Looks like it is time to pull the front end apart on the old Suzuki. The fork seals are leaking so much that I can’t stand it anymore. Hopefully will have it back on the road this weekend.
Not sure how many of you know the story of this old bike. I bought it wrecked back in 1987 and slowly found the parts that I needed to get it back on the road. And by slowly I’m talking years. Not having much money but time to spare, I searched the junkyards and called the parts hotlines (no Internet back then kids). I put it together over the course of about 5 years and about the time I finished it I left to San Jose for college. In retrospect, not sure why I didn't bring it down there with me. How knows. I was riding at the time, my first bike, and worst bike, the notorious crap pile of a 1984 Suzuki GS550ES.
So I stored it at my Mom's house, didn’t drain the gas or oil and basically let it rot. Well college ended in 1992 and I left to South America for a couple years, then to work in Alaska and travel the world for a few more years. I finally settled in SF in 1997-ish and picked up the rotting hulk from Sacramento and put it in my apartment parking space.
Well another year or so later and I finally got inspired to do get it running again. What finally did it was that I went to the Guggenheim in Las Vegas to see the Art of the Motorcycle show and saw my bike, the rotting hulk, displayed as an exhibit in the museum. I waited so long that it was now an antique. So I tried to start it and it did run, like crap. Pouring black smoke out the back, no power… so I finally, finally realized I was never going to take the time or energy to sort it out. It only took me 15 years!
I made some calls and turns out a friend of a friend specializes in these bikes so I brought it to his shop and paid $1500 to have the cylinder head replaced and carbs rebuilt. $1500 to fix a bike that I had hauled around for 15 years. $1500 and I could have been riding it for over a decade. Morale of the story is don’t be cheap.
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