GS1000S import, only 3800 miles, £2750ono... ran the advert. As it was fairly local I thought I'd take a look. At worst I’d have a quick blast on the brute. Trouble was as soon as I saw the beast I fell in love with it. Must’ve showed in my eyes because he wouldn't budge on the price. The test ride didn't dim my enthusiasm even though it was heavy, awkward and a bit loose in feel. The power poured in from 2500 revs, went hard at six grand. Lovely rustle from the rattle free motor. Even the tyres were OE Jap crap!
A week later I had the money together and was the proud owner of the pristine machine. For a short time it was one of fastest bikes in the UK, rivalling the big Kawasaki fours without their suicidal handling. A nice nostalgia trip, and all that, but also a practical set of wheels once I'd become used to shoving 500-odd pounds around. The GS’s heavy feel never really went away but it was far from dangerous, not the kind of machine that would bite back without any warning.
As an original spec machine there were some immediate failings. The calipers were crap in the wet unless the levers were continuously feathered to wipe the water off the discs (which lacked any holes or slots). The tyres were a bit plastic on damp roads and had cracks in their sidewalls - new Michelin rubber was top priority. The quarter fairing wobbled on its mounts and the right indicators flashed incoherently.
All things considered, though, I was happy with my new machine. Many peds gawped at the immaculate Suzuki and some told tales of their youthful exploits. If I had a quid for every time I was told the GS was the best bike they’d ever had I wouldn't need to do the lottery every week. Of course, they rapidly backed down when I told them how much it cost me!
The first real ride was a 250 mile round spin from London to Birmingham, using obscure back roads that I'd learnt by heart in my mis-spent youth. The GS was left in third or fourth for most of the time, just using the throttle to control the speed, thunderous acceleration and strong engine braking. Happy times. True, it needed muscle in the tighter bends but on the stickier rubber could be held over until something scraped the tarmac. Luckily, the bike didn’t try to throw itself off the road, she lurched gently on the slightly weak suspension - the forks look spindly enough to be rejected by most 250s, these days.
The bike turned in 55mpg on that trip, which was pretty much what I got on average. Well, I don’t do wheelies, donuts nor try for ten second standing starts. Just use the engine in its strongest power range without trying to float the valves. It would've been foolish to pay so much money for such an immaculate bike and then thrash it to death.
Naturally, I always did the oil every 1000 miles, as well as the usual servicing chores. And kept the chrome, alloy and paint well polished. Unfortunately, there was something wrong with the paint on the frame, every time there was a rainstorm splotches of rust emerged from under the paint, causing great scabs to fall off! On close examination, quite a bit of the frame had been patched with black paint. Perhaps standing in a damp garage for a decade had allowed moisture to seep into the frame. I kept patching it up, didn’t fancy stripping the whole thing down for powder coating... not with the weight of that 1000cc DOHC four cylinder motor.
This aside, the miles rolled up over the next three years, the clock reading 32000 miles when the first major problem turned up - the camchain started to rattle. This is a bit early for this machine, so full of hope I took the bike to the local mechanic who was kind enough to confirm that it was merely the automatic tensioner sticking, fixed cheaply and quickly. He offered me two grand for the machine, there and then, as it brought back pleasant memories of his own teenage days. I resisted the offer, the bike having gained cult status and being worth a bit more than that.
Tyres lasted for 8 to 10,000 miles. The heavy-duty O-ring chain and sprocket set I fitted did 18000 miles. Front pads around 8000 miles - I tried various makes in the hope of improving wet weather braking but they didn’t make any difference - it’s the design and composition of the discs that’s crap! Running costs, overall, were reasonable, no worse than most 550’s (in the context of relatively mild riding).
By 40000 miles both silencers were disintegrating. The downpipes still shone brightly so I had the choice of putting new cans on them or buying a whole new exhaust system. The silencers are welded to the downpipes but can be hacksawed off and universal silencers clipped on - the relatively mild power output means no jetting changes are needed. However, I wanted to keep my bike as stock as possible, so an eye was kept on the classifieds. A new, still in its packing, system was found for £125 in a private sale. The vendor had blown up his GS1000S at 98000 miles and, amazingly, slagged the machine off for not going around the clock. I wasn’t tempted to make him an offer for the bike as just about every component looked totally worn out.
By the time I'd fitted the exhaust the suspension had become a bit mushy. Nothing too dangerous, just a bit of weaving and wallowing above 90mph. I fitted heavy duty front springs and a pair of Koni shocks I just happened to have in the garage. The weaves and wallows went away, the only weak spot a bit of wear in the original swinging arm bearings. Problem was, once they started to wear, further degradation was very rapid and I ended up with a couple of millimetres of movement at the back end. Not a good idea on a bike of this mass!
Knock the swinging arm spindle out, thought I. It seemed to be rusted solidly in and only use of a sledgehammer finally freed it. A funny shape it was, too! I had to order a new one, and a set of bearings, which took three weeks to turn up. The whole lot went back together with a can of OF grease.
This was a hint that a lot of work was going to be needed to keep the GS in good shape. It is possible to run them into the ground, over say 30000 miles, until pure rat status is gained many GS's ended up like this. But it wasn’t a fate I really wanted to see my bike come to. On the other hand, I didn’t want to spend all my time fettling the chassis. So the bike was sold for £2250, quite a few calls and it went within a weekend. I was sad for a while but soon got back into things with a low mileage BMW R90S, a rather different kind of brute and a bit of a shock after the civilized GS1000.
Good ones are now too expensive and the high mileage ones too finicky - which means? Avoid unless you really yearn for one and can appreciate such a piece of motorcycle history.
J.K.R.