Topic: 1980 Suzuki GS1100E

[Kelly E]

Today we recovered the seat. It took a while to get it done but it came out pretty good. We ended up using spray adhesive to glue the edge's of the cover down to help the points hold the cover on.

[jgger]

Looks really nice. Pat yourself on the back for that one!

[grcamna2]

Kelly,did your seat come with the chrome bar bolted to the seat pan?
The seat/cover looks wonderful 

[RAFster122s]

Kelly you guys did a fantastic job on the seat. That's gonna make the bike look great. That is a very nice bit of work. Where did you source your seat cover from?

[Kelly E]

Thanks
The seat did come with the chrome strips but we aren't going to use them. The strips are fine but the pins that hold them on are questionable.
It's been 3 years and I don't remember where we got it. It was the only one we found, it's decent quality.

[grcamna2]

Thanks
The seat did come with the chrome strips but we aren't going to use them. The strips are fine but the pins that hold them on are questionable.
It's been 3 years and I don't remember where we got it. It was the only one we found, it's decent quality.

Great quality now 

[Kelly E]

Our buddy Jason came over today and fine tuned the GS 1100E and the 90' Moto Guzzi 1000 Le Mans. It was a crappy rainy day today so no test rides. He is coming back next week to do the 74' CB550. He's really good at it. I've learned so much already plus he's one of those guys that likes to share his knowledge and help you learn or at least understand what he's doing. At heart he's a 2 stroke/2 cylinders or less guy, he grew up embarrassing sport bike guys on his vintage scooters. I have to say that I've met some of the coolest people ever in this hobby.

[RAFster122s]

Congrats on a good day tuning...

[MauiK3]

What are the bikes behind the Suzuki? Looks like maybe two Hondas? One a V

[Kelly E]

What are the bikes behind the Suzuki? Looks like maybe two Hondas? One a V

Behind the Suzuki GS 1100E is from the left are the 83' CB 1100F, the 94' Kawasaki Concours ZG 1000, the 84' Honda Sabre 700 V4 and behind them is the 79' CB750F. They are all runners except the 83' CB 1100F which is the "hopefully" last keeper. We stopped at 10 bikes until the 83' 1100F found us and Paul had to make the guy take $300 instead of the $100 he initially wanted. He was the original owner and wanted us to have it so we would resurrect and ride it not over restore it to stare at. He's a true biker thinking only of the bikes welfare.
I'll cover it in its thread when we go through it. I hope it's as nice to ride as the 82' CB 900F we have.

[ekpent]

Did you get the charging system up and working correctly now ? One minor weak spot in some of the big Suzuki's.

[Kelly E]

Did you get the charging system up and working correctly now ? One minor weak spot in some of the big Suzuki's.

Not yet, we're waiting on a new regulator/rectifier due here on Tuesday.

[Kelly E]

Today we installed the new regulator rectifier and it's charging now but the battery light is still on. I think I need to ground the sensor like on Hondas.
After that I rode it around our 12 mile test loop. It's only got 17k miles on it and rides like a new bike.

[RAFster122s]

Looks good, happy you have some progress and got to enjoy it a bit. Look forward for more...

[grcamna2]

Classic superbike Kelly  looks good.
I have a battery sensor that will fit into one of the standard middle 6) cells on a YB14L-A2 battery:I kept it for years in it's original bag;never installed because I removed the battery light bulb on the instrument panel of my 1100E.The original battery with extra sensor port is a Yuasa SYB14L-A2 and they aren't around anymore.
They were useful when your battery got low on electrolyte fluids,which was the purpose of the warning light.

[Alan F.]

Oh congrats on that test ride!

[Mark1976]

   The quintessential UJM, a really great bike, fast, handles, stops and incredibly reliable. Take it to the corner store or log a 500 mile day on it. I'm a fan of the '78-'86 period of bikes, (I like them all to be honest) but this period of evolution for motorcycles is really interesting. 

[Kelly E]

Classic superbike Kelly  looks good.
I have a battery sensor that will fit into one of the standard middle 6) cells on a YB14L-A2 battery:I kept it for years in it's original bag;never installed because I removed the battery light bulb on the instrument panel of my 1100E.The original battery with extra sensor port is a Yuasa SYB14L-A2 and they aren't around anymore.

Thanks, it's a little rough around the edges but they are awesome bikes. We resurrected an 81' GS 1100E for a friend and liked it so much that we had our own less than a month later. Then it took us 2 1/2 years to start working on ours.

I have the original sensor but it's useless with the AGM battery. If there's not a way to disable the sensor I'll probably remove the battery light bulb from the dash.

[Kelly E]

   The quintessential UJM, a really great bike, fast, handles, stops and incredibly reliable. Take it to the corner store or log a 500 mile day on it. I'm a fan of the '78-'86 period of bikes, (I like them all to be honest) but this period of evolution for motorcycles is really interesting.

They are great bikes, feels like riding a 750cc bike until you wack the throttle wide open.

[seanbarney41]

Man, if you figure something out for that sensor, be sure to post.  I have never been able to figure what to do with it on my 1100e either.

[gpzkat]

Man, if you figure something out for that sensor, be sure to post.  I have never been able to figure what to do with it on my 1100e either.

Pretty sure you just wire it to a 12V positive to mimic a good power supply and that's it, info on thegsresources.com and probably elsewhere. Mine is bypassed and can take a look if you want.

[Kelly E]

Man, if you figure something out for that sensor, be sure to post.  I have never been able to figure what to do with it on my 1100e either.

Pretty sure you just wire it to a 12V positive to mimic a good power supply and that's it, info on thegsresources.com and probably elsewhere. Mine is bypassed and can take a look if you want.

I would appreciate it if you take a look, thanks.

[gpzkat]

Sorry unable to for a while due to unforeseen circumstances removing me from my bike stash.

Man, if you figure something out for that sensor, be sure to post.  I have never been able to figure what to do with it on my 1100e either.

Pretty sure you just wire it to a 12V positive to mimic a good power supply and that's it, info on thegsresources.com and probably elsewhere. Mine is bypassed and can take a look if you want.

I would appreciate it if you take a look, thanks.

[grcamna2]

Classic superbike Kelly  looks good.
I have a battery sensor that will fit into one of the standard middle 6) cells on a YB14L-A2 battery:I kept it for years in it's original bag;never installed because I removed the battery light bulb on the instrument panel of my 1100E.The original battery with extra sensor port is a Yuasa SYB14L-A2 and they aren't around anymore.

Thanks, it's a little rough around the edges but they are awesome bikes. We resurrected an 81' GS 1100E for a friend and liked it so much that we had our own less than a month later. Then it took us 2 1/2 years to start working on ours.

I have the original sensor but it's useless with the AGM battery. If there's not a way to disable the sensor I'll probably remove the battery light bulb from the dash.

Suzuki had the sensor on the battery to read when the battery was low on fluid;with an AGM battery you don't need the light.

[Kelly E]

Classic superbike Kelly  looks good.
I have a battery sensor that will fit into one of the standard middle 6) cells on a YB14L-A2 battery:I kept it for years in it's original bag;never installed because I removed the battery light bulb on the instrument panel of my 1100E.The original battery with extra sensor port is a Yuasa SYB14L-A2 and they aren't around anymore.

Thanks, it's a little rough around the edges but they are awesome bikes. We resurrected an 81' GS 1100E for a friend and liked it so much that we had our own less than a month later. Then it took us 2 1/2 years to start working on ours.

I have the original sensor but it's useless with the AGM battery. If there's not a way to disable the sensor I'll probably remove the battery light bulb from the dash.

Suzuki had the sensor on the battery to read when the battery was low on fluid;with an AGM battery you don't need the light.

I know but I want to disable the dash light.