1982 Suzuki GS1100G "Preppercycle"

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Jrgunn5150

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1979
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Engine Size
6.slow
This is going to be the build document on my 1982 GS1100G. I'm not really a bike guy, I've had a few when I was a teenager, but I was just a rider of them then, so it's unfamiliar territory for me.

What really got my wheels turning on this was Daryl's CB750 on The Walking Dead lol. It just kind of struck me that a bike made perfect sense, since it could get around traffic snarls, etc. Then, my wife reads cheesy zombie books pretty voraciously, and a common theme in them is that an EMP is used, either to stop people from being mobile, or as an attack. So I though, well, points would solve that.

So anyway, the idea rattled around in my head for awhile, I have lots of imaginary builds in my head lol. Then I was perusing the Facebook Marketplace and came across a GS1100G that had seen better days for sure, only 250 bucks though.

My comfort level with these wasn't really high enough to dive in, for all I knew it was a parts bike, (it may be still lol), so I saved it and moved on.

I was into a shaft drive though, and after a few CB's fell through, I contacted the kid, asked what he could tell me about the bike. He told me he had been riding it, some stuff was broken, some stuff was missing, his dad basically wanted it gone lol.

So I headed over there with the dog and sure enough, it fired right up on the charger. It started and ran, and moved, and for me, that was good enough for 250 bucks. So money and titles changed hands.

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I've since gotten it home and gone over it, it has a busted shock mount, the front forks are smoked, I believe the regulator is bad, it's charging a little higher than seems normal, at 15.2v at idle, rear brakes are non-functional, front brakes are marginal, dash is smashed, and rear swingarm doesn't move at all.

This weekend I plan to strip the tank, dash, wiring and start on cleaning up the frame, it's got a lot of surface rust and poop.

The goal is a minimalist build, I don't know that I would call it a Cafe Racer or Bobber or whatever, but I'm not intending to put anything on it it doesn't need, so I'll probably re-wire it to be simpler, headlight and tailight only. I intend to do the regulator upgrade, rebuild the front forks, possibly replace the rears, or rebuild them.

My goal is to have this done for 1,000 total, so I can then turn my attention to a bike for my wife so we can ride together.

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Big Chip

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1979
Truck Model
C35
Engine Size
454
I don't think zombies are a legitimate concern but if it got you a bike...
 

crazy4offroad

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350/SM465/NP205
We have "walking dead" going past our house all day and night. Cool project, I had an 82 GS 750 and that sonofabitch was FAST.
 

Jrgunn5150

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We have "walking dead" going past our house all day and night. Cool project, I had an 82 GS 750 and that sonofabitch was FAST.

Apparently new, this one would run the 1/4 in like 11.3.

With no seat or fender, I kept it in first and second lol. It doesn't feel like it will have a problem going quick enough to die though.
 

crazy4offroad

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Mine would peg the 85mph speedo in 2nd gear, and it had 5 gears. Tach was registered for 12k with an 11k redline and would easily pull into the red. Once on a long straight stretch in the middle of the night I pulled 5th gear into the 8k range, no idea how fast I was actually going but I'd estimate 140-ish. My helmet strap was cutting off the blood supply and the rear end was really unstable when I let off. My guardian angel never let me forget that one. I ran it so hard I ran out of gas, coasted about a mile and a half to a parking lot and nearly 5 minutes later my buddy who was following me finally caught up. I drained a beer can worth of gas out of his bike to get me home. Best day of my life was when I got rid of it. I've never had but one thing so fast I was scared of it, and that bike was it.

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Jrgunn5150

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Today I managed to get my little stand finished I made out of a furniture dolly and get it up in the air and the tank off so I can evaluate what I really want to do with it.

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20181104_181505 by Marvin Gunn, on Flickr

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20181104_183833 by Marvin Gunn, on Flickr

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20181104_185727 by Marvin Gunn, on Flickr
 

K201979

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K20
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350ci
I like ur stand idea. Mine are always on random piles of blocks. Lol. That looks like it would work much better!
 

Jrgunn5150

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I like ur stand idea. Mine are always on random piles of blocks. Lol. That looks like it would work much better!

I wouldn't push it very far, but it works nice to push up against the bench and pull back out when I want to mess with it. At least for the two hours it's been up there lol.

I wish the base were larger, but I can't buy wheels for the price of the entire dolly I used as a base lol.
 

K201979

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Base might get in the way if it were much bigger anyway.
 

Jrgunn5150

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Base might get in the way if it were much bigger anyway.

Yeah, I was going to buy a jack like a responsible person, but they seemed to take up a ton of room, which defeats my purpose lol.
 

Jrgunn5150

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My videos run a little behind my actual progress, it's stripped of the harness and carbs now, tomorrow I intend to pull the engine and tear it down to the bare frame for powdercoat.

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Jrgunn5150

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Seat, shocks, shock mounts, frame hoop, and fork seals ordered and inbound. Probably hold off on the fork rebuild until I have my frame mods done.
 

Jrgunn5150

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Today I got the old busted shock mount, and the other side as well, cut the frame for the initial chop, and started removing obsolete brackets.

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1 by Marvin Gunn, on Flickr

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3 by Marvin Gunn, on Flickr

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2 by Marvin Gunn, on Flickr
 

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