GL1200 Standard back from the abyss....

A few years ago I bought this pile of junk.
She was barely running, tyres were shot, lots of tin worm brakes stuck on etc.
She was what we call a 'garden bike'
She had spent the previous several years outdoors.

Of course, you all know what she is. A GL1200E standard. Made for the 1984 model year only.
Pretty rare over here, I would have walked away except that I heard her running.

They say that you wait all day for a bus and then two come along together.
I had just been to see this one in the UK.
The guy was looking for £2950 for her, but she had some issues too that would cost some money to solve.
Here she is. As a little competition, can you tell me what you see wrong with this bike?

I decided to go with the heap. I could see that she had potential under all the tat.
She did cost a lot less money, I ended up paying 1250 Euros (about $1500). Am I crazy? Probably.
Here she is when I brought her home.

I set about removing all the surplus bits and after all was removed she looked like this:

I had a bunch of brake parts in stock that I bought from ebay a while before.
I had all the calipers and master cylinders that came off an Interstate.
I have a pretty big yard which is on 2 levels and I wanted to test drive her around
to see what else may be wrong. There was a problem with the clutch too
so I fitted the master cylinder from the Interstate on her and bled out the system.
I got some feel in the clutch but it would not disengage. Finally after some shunting it did disengage
and I got to ride her up and down to get her up to temperature. Everything seemed to work
but the battery was not being charged. Looking at the state of the wiring loom it was not surprising.

Before I started her up I decided to check a few things.
I slipped off the timing belt covers to have a look at the belts and they seemed fine.
They were going to be replaced as a matter of course.
I went to check the oil level and this is what was in the dipstick hole:

An interesting thing about this bike is the serial number which ends in 279. The numbers started at 100 so she was #179 off the line in 1983

Nice project :good:

Nice project! Looks like fun! :yes:

[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=142219#p142219:3fsz5qmk said:

Lemen » Sun Mar 01, 2015 4:36 pm[/url]":3fsz5qmk]
They say that you wait all day for a bus and then two come along together.
I had just been to see this one in the UK.
The guy was looking for £2950 for her, but she had some issues too that would cost some money to solve.
Here she is. As a little competition, can you tell me what you see wrong with this bike?

Click to expand...

Non stock headlight ears and front signal lights. I believe the english / American term for garden bike is yard ornament.

[url=https://forum.classicgoldwings.com/viewtopic.php?p=142232#p142232:eg14i1lv said:

slabghost » Sun Mar 01, 2015 11:01 pm[/url]":eg14i1lv]

[url=https://www.classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=142219#p142219:eg14i1lv said:

Lemen » Sun Mar 01, 2015 4:36 pm[/url]":eg14i1lv]
They say that you wait all day for a bus and then two come along together.
I had just been to see this one in the UK.
The guy was looking for £2950 for her, but she had some issues too that would cost some money to solve.
Here she is. As a little competition, can you tell me what you see wrong with this bike?

Click to expand...

Non stock headlight ears and front signal lights. I believe the english / American term for garden bike is yard ornament.

Click to expand...

You are correct, but there is more.

Is that a slice in the front tire?

[url=https://forum.classicgoldwings.com/viewtopic.php?p=142236#p142236:20ypybr1 said:

dan filipi » Sun Mar 01, 2015 11:48 pm[/url]":20ypybr1]
Is that a slice in the front tire?

Click to expand...

It could well be. I didn't buy anyway. Front and rear hardware were wrong. Rear grabrail gone. Try finding one of those.
Somebody painted her that red colour. It is a nice red, but not the right red.
1200 Standard was sold in only 2 colours, Black or Wineberry red.

[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=142219#p142219:19iadpw8 said:

Lemen » Sun Mar 01, 2015 4:36 pm[/url]":19iadpw8]
Here she is. As a little competition, can you tell me what you see wrong with this bike?

Click to expand...

What is that under the radiator filler cap? Seeing that the grab rail is not for a Standard, the headlight and both the front and rear turn signals are not stock for a 1984, that looks like it might be a convert to a Standard or a Standard to a Dresser and back to a Standard again.

The dip stick is missing hopefully they didn't ruin the threads.
Looks like a good project.

[url=https://forum.classicgoldwings.com/viewtopic.php?p=142357#p142357:1ufcqr56 said:

brianinpa » Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:38 pm[/url]":1ufcqr56]

[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=142219#p142219:1ufcqr56 said:

Lemen » Sun Mar 01, 2015 4:36 pm[/url]":1ufcqr56]
Here she is. As a little competition, can you tell me what you see wrong with this bike?

Click to expand...

What is that under the radiator filler cap? Seeing that the grab rail is not for a Standard, the headlight and both the front and rear turn signals are not stock for a 1984, that looks like it might be a convert to a Standard or a Standard to a Dresser and back to a Standard again.

Click to expand...

That thing under the radiator filler cap is the road tax disc.
I am not sure Brian why they were changed or why she was repainted.

[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=142219#p142219:4qnc1752 said:

Lemen » Sun Mar 01, 2015 4:36 pm[/url]":4qnc1752]
They say that you wait all day for a bus and then two come along together.
I had just been to see this one in the UK.
The guy was looking for £2950 for her, but she had some issues too that would cost some money to solve.
Here she is. As a little competition, can you tell me what you see wrong with this bike?

Click to expand...

I know whats wrong with it, there's no fairing and its not in your garage.... :hihihi:

Good to see the grape ape coming along, that is what I have decided to name your project...

No crash bars on standard First thing I put on both of mine also both one of first 200 in 83 :good:

[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=142547#p142547:t1gdmq1m said:

bronko37 » Fri Mar 06, 2015 4:23 pm[/url]":t1gdmq1m]

[url=https://classicgoldwings.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=142219#p142219:t1gdmq1m said:

Lemen » Sun Mar 01, 2015 4:36 pm[/url]":t1gdmq1m]
They say that you wait all day for a bus and then two come along together.
I had just been to see this one in the UK.
The guy was looking for £2950 for her, but she had some issues too that would cost some money to solve.
Here she is. As a little competition, can you tell me what you see wrong with this bike?

Click to expand...

I know whats wrong with it, there's no fairing and its not in your garage.... :hihihi:

Good to see the grape ape coming along, that is what I have decided to name your project...

Click to expand...

Grape ape, eh? Love it. :yahoo: