Crash course in airheads for overland r80gs

I’ll reiterate,my earlier comments,
You have restored a few bikes so not trying to teach you to suck eggs,.
I’ve just taken a good look at a 92 para gs,
Customer paid £7k plus from a dealer.
On closer inspection and later strip unearths the demons and bodges.
It won’t be a cheap bike when done.
Either buy cheap and restore properly,
Buy a restored bike from someone with a good reputation,
Or take your chance,
I’ve seen bikes with 15 k miles on with knackered (rust)cams due to standing,when fired up the Shiite off the cams goes through the oil pump and scraps that,the debris from that blocks the filter then the crank gets it..
Don’t want to be doom and gloom but ,,you need to know your stuff with airheads..:thumb2

And this just goes to reinforce the thought that a bike is more reliable if it is used and nothing likes standing around just being admired. Those machines with what seems like high mileages ( a modern motorcyclist thinks 100,000 miles is high!) are often a much better proposition, to reach those mileages they must have been looked after....
 
Indeed mate my 650ss was used by the previous owner since he bought it since new an I've used it every day since then even in the snow an fog an all sorts an she's been perfect.

The Commando I bought had been supposibly professionally restored an used as a show bike but they didn't get all the blast media out of the head an it took it through the engine when I started to use her luckily we caught it just at the right time.
She should be back on the road next year can't wait for that.

I'm really leaning towards the r80's guys on the r80g/s is there any sure tells that they are proper g/s an not any of the other models from that era dressed up to look like one? gonna keep looking at the 1989 80gs an 100gs to as they are super cool.

On the Norton's they have a prefix which relates to the models.Just starting to do a bit of googling about.

Saw that they have matching numbers on some years.
 
When we returned from our Africa trip it’s fair to say the old girl needed a bit of love and with children arriving at regular intervals, she’s been laid up for 3 to 4 years a couple of times but she has never had a full engine rebuild (top end a couple of times). Regular oil and filter changes probably help. I’d still ride it to the end of the earth tomorrow - the oil light goes out instantly, no odd noises, small amount of vibration from the shaft sometimes but that’s been going on for 20-30k miles and hasn’t got any worse. I have to say that I take the view that engines/vehicles age but it doesn’t necessarily mean that they need to be rebuilt as new. In the day job I’m well aware when a roof looks a bit suspect but also if you start f’ing about with it (fitting Velux windows etc.) it will definitely need replacing sooner - good work for me but a lot of expense for the owner.

R80gs is a paralever (87- 94?) R80g/s is a monolever (81-86?) great bikes, I have one, but less useful for overland trips imo.
 
Hi Chas thanks again for the very informative reply yep I agree it's amazing what a bit of a fettle can do one of the bikes I had the most fun on was an rd250lc I just did the top end oil pump an set up on her crank was in spec so didn't need doing, used to thrash her everywhere once warmed of course the new owner the last time I spoke to him is having epic fun with it still was a great bike but needs must at the time when I sold her :)

May I ask why you find the Monolever r80g/s less useful for overland trips than the Paralever GS? Trying to get my head round the advantages and disadvantages to them both :)
 
The g/s is physically quite small - this is a personal phobia and the same reason why I think the R9T is a toy. Anyway, the g/s also has less than ideal front suspension and a fairly weak rear subframe. Main problem, however, is they go for silly money these days :)
 
Calling Mikeyboy

Just go all in and get one of these.....
 

Attachments

  • 18B4445F-9134-4981-AA14-BEC598C8C959.jpg
    18B4445F-9134-4981-AA14-BEC598C8C959.jpg
    255 KB · Views: 122
That looks nice Tetley - what fuel tank is that?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
Thanks guys that's some great info love that Tetley :) Kalahari with a monolever drive ? :beerjug: slowly learning.

Are the rear subframes interchangeable between the different bikes? Was reading about the weak subframe on the r80g/s inline with what Chasf said.
 
I think all the g/s and gs’s had the squarer, stronger covers from the factory but a lot have been swapped out for the rounded design.
 
Think you chaps need to take a closer look at the bike,
It started life as an ST,,
Now 1000cc
It has ktm 690 forks fitted to bespoke yokes.
Extended swing arm by 100 mm.
Reinforced subframe,
Etc etc etc:cool:
 

Attachments

  • AACCDF0E-C758-4824-90F3-E30A37F6E8D5.jpg
    AACCDF0E-C758-4824-90F3-E30A37F6E8D5.jpg
    228.7 KB · Views: 132
Mickeyboy. the standard of work you do to a bike and what you turn them into is really amazing. I would never buy one as nice as the one pictured above though because, it is too nice to ride. That is beautiful, made for a purpose and meant for a off road rider as good as the bike. I'm not. ;) If I was wealthy enough, I would ask you to build me something really special but not so much off road orientated though. :bow
 
Epic work Mickey so what's the easiest way to tell the difference between an st turned into a g/s an a g/s are the engine numbers in a different range?
 

Attachments

  • DFC342E5-2D16-475E-8E48-2176A048606D.jpeg
    DFC342E5-2D16-475E-8E48-2176A048606D.jpeg
    132 KB · Views: 117


Back
Top Bottom