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Whether a cheap bike for commuting, a restoration project or just to build a cool bike that is customized more to my likings & taste… The GS Project has now begun.

Over the last couple of years I have said that I would like to get an old bike to ride around, but with the idea that I would not spend a lot of money on it. Well a few weeks ago, that bike presented itself to me. In conversation, Chuck, a co-worker of mine mentioned that he had an old bike stuck back in the corner of his shed. With a little more prying, I found out that his bike was a 1977 Suzuki GS750 and that it has been sitting in his shed for the last 12 or so years. He used to ride the bike all the time before it was put away, but with the bike sitting for that long, stuck back in the corner of a shed, really left a question mark on the condition of it. So with a planned selling price of $75 & a Saturday morning schedule for inspection & probable purchase, I show up at his house with my trailer, tie-down straps & check book.

After some initial chit-chat, the moment of truth comes. We walk back to his shed & start to remove the items in the shed that block our way to the GS… garden tractor, bicycles, landscaping materials & etc. Stuck in the back corner, underneath some metal garden fencing, there sits the GS. Yes, it looks as I expected; dusty, dirty & a little ugly. After struggling to get this pig backed out of the shed, man… none of my past sport bikes from the 90’s felt this heavy or pushed nearly as difficult as this thing… but yes, once we get it out of the shed & I can get a better overview of the bike, I can see that the bike is all there, it is complete! This is a good thing because the idea of having to hunt out missing components & body pieces from salvage yards around the country sounds expensive & time consuming… when I just want a cheap bike that I can cheaply & quickly get back on the road.

The story goes that the bike ran when it was put away that dozen or so years ago. During this time, he has occasionally kicked the motor over with the kick start. It sounds like the bike has not actually fired up in a few years though. So with this in mind, I didn’t even both trying to start the bike… he did kick it over a few times in front of me, that was enough for me, I knew that the motor wasn’t locked or anything… and I feared sucking any more of that old gas into the carbs & motor. We did notice that the throttle stuck… this only increased my belief in that the carbs will be all gummed up & will need to be cleaned or rebuilt. Chuck said a few times that he felt the bike was in worse shape then he had expected it to be, that it deteriorated with rust more then he remembered it looking.

So yes, today I purchased the bike as I expected. For my $75, I brought home a project bike, plus a spare rear wheel assembly. The story goes that the one & only time that Chuck tried to pull a wheelie with the bike, he broke some spokes on the rear wheel. To fix this, he bought a used rear assembly that includes the spoke rim, a rear tire, rear disk brake & sprocket.

Again, this thing pushes unbelievably hard! I’m not sure yet if it’s the rusted chain, old wheel bearings, it’s girth, a combination of all them, or what… but yes, The GS Project is now in my garage. Next step, give the bike a more thorough evaluation & then try to get the motor to start & run.

Final thoughts about the bike, I am uncertain on what it will be like riding this bike, assuming that I do even get it on the road. My street bike experience is from sport bikes in the late 90’s… bikes such as a GSX-R 600 & 750, and a ZX-7. My previous bikes made 100 horsepower, compared to the much less 65 horsepower the GS is rated at. Also, the GS is rated at around 550 pounds, while my previous bikes weighed just under 400. Then finally, is the whole upright seating position, old suspension/controls/gauges & no fairing. But my conclusion that I’ve come to is this; unlike a 10 year old sport bike, which isn’t very cool anymore next to the current bikes out… the 30 year old GS is now nostalgic enough that it has swung back to being cool & will only get cooler with each passing year of its age.