It's been a while

Hard to believe that I have not posted anything  new to the  blog for so long..
Motorcycling enthusiasm can do that to a person. The ebb & flow of everyday life fighting against the enthusiasm pulling time from that life, and opposed by the many needs of the average person causes the days to swiftly fly past.

Just a few direct updates on some of the motorcycles that have come and gone in the last several months.

The GL1100 Goldwing that Ryan owned has been sold after a great summer of riding. Ryan put over 7000 miles on that 1980 bike and it was running perfectly when we sold it. Reluctantly it had to go down the road to make room for his next bike (3 bikes in 3 years). After the trip to the Triple Nickel (Hy 555 near Zanesville Oh) he realized a bike with real cruise control would be an advantage if he wanted to make some of these long rides. So we sold the GL1100 and started watching for a GL1500 to purchase. He located one we both liked and after some investigation he bought a pristine 1992 GL1500 Aspencade with some really nice features, and excellent maintenance history, and a good price.

AS for me - my experience with the Suzuki GS650 led me to really like the way the UJM inline four cylinders ride. While the 650 was a little smaller than I wanted and I did sell it for a tidy profit, I knew I wanted to find another  GS series bike to make into a "bagger" for my daily commuting and local area riding like bike nights, and simple evening relaxation rides.  Knowing I wanted something unique I scoured the internet until I found one in Dubuque IA that met my desire. I located and purchased a 1983 Suzuki GS850GL . And while I had seen many and looked at a few already , this one was completely unique -  all the other 1983's I had seen previously were in the same red-maroon color as the 650 I used to have. This 850 was different with a BLUE over BLACK color scheme. A rare find as it was a late '82 production and not in the '83 colors yet although it was a titled '83 bike.

    The bike needs some updating and maintenance. Some of the seals were leaking, the carbs were a
 mess both inside and out and it needs new tires. Luckily I have a friend who agreed to help me out and over the course of a 4 day weekend we did a complete top end rebuild including new valve seals, adjustments', and engine seals. We cleaned the pistons, honed the cylinder walls, and tuned the and balanced the carbs. Yet to do is the new rubber, and bleed the brakes all around.

 

All that ends doing now is a short list of add ons I want...hard saddlebags, a luggage rack, the engine crash bars,  and adjust the windscreen properly. Then it will be my regular daily rider (until I tire of it)