Got the motorcycle on the road!

(Michael, 19th April 1999)
Got my motorcycle on the road last weekend and had a BLAST! Road it from Ottawa to Hawksbury, then across the Ottawa River (nice new bridge!) and back to Hull on the 148 then home. It was a breezy, sunny, glorious day and there were many other bikes on the road. I've never seen so many bitch'n custom Harleys in my life! This place is crawling with them... but not a single one could keep up with the GS... there's gotta be some compensation for us poor riders who can't afford Milwakee Iron (smile). My bike is a 20 year old Suzuki GS1000ET... the first 'Superbike'. If you want to find out more about the GS models and thier history, try here: GS Resources. I purchased this bike late in the season last year, going 'halves' with my Stepfather, Paul. We only paid $800, and although it was technically rideable, I didn't ride it until I had gone over every inch of the machine, and fixed all the obvious worn parts. Unfortunately there were a lot of worn parts. Although the bike only had 32,000 km on the clock, it had (obviously) been around for 20 years, and in the last four or five it was not looked-after very well. I purchased so many parts for the bike, that the local Suzuki dealer started to wonder about my sanity. It needed:

  • A new Regulator (Electrex) $75 US
  • A new Stator (Electrex) $100 US
  • A new Clutch Main Drive (Moto Sport Plus Suzuki) $450 CAN
  • All new Brake Pads (EBC) $85 CAN
  • New Steering Head bearings...both of them! (Moto Sport Plus Suzuki) $55 CAN
  • New Rubber-bits for both Front and Back Brake Master Cylinders (Moto Sport Plus Suzuki) $250 CAN
  • Machine Bolts, 9.9 rated (Ottawa Fastener Co.) $5 CAN
  • A Custom fabricated 4-into-2 exhaust section, to salvage the stock pipes (A Magician in Embrun did this) $30 CAN
  • A New rear Tire - Metzler eh?! (Cycle Salvage) $205 CAN
  • Battery, Epoxy, bolts, engine-oil, silicone gasket, grease, paint, more paint (Canadian Tire) $280 CAN
  • Gaskets galore, Spark Plugs, Cam Spacers (Moto Sport Plus Suzuki) $250 CAN
  • New K&N High-Flow air filter (K&N) $52 CAN
  • Larger Main Jets (Ottawa Goodtime Center Kawasaki) $10 CAN
  • Chain Wax (Wheelsport Honda-Yamaha) $12 CAN
  • Engine Protection bars (Purchased from a guy in BC, welded by the Embrun Magician) $35 CAN
  • New Throttle cable and new clutch cable (Moto Sport Plus Suzuki) $65 CAN
  • Vinyl to cover seat (Rockland Textiles) $30 CAN
    • ...what a list!! And it didn't stop when I got all of those parts either! I installed them all myself over the course of several weeks... alright I confess: months. But last weekend, I completed the renovations, and the result is GREAT! I added up the cost of everything and it came to $2835 CAN... you might think that is not cheap for a 20 year old machine, but I have a different opinion. I know that the bike is in good shape. I know it because I've take it apart and checked everything, and replaced the worn bits. I know I can rely on this machine now, and for that confidence and a 1000cc Superbike, $2835 seems like a pretty good deal. Of course I still had to purchase a licence and insurance, but I would have to do that for any bike, therefore I don't include that in the calculation of the bike's worth.

    I would be glad to share my acquired knowledge of the 1980 GS1000ET, so if you have a question, drop me a line. I also have experience with Yamaha XV1000 (Virago), Kawasaki BJ550 (Zephyr), Harley-Davidson XL883 (Sportster) and Suzuki GS1200S (Bandit)

    Home