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Yesterday I came across a freshly posted CL ad advertising a 1979 Suzuki GS750N. Not knowing much about the Suzuki's, I e-mailed the guy asking if I could look at it, and got to work researching. Come to find out, the GS750 was a pretty stout and impressive bike in the day, so my wife and I went off to check out the bike. We got there and the bike turned out to be original owner, 21k miles, and MINT condition. His asking price was $1500, which I honestly felt to be low, given the condition of the bike and single-owner. The owners were a couple in their 60 who had taken the bike to France, Germany, Italy, etc., while working abroad, and ridden all through the countries, mountains, etc., and many of the places we were just at on our vacation.
All that said, we went back over last night to ride it home. This bike will be kept stock but just freshened up and a slight restoration will be done to it as well just to clean it up. It runs like a top with new tires, carbs tuning, battery, etc. Im really happy.
Matt if you haven't already get on WWW.thegsresources.com .
There is a ton of GS information as a whole. Usually Basscliff will send you a welcome package with several other blog sites which all contain more information than just the regular site. If anyone knows about these bikes it is the guys over there! I believe there are several members also on here so it is just another resource to persue.
I know Oliver and Joe from CCR are both members as well, and both very knowledgeable on the GS series.
+1 to WWW.thegsresources.com! I am Hoosier Daddy there as well, haven't been on much lately though now that my CB is getting all my attention. I am thinking your "N" designation is refering to the fact it is a 79.
You see they made a standard GS750, I got a 80 GS750 "L" Cruiser model, the "E" was the Sport... while "G"s were shaft drive models. you could also get a GL and that is a shafty, cruiser model...
Officially mine is a GS750LT the T is the designation for the fact it was an 80 model. If you had an E model built in 79 it would be a GS750EN... get it? So I think if yours doesn't have an E after the 750 you bought a base GS750 and the N is for being a 79.
This chart should clear it up. http://www.thegsresources.com/gs_modelchart.htm
I know Oliver and Joe from CCR are both members as well, and both very knowledgeable on the GS series.
Gary - Im probably riding the CB360 tonight to show off the paintwork and everything. Im not sure...we'll see!
Hoosier - you must be right! I think I have a 1979 GS750 base model. Even still, that seems like a semi-rare bike as most of them seem to be designated "E" or "L" models for that year. I already registered for GSR and have been trolling the site looking for info. I guess this post was made more as an announcement than as a build thread since this bike hardly needs any work. Thanks for the info, fellas. I appreciate it.
I think Im having some carb issues. The bike ran great coming home the other night, but earlier today it would only run on choke for about 20 minutes "warming up". When I'd twist the throttle, the bike would die (with the choke at 50%). Once I thought the engine was warmed up and the bike wouldn't die with 0% choke, I took it out to a meeting...but didn't get far. Within 5 minutes the throttle wasn't making much additional power, like the fuel was entering the engine, and the engine had died. Then Id have to start it up, with 100% choke, and wait for it to run under it's own power with no choke. This seams like it's clearly a carb issue but I just want to make sure before I tear into something that doesn't need it. Thoughts?
I don't know if your 79 had the vacuum petcock like my 80 but that may have something to do with it if it does.
Also, mke sure the battery is up to full charge...Have to have electricity to fire the plugs.
Only reason I say this instead of carburation is these bikes charging systems are marginal at best.
And it is more likely to come on as you described that carb issues are.
You also have to maintain engine speeds over 3000- 3500 rpm before they START to charge and new owners typlically lug the engine down below that. She will happily sing along above that all day.
My petcock has the Prime - ON - Reserve settings, not sure if that tells you anything? I have read that the petcock's on these are sort of peculiar. I just figured it was a carb issue but Im coming from a (seemingly) simpler world of the Honda CB350/360. I just don't get why it'd run fine the way home the other night but now it's an issue. The engine DOES start and run, so Im inclined to think it's not the battery, as the owner just put a new one in not long ago. That said, I can run it on the trickle for awhile and see what happens. I guess that's the easiest thing to rule out, no?
That is one clean looking 79, I wish mine looked that good when I got it. HD is pretty spot on with checking the basics. The petcock, if I remember correctly, is a vacuum style on the 79. If it has 2 hoses on it then it is, only 1 hose then its not. Mainly it just sounds like it is not getting enough fuel when you pull the throttle for the added air so petcock would be the first place I would suggest and from there make sure your hose from the carbs to the petcock is good and doesn't have any cracks. If there are no problems there potentially may have to clean the carbs.
I just checked the manual and and learned a few things:
1) If the choke is engaged and the throttle is opened up, the throttle will bypass the choke and cause the engine to die. This is not a characteristic of a bad engine/dirty carbs. My choke/throttle/carbs seem to be working as described.
2) I DO have the vacuum style petcock (2 hoses).
3) When petcock is in "PRIME" it bypasses something and goes straight to the engine. The engine runs great, pulls hard, and doesn't die when the petcock is set to prime!
This leads me to believe that the petcock is the issue, not the carbs like I had originally thought. Now, is the best thing for me to do:
1) Rebuild the petcock that I have
2) Look for a NOS or new petcock
3) Alternate idea - please explain
I do believe you can ride with it in prime - the idea behind the vacuum petcock is that it turns itself off when the motor is not running so that it doesn't leak while it is sitting and also so the fuel would shut off in the event of an accident.
I think putting it in prime makes it act like an old school petcock like on our 360s.
Ok, that's what I thought, but wanted to make sure! I'll order a rebuild kit/new petcock after some more research but in the mean time Im going to run in prime and turn it to ON while Im not riding. Yes!
Awesome... That issue is pretty common and I ride mine in the prime position as well.
Pingle sells petcocks and adapters to get rid of that POS vacuum unit.
I am having very similar issues with my 78 gs550, and from what I am reading I think that my hoses are not routed correctly. Does the vacuum hoes that runs from the petcock go to the carbs themselves or to the vent above the cams. I bought this bike from my uncle and he was telling me he had the same problems and I wonder if he had those hoses switched up. I would run out in the garage to swap them and see if it works, except for the carbs are off so I could clean the floats that were sticking, and the tank is off so that I could clean the rust out (the bike sat for 20+ years). any advise would be gratefully appropriated.
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What's this "pingle" you refer to?
