FIRST BIKE!!! Suzuki GS450 Cafe Style

Legionnaire

Legionnaire

WASSUP Y'ALL!
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I just picked up my first motorcycle it's a 1981 Suzuki GS450 and it's already sorta cafe'd out, I really love it a lot. I have never ridden a motorcycle before today, but I picked it up pretty quick because I have been riding bicycles for a while pretty much full time.

The rear end is a little janky but I can definitely work on that I think it is just enough of a project bike for me, because I wanted something that at least ran but wasn't too pretty, so I really love it!
 
I also had a question about what "this" was:

SuzukiChoke1.jpg

Is this the "choke" or the "fuel lever" I am a huge noob and was just wondering because when I was trying to start the bike it sort of huffed and puffed and wouldn't turn over IMMEDIATELY, but when I push that to the other side it turned over right away, anyone know what in the world I am talking about haha. Thanks!
 
Yep - choke lever.

Congrats on the scoot! The GS's are known to be bullet proof.
 
Left= choke, right= petcock. If it's like my 77 gs 750, the bike's my run good on prime but not on, on. If so, the petcock vac is not connected.
WOW I hope u can understand that, because I can't to, many beer's, sorry.
 
Big Rich said:
Yep - choke lever.

Congrats on the scoot! The GS's are known to be bullet proof.
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It definitely feels solid!! Oh okay I asked my mom and she said it was the choke, seems like she might have a motorcycle history in her past they she never told us about...

Could anyone take a guess as to which is on, the lever up or down? Because the bike just puts if it is in one position, but starts up right away in the other. Because I know it's not good to ride around with the choke on full. I will check it out later tonight though...

Also @Cafe Redneck I had no clue what that meant, but thanks for the welcome!
 
I highly recommend checking out the GSResources for all the info you can get about that bike. Basscliff has detailed tutorials about your carbs and there will be a lot of info about your petcock as well.
 
Big Rich said:
I highly recommend checking out the GSResources for all the info you can get about that bike. Basscliff has detailed tutorials about your carbs and there will be a lot of info about your petcock as well.
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Oh yeah!!! Duh, I had an account on there and totally forgot to post this on there, thanks for the reminder!

@Zooke581, I don't know which model I have because there are like four I think I have an S or an L
 
Welcome to DTT man.

You NEED this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CLYMER-SUZUKI-GS400-GS425-GS450-SERVICE-REPAIR-MANUAL-/230455364441?pt=Motors_ATV_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr&hash=item35a835cb59

Buy it. Read it. Study it. THAN start having fun. Haha.

Good luck, and remember that its cheaper to ask questions (just make sure you use the search function first! :) ) than it is to replace/fix broken parts.
 
Hey Chris, good to see you over here on DTT too! I'm just plain "pete" over on the GSR but someone already has that here...


Anyway, there's a fella in New Zealand who does a factory reproduction of the genuine factory manual on eBay for about $US30 plus shipping. eClassic Bike I think is the seller's store. Definitely worth it, and you can download the Clymer and Haynes from BassCliff's site also and save your $$$ for the factory one.


Be careful with the Haynes as I found a couple of torque settings that were wrong and had to learn thread repair in a hurry...


Oh, and it looks like you have an "E" too rather than an "S", just like me :)
 
Love the E-model tanks. Those make awesome cafes. What mods are you planning for this one? Looking forward to watching the progress.
 
peteGS said:
Hey Chris, good to see you over here on DTT too! I'm just plain "pete" over on the GSR but someone already has that here...


Anyway, there's a fella in New Zealand who does a factory reproduction of the genuine factory manual on eBay for about $US30 plus shipping. eClassic Bike I think is the seller's store. Definitely worth it, and you can download the Clymer and Haynes from BassCliff's site also and save your $$$ for the factory one.


Be careful with the Haynes as I found a couple of torque settings that were wrong and had to learn thread repair in a hurry...


Oh, and it looks like you have an "E" too rather than an "S", just like me :)
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I completely forgot to check DTT since I have been lurking GSResources for so long, but thanks for letting me know what model I had I JUST asked that over at the GS forum!

I also bought a Clymer manual on eBay... I didn't know if it was the biggest deal to have a legitimate one or not, but it's not too bad I like have a physical manual in my hands rather than reading off a PDF.

@barnabasantioch: The tank is so sexy it's what really attracted me to this bike, but my whole back end is a mess, I think the guy chopped it up and stuff, but it pretty much all picks up and nothing is secure. I am mind f*cked as to where to start to find a nice base to build off of. Right now I am just worried about cleaning the carbs and tank this weekend, and slapping on some new tires I just ordered!
 
Legionnaire said:
I completely forgot to check DTT since I have been lurking GSResources for so long, but thanks for letting me know what model I had I JUST asked that over at the GS forum!

I also bought a Clymer manual on eBay... I didn't know if it was the biggest deal to have a legitimate one or not, but it's not too bad I like have a physical manual in my hands rather than reading off a PDF.

@barnabasantioch: The tank is so sexy it's what really attracted me to this bike, but my whole back end is a mess, I think the guy chopped it up and stuff, but it pretty much all picks up and nothing is secure. I am mind f*cked as to where to start to find a nice base to build off of. Right now I am just worried about cleaning the carbs and tank this weekend, and slapping on some new tires I just ordered!
Click to expand...

With your rear end, while you're waiting for your carb parts in the dip, take some detailed photos of the seat pan, duck tail, frame etc. and I'll see if I can help work out what the PO has done with it which might help you figure out a better way of securing it.
 
RearEnd-1.jpg


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Here is some "damage" from when I dropped my bike:

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Hey Pete here are some photos of my back end, maybe you guys can help me figure something out for the back end, I have been looking at tons of build threads and it seems like the common fix is grind down all the little tabs and throw some fiber board on it. What I don't get is that it would have to be removable to get under by the airbox and what not. Also pretend I bought a fiber glass seat/cowl how would that attach to the fiber board?
 
IT'S ALIVE!!!!

http://youtu.be/xos2MnVxe-c

I got a volt meter and hunted down the culprit and it ended up being this little wire that got unplugged and now the lights turn on nice and bright!

The bike wouldn't turn over immediately it always took a little warming up or a push start to get it going which is why I cleaned the carbs in the first place... but now we just pushed it out to the street and tried to turn it on and the bike automatically revved to like 10K RPMs!!!

It is 1AM here so my neighbor came out and scolded me... but we tried it a couple times before he heard it and after 3 attempts it would automatically revv to 10K RPMs and I would have to kill it each time to stop it.

Does this sound like my throttle is open and too much air is getting in or what? Thanks a lot!
 
Hey Chris, shot you a reply over on the GSR, but yeah, that frame's definitely been chopped which means the brackets for mounting the stock duck tail ain't gonna be working for you right now...
 
I haven't checked the GSR, but either your throttle is set way too high, the throttle cable is snagged, there's an obstruction in your slides (not likely though), or maybe your choke is open allowing too much air in.
 
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