1986 GS 450 The story

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Ok im goona tell you a little about how I became the Gs450 rider(soon to be)

Well back in july I had my heart set on one thing(to get a crotch rocket) this one thing has been on my mind since I was 14(18 now) and now I finally had enough cash to get one. I went searching did my homework and picked out the Ninja 650r as my first bike. When my birthday came around I ask my mother if she could give me the 212 dollars for the rider safty course. That went as smooth as butter took the class was really comfortable with the bike from the second I sat on the 250cc nighthawk. After the course I decided to try and get my learners right away and when i got my next paycheck go and get my actual(permit is still sitting here lol) That went well to. Well i went to don and jacobs applied for a 3k loan...and....got....denied, tried again with 2 cosigners and 3k down. Failed as well. I was really bumed and Wanted something to ride in the mean time I searched craigslist and found some nice bikes for upper 2's. Looked at them and thought ehhhh it doesnt have that feel(cbr f4i, r6, ect ect) so I gave up naturally i had money burning a hole in my pocket and wanted to spend it. I searched and searched and then last month found this beaten up not running gs450(with clubmanbars and all but some original parts(stupid bolts) It had a few things wrong with it. He told me the starter was shot(surprisingly he was right) and pointed out the horrible paint and the ripped seat. I also noticed it had a lot of oxidization on the engine and thought it wasn't covered at all(turns out i was right) well besides the fact it had missing bolts a ripped seat broken tail light cover missing key and bad paint i decided for $300 wth. so I bought it this happened like clockwork and he was happy to get more for the bike then he wanted(i gave him 50 to hold it for me) I got it home the first night and worked my butt off for i believe almost 8 hours taking it all apart and figuring what was wrong with it turns out nothing really i cleaned the carbs chisseled the seized starter out and clean up the whole starter holding bay. Well 2 weeks went by and had some extra cash and I bought some oil the oil filter and the battery. and worked on it today for a good 4 hours and low and behold.....i got it running(besides the fact it needs spark plugs)now I am awaitng on these bolts(i listed in the parts section) and it should at least drive. I figure for what i do belive roughly 15 hours of work and little over 450 spent on the bike for my first bike I learned a lot about the mechanics of a bike(the career field i am studying) I plan on fixing up the frame making the engine sparkle getting a new gas tank sanding down the chrome and painting it flat black with the gas tank i figure about another $200 and it should be the way i vision it. and when the time comes to get a new bike i probably sell it for 600 and call it a day.
 
If its been stood for a while i would suggest fitting some new tyre`s and replacing the brake fluid plus check the condition of the brake pads or shoes to see what condition they are in and if suspect replace them.
 
Definately! If the engine was all oxidized from sitting, very, very carefully check the tires, brake lines, and other rubber parts for cracks and dry rot. Replace them if they are at all suspect. Replace the tires if they are more than 5 years old (if you do not know how to read the date of manufacture on the sidewall just ask). Change the brake fluid. Check, clean, lube the chain and sprockets.
 
cool, another rider from WI - pretty soon we ought to have most of them here.

the best thing (besides learning how a bike works) about getting a basket case such as this, is you learn to appreciate it when things work the way they are supposed to.

and btw, don't feel bad about being turned down for a loan - banks aren't making many loans that in any way look slightly risky. Bikes definitely fall into this category.

Before I forget, there used to be a place on hwy 100 in south milwaukee that used to do car interiors and bike seat covers - precision auto seems to ring a bell.

wait, I think I found it!

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=&layer=c&cbll=40.758437,-73.985164&cbp=11,42.04,,0,-6.66&ie=UTF8&om=1&panoid=s_TY766yv4kWDddHKN8OVQ&t=h&ll=40.75844,-73.985195&spn=0.042649,0.174923&z=13&utm_campaign=en&utm_medium=ha&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-bk-svn&utm_term={keyword}

perfection auto trim.
 
thanks , well i got to ride it and wow i cant belive how smooth she shifts and handles, i am having trouble with it ideling and the clutch seems to stick but other then that it runs great. any Ideas? and btw omegajim, where do you live in washington county? i live in richfield(hubertus)
 
jackson.

the idle requires either a carb cleaner (seafoam is the preffered around here).

the sticky clutch is more than likely the clutch cable - to verify wiggle the clutch connection on the housing, which will most likely move back and forth freely.
 
the sticky clutch i do not think is the cable i think its the mechanism that drives the rod in that sticks, good soak it in wd40 and clean it to verify. seafoam never thought of that lol i just used carb cleaner
 
normally, carb cleaner will do just fine, seafoam is used when the $1.99 can of carb cleaner doesn't work.

that said, if you used carb cleaner, then, the cheap solution is out. And your carb seals are probably toast (or getting there).

in the meantime, you could adjust the idle up just a bit to get by.

as far as a sticky clutch - back in the day, they told you to put a 2 x 4 to hold the clutch in when storing a stick shift vehicle for long periods of time to keep the plates from "fusing" or "sticking" together.

in this case, pop the cover (assuming there are three or four bolts, screws or something holding the cover on - see also why you need a service manual) the plates may be stuck together.

For the uninitiated, the clutch plates are a stack, usually 4 friction plates and 4 "grabber" (can't remember the technical term) plates, and now that I think of it, there are springs involved. If the springs are weak (imagine that on a small displacement bike with small clutch springs) could compound any sticking issues.

I was really hoping that it was a cable issue, as that is much easier to diagnose.
 
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