test an engine with a river flowing through the airbox. Now that I know she runs, the carbs will be finished up and the next step is to complete the move to the new frame. After that, we can start worrying about paint and customizations.

06/15/05 - Eureka!! After 90 minutes worth of work on the Needle jets, The bike seems to be getting proper fuel flow. With a little prodding, she started and idled rough for about 10 minutes tonight. After adjusting the throttle cable and the idle setting, she sounded - er, loud. LoL. Straight pipes might have some to do with that. She definitely seems to need baffles. Will give her another go in the morning to see if she responds the same. If she does, I think we're thumbs up on the move to the new frame. And with more toys coming in this week, I may be doing this all a second time.

06/26/05 - Setbacks. After going through the carbs, the petcock on the L is now a problem. And the engine is giving serious problems as well. It will fire on starter booster; but, not without it. My first guess is compression. But, with another engine fresh in to work with, the rear end of the bike is being disassembled to change to the new motor. Hopefully, the new motor will be a little more trouble free.

On the up side, I have managed to clean and repaint the center stand for the new frame. Polished the spring as well. Looks like a million bucks. Will be cursing under my breath the first time I have to use it, I'm sure. Also have the helmet lock assembly repainted; but, will be shopping for another - it's pretty rough in places still. Removed the tar and caked dirt from the rear mudgaurd and fender and both are now on the new frame. Secured replacement bolts for several that had seen better days. Polished them up and mounted them. And I've managed to bring in a pile of new electronics from another bike. Will have the guts of a third bike to work with in rebuilding the old frame as I have this one if I so choose. I may. Anyway, gotta get ready for work.. may be more pics later tonight.

06/29/05 - Clean, paint and polish. Weeks of it are starting to pay off. And the latest pics should show what I mean.

These first three pictures show the mounted center stand in it's painted glory along with the brake mount and tension spring, the helmet lock (temporary) and the left footpeg mount. In the last one you'll also note that the rear signal mounts have been completed and mounted. The shocks are hanging on the frame momentarily only. I'm still debating on what to do about them as they look like crap. Then again, most of it looked like that before I started. And now even the spring on the center stand looks factory fresh (grinning pleasantly). That last image there is one of the logos that will begin showing up on the frame shortly in strategic places..

With all that has gone on to date, there is still much to do. And it is being addressed one piece at a time.. literally - right down to the last nut, bolt and lock washer. My Art lab has been turned into the Serenity overhaul center. The swingarm, right peg mount and other items lay in the floor there awaiting their turn at a good cleaning, new paint, etc as you can see in the images below.

..and as the pieces are cleaned and head to the new frame, the old bike continues to lose weight..

The last images are of the newly acquired 1980 GS850G engine I'm now looking to test. Chomping at the bit to do so; but, all good things...

Well, I'm off to sand, scrape, polish and mumble to myself for a bit.

7/4/05 - The swingarm is ready to mount back up to the rear drive, back tire and to the new frame. After 5 days of cleaning, polishing, etc, it is finally ready. The brake system for the rear end is getting some attention at the moment as I try to freshen it up. The brakes are functional; but, the caliper and lines looked like they'ed been dragged through a mile of gravel and clay then left for dead. They currently look substantially better than that; but, still a little tweaking needed. Hope to have more pics posted tonight; but, we'll see.

The old frame is now partly blocked up in prep to remove the engine and forks. Looks like that is going to more fun than I'd imagined; but, fingers are crossed. :)

7/9/05 - Remounted the rear brakes tonight. Spotted a few blemishes in the paint that I missed in mounting the swingarm and did some touch up work. Started work on the side stand and the mounts for the exhaust system.

As you can see, there is still work to be done with what is now on the frame. The mount washers on the left driver peg still need cleanup/replacing. With the aluminum cleaned, it is now ready for buff and polish work. It looks 1000 percent better; but, not quite where I want it yet. The shocks are a particular thorn in my side and I'm considering chrome covers for them as I don't like the exposed springs. Replacing them will only give me another tough to clean surface identical to the one I'm dealing with, so covers are being considered. They'll match nicely to my other plans for customization, so the likelyhood that they'll be used is high.

Right now, the primary focus is on getting the chasis fully rolling so that prep work can begin on the rear fender mounts I'm planning, which then allows mockup and completion of the seatpans and other mods. Sketches of my proposed changes to the look of the bike may begin appearing soon on the site. Keep an eye out.

7/10/05 - The forks are off and being cleaned up now. The old bike is now not much more than an engine and a frame. Will finish stripping the electrical tomorrow and mount it on the new frame after the usual cleaning and polishing. Between that and finishing other minor details, it should be a busy day tomorrow.

Update: The upper part of the triple clamp got some touching up to the paint. The lower has been cleaned and has two coats on it now. The tops of the upper tubes and the fill caps have been cleaned and polished. The triple tree will get a few coats of clear, then the forks will be hung on the new frame. The next major bit of attention will be the front wheel and brake system. But, that will likely be addressed later in the week.

7/12/05 - The old frame now sits outside propped up on it's center stand with nothing but the engine attached. The electronics have been pulled, cleaned and moved to the new frame. Some bits are still being cleaned. The CDI box in particular will get touched up as it looks - ill. The fuse panel is also getting special attention as it looks the worst overall.

The harness made me sick to look at it; so, it got cleaned and rewrapped. It doesn't look entirely new; but, close enough. The forks have now been hung on the front end as well - basically a test fit before proceeding with further cleanup. The triple clamp has been stripped and repainted high gloss black. Looks like a mill!

I've covered a lot of ground in a short time. So much that my enemy of late is impatience. Have to remember to take it slow and let it come together at it's own pace and the right way. Easy enough to say... More pictures possibly tomorrow. After working a 13+ hour day between two jobs, then putting in 5 hours on the bike, there isn't much steam left for pics tonight. Will update tomorrow with or without the pics; but, likely with. Till then....

7/13/05 - New pics tonight. The project is moving along.

..This first set of pics is meant to show off the rewrapped harness and some of the work to clean up the electrical. It isn't perfect by any means; but, it's far better than before. And I can now pretty much touch the bike anywhere without getting dirty. That is the point. I want this bike looking and feeling like a new machine. And she is getting there.

The forks still need work. The lowers are still covered in a gloss coat that has aged badly. It is coming off a little at a time. And all will be shiny soon.

For those looking for the logos, they aren't there yet; but, the materials I needed to do them are in. And I've picked the first spot on the bike that will have a bluesun logo. I won't give it away right now; but, it will be apparent when it's on there. ;) I've also identified a couple of points on the bike where some Serenity logos will appear. They will require some custom paint/etching most likely; so, I'll be researching how to do what is in my head to do. Well, gotta get busy. Enjoy.

7/19/05 - Well, progress is a little slow this week. The work schedule being what it is and all... Helped my bud, Vlad, get through a carb checkup. His 1982 GS850L was running a little rough. Problem solved.

As for mine... Little steps. I managed to get the exhaust mounts cleaned up and repainted. They now look much better. The passenger footpegs are cleaned up; but, may get replaced when all is said and done. The rubbers on them are pretty ragged.

Ran into a problem on remounting the electrical to the battery box. The problem being that none of the screws that fit up to the 1980 box would fit the 1981 box that is in the frame. Not really a four alarm fire per se. I wanted them replaced anyway. And that was the solution. Having stripped and rebuilt a number of early model VWs in the past, I had a collection of bolts remaning that are the same thread as is required here. After a bit of polishing, I now have hex head bolts instead of the screws that notoriously want to strip out, break off, etc. And they look like they belong there. Nice, huh. German metric bolts on a Japanese metric bike. WHo'd a thunk it.

I have also managed to strip and repaint the ignition switch assembly and touched up the sidestand and mount. Polished all the mounting hardware for all of it, cleaned the spring for the sidestand... It's a lot of little things; but, it all adds up eventually. Tonight I spent a bit connecting the wiring up. I may have pics tomorrow depending on how dead I am after 14 hours at two jobs. Already hate myself just thinking about it; but, I'll survive it I'm sure ;)

7/23/05 - After a great deal of the usual cleanup work, I managed to get the caked tar out of the underside of the front fender. It likely won't be staying; but, it will serve as a good temp for now. The top side is mirror clean for the most part with a few scuffs. All I have done so far is clean the top side. Polish is yet to come.

I removed the rotors from the front wheel over the past few days and cleaned the bolts and plates as well as the rotors themselves. A little touchup on the paint and a bit of scrubbing and polish and the wheel assembly is back together and mounted on the bike along with the fender.

The freshly repainted ignition switch is now mounted. I also made a decision to clean the coils and paint them something other than the stock puke colored plastic. They are now Blue to match the color of the bluesun logos. I have pictures of the current progress; but, they still need to be downsized a bit for upload to the site. So, as soon as I get some time to do that, they'll be posted.

My current focus is the front brake system. I'm tearing that all apart to clean it up as has been done with everything else. My biggest hurdle at the moment is the headlight ears. They are ate up pretty bad with rust and finding a set of replacements has thus far proven near impossible. I will likely have to strip them completely and send them out to be rechromed. I've considered aftermarket; but, so far I'm just not sold on the idea.. at least not for what I've seen. And I'm not reseating the crown clamp till I have a set of good headlight mounts on. Too much time and effort in the paint to muck it up removing the clamp over and over..

Till next time..

7/24/05 - Pic update:

Here you can see the painted coils. Seems to add something to the bike, though they'll be later covered by the tank. Details.. The old color was ugly and I just could not stand to look at them.

You can also see the cleanup around the electronics under the seat. I'm not yet completely done there; but, it's progressing well.

The major thing of note is the cleaned front wheel assembly. The major cleaning is just to the areas of polished aluminum for the most part. I put quite a bit of time into degreasing and de-tarring the wheel; but, it still retains clay dust residue that a power wash should remove.. along with the dirt in the treads. There are still decisions to be made about what to do with the black areas of the rim. The coating has degraded and bare aluminum is showing through in numerous places. It might be worth recoating or painting; but, also considering baring the aluminum completely. We'll see.

The brake assembly is cleaning up nicely and should hopefully be finished before bedtime. But, the instrument assembly has caused me some concern. The lower chrome plates are so degraded that they likely should be replaced or painted. I don't like the idea of painting them at all. It removes chrome from the original design that should be there. So, one more thing to add to the list of "replace me" parts. I did manage to clean up the mounting bracket and get it in paint earlier; so, at least that much is done.

The perches were slated to be done much earlier; but, were set aside till now as it was more convenient to the rest of the effort. I have to say, that after years of dealing with Hondas, this bike is relatively easy to work with. And apart from some purely technical stuff to do with troubleshooting, there isn't too much I'm doing that any GS owner couldn't do as long as they can turn a wrench. The cleanup is a bit tough at times as Tar just doesn't like being removed - kinda like politicians - just won't go away easily. At any rate, I'll leave you to gander.. I'm off to continue work on the brakes.

7/30/05 - Where to start. Polishing the rear drive unit is fun. Really.. (not buying it? Good). 4 1/2 hours worth of polish and the rear drive now looks nearly like it's chromed. Still needs a little work; but, the improvement is dramatic. The right side perch has been removed, repainted and remounted. The pics tonight show the untouched left perch sitting on the seat next to the polished rear engine mount bolt. The left rear engine mount is in paint but still being clear coated to toughen her finish.

The pics tonight are here to show overall progress. I mounted the tank in unfinished condition just so I could see how she's progressed. Again, the improvements over the last few months are striking. And I am finally at a point where what is left to do is a smaller list than what has been done. For all intents and purposes, if I were merely looking to have this bike driveable, I could have her on the street in a matter of hours.

The list of needed items is still pretty small. I still haven't found a good set of chrome headlight mounts. Hand grips are already picked out - going for the shiny chrome ones with rubber insets. The headlight dish has been cleaned and polished; but, I need the front ring. The one I have seems to have been run into the same wall flat faced dogs visit before birth. The dogs, in their defense, are merely homely. The headlight ring is useless.

Managed to acquire a new point cover and suzuki badge for the engine. The badge will be replaced with a serenity plate; but, I have the DOHC badge now for reference in getting the plate made that I'll need. Enjoy the pics.

8/13/05 - Been an interesting week. Had a knockout of a storm last week and it did just that - knocked me out - off the internet as it were. Surge came in off my cable line and took out my modem, router, nic cards, etc. Took a bit to get it all back up; but, I'm live again.

What's new? Well, for starters, the bike moved out of the house. After laying down some good heavy rubber mats out in my workspace, the bike made the trip outside and is sitting next to the old frame. It's kinda cool to see in a way. Some initial work was started on cleaning up and polishing the engine casings. It is a lot of work polishing aluminum. But it's really paying off. I'll see if I can get some pics up later once my eyes are fully open and uncrossed.

9/5/05 - Well, for those paying attention, Serenity opens in 25 days. There also is little progress on the completion of the bike. The "why" of that is simple. I work two jobs and someone landed their car upside down in the entrance to one of the buildings I work in. The business is closed for repairs till further notice which means no money. In this "fantastic" economy, that isn't real good. Ends aren't meeting for now. And with no funding for parts or work, the current work in progress will be languishing till I have the money to pick it up again. Needless to say, I'm disappointed. Work is continuing; but, slowly.

6/27/07 - Back to work! Okay, actually been working on this thing for the last month. Pics haven't been up yet because every moment has been used to work on the bike instead of on the computer. A lot has happened in the last month..

.. A lot of cleaning and polishing still to go; but, the work done so far is showing. The tank is still in need of some work. I still have to locate one insert for the right front signal before it can be mounted. The wiring is pretty much all connected up now save for the front signals. The engine went into the frame about 4 days ago. I've been polishing the casings and cleaning a bit each day. The chore list is still long; but I can see daylight. Figuring on finally having her in riding condition within 2 weeks. She won't be done by far; but, she'll be transportation for the first time in more than a year. I could write a book; but, I'll save some for next time. Enjoy.

If you have comments or questions regarding this or other projects, please hit the "home" link below and send an email from the main page.