Thursday, November 26, 2020

1983 Suzuki GS1100G brat build

I've always had a motorcycle, and for most of my younger life, I've always needed a motorcycle, whether it be for low cost of transportation, or the simple thrill and joy of riding. I rode my Buell almost exclusively as my sole mode of transportation year-round for my final two years of College many years ago. Life lately hasn't afforded many opportunities to ride a motorcycle in the way I've always enjoyed riding. No long drives to work, no weekend travels with friends, far and few spur-of-the-moment joy rides through the mountains. So my last motorcycle was just an expensive thing in the way taking up garage space. I sold it. Then while mindlessly surfing the classifieds on the internet, I stumbled across this 80's heavy-metal beauty. plenty of power, comfy, and cheap! I figured I'd buy it, store it outside under a cover and ride it if I felt like it. It wouldn't be in the way and who cares if it sits outside, right?                                                                                       

                                      

I was attracted by its originality. I like naked bikes, and though this is from the early 80's, it still looks timelessly styled. 

Corvette C4's, the best and worst (almost)

 In the spring of 2019 the unthinkable happened: I bought another C4 Corvette. Even more unimaginable, it was a 1984- arguably the worst year for the C4. That's not to say that the '84 is a bad Corvette, far from it, just that it's got the lowest hp rated engine of the entire C4 line-up. The one I picked up had the "doug nash" 4+3 manual transmission and Z51 suspension. The Z51 "track" suspension included a quick ratio steering rack, large diameter sway bars,  extra stiff (bone-jarring) springs and staggered rim sizes. I got the car cheap because it had suffered years of neglect mechanically. The clutch was shot, the exhaust manifold gaskets were blown, oil leaks, 1,000 interior rattles, etc. 


The body and paint were very nice. I lowered it an inch and added slim wheel spacers at the rear to get the stance right. What I loved most about the 84 was it's total lack of modern safety gadgetry: No ABS, no Airbags, no Traction control, no 3rd brake light. The purest expression of mechanical C4 performance machinery.