1978 GS1000 V4.0

[IanC]

Once upon a time, my daily rider plastic clad sport bike was down for service. My dad kindly tossed me the keys to his 1979 GS1000S to bang around on while mine was down. It was a life changing event. I loved the sounds, the feel and the challenges of riding that bike. Fast forward a couple of years and I found myself without a bike, with low funds and itching to ride. Dad finds a 1978 GS1000E in upstate New York that's all there and runs but needs some loving.  A 24 hour round trip drive and $1000 later it was home.

The immediate plan was to clean things up and start a rolling restoration project. After the first round of cleaning up I ended up with this. Much better than it was but still a long way to go.

And then I went out of town and let my brother borrow it for a weekend while his GS500 was down for maintenance.  This was the result of that.

So I tore it down to the frame and the restoration plan morphed into a resto-mod.

v3.2 saw a few changes like the exhaust and swingarm.

V3.3 saw yet another paint job to fix the last hack painters job, punching it out to an 1100 and relocating the electronics under the seat.

I had pretty much planned on leaving it at this point and was happy with it. My dad asked to borrow it for a ride with a couple friends and unfortunately there was an accident. He got banged up pretty good but has healed up nicely. The bike...well...

So here's where I am now.

I have another frame, I'd love to use the original sentimentally though. I have a Bandit rear, GSXR front Ohlins shocks and I bought an 1981 GS1100 for the motor. I've picked up a welded crank and GS750 oil pump gears for that so far with a huge shopping list still to check off. This will be a very slow build as finances allow. 

[Swiss Toni]

Jeezuussss!!! Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get outta bed!! I feel your pain! You must have the heart of a lion, to be able to go forward after all those setbacks. Keep the faith!  

[bluedog59]

Jeez !!  If it wasn't for bad luck, you wouldn't have any luck at all.

When you get it rebuilt (again), DON'T LEND IT TO ANYBODY !!!!!!!!!

[Rene EFE]

The very reason I don't lend out my EFE to anyone. It's not worth stupid money or uber-rare, but when it would go titsup, even not through rider error, it would fuck me up no end. 

[IanC]

I was pretty bummed about the bike initially but at the end of the day no matter how much I love it or what I've put into it, it's just a bike. Dad's here to help me rebuild it and that's the important thing. 

[Blubber]

i would like to think these things happen for a reason.... they want to be modified.

Can't wait for 5.0 

 

(glad everybody is alright now )