GS650G Katana

garyclem

garyclem

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Hi .......... Gary signing in, new to the forum. I am buying this bike (from Glenn near Colac) and looking forward to renewing a short lived relationship I had with a GS650G I bought new from Northcott Motorcycles Blacktown NSW in 1982. I have a 2015 Rocket as my 'normal' ride but like to have a bike in the garage that I can fiddle with. This Katana is a pretty tidy example as far as I can tell and mostly original except for the exhaust and blinkers. I plan to continue on with Glenn's restoration as best I can. From what I have learned so far, usable original exhausts are even rarer than rocking horse stuff so I am not sure what I will do. Does anyone know if the exhaust from other GS 650 models will bolt on. There seem to be plenty of these for sale on Ebay, some in very reasonable condition, and I was thinking about getting black chrome plating done. I have already managed to get some original blinkers in very good condition from QLD. I'm sure I will have lots of questions in the near future and I am also looking forward to being a contributing member of KOGA. Kind regards
 
Welcome to the Kat House Gary and apart from Ebay allot of the members phone Mick Hone Motorcycles in Melbourne and they are awesome on Parts. As for Northcott's i bought my brand new Suzuki GSX1100 EFE from them and i still am a Blacktown boy.
Nick
 
G'day Gary and welcome, there's a surprising number of GS650G owners and fans here. Enjoy and have fun, cheers Ian.
 
Nick Kakasiouris said:
....... a lot of the members phone Mick Hone Motorcycles in Melbourne and they are awesome on Parts ......
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many thanks Nick, rang em yesterday to get advice about oem bars and mirrors for the 650 cause I was having trouble making sense of the various part number changes over the decades. Steve could not have been more helpful. It sure was good to talk to someone who was genuinely interested, taking time to do some research and getting back to me as promised. Steve had the parts I bought ready for the post within the hour.
 
garyclem said:
many thanks Nick, rang em yesterday to get advice about oem bars and mirrors for the 650 cause I was having trouble making sense of the various part number changes over the decades. Steve could not have been more helpful. It sure was good to talk to someone who was genuinely interested, taking time to do some research and getting back to me as promised. Steve had the parts I bought ready for the post within the hour.
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That is Good news mate and any other questions post them on this forum as there are many members that will help.
Nick
 
Hi garyclem,

I love these bikes. Have four of them and enjoy working on them. They are easy. You can reach everything well.
Keep us up to date, how you go with your restoration.

Cheers, Shikuru
 
many thanks Shikuru .... I have replaced the aftermarket blinkers with a set of used OEM in good nick, replaced the chrome flat bars with new black euro style suzuki gs 500 bars, replaced the mirrors with NOS Suzuki Katana mirrors and have bought a NOS RH muffler from The Netherlands (classic suzuki parts) but no luck so far finding a matching LH muffler nos or a nice used. BTW Steve at Mick Hone has been a great help with advice and bits. I have also been fiddling around replacing or renovating rusty things. I did try to post a couple of pictures but I am having trouble because the resolution exceeds the allowance and I don't know (yet) how to reduce the photos from mega to kilo bytes. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
 
Nick Kakasiouris said:
Hey Gary will you be able to make SOO at Nambucca Heads in August.
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Yes Nick, thanks. I have just booked a unit at the White Albatross for Saturday night ........... I would like to ride up with you, if thats OK, just let me know a time and place to meet up.

The bike is going really well, even better than what I remember my first GS650G did in the early 80s (but to be fair I don't actually remember too much from the 80s, as it was a time when excess was never enough) Perhaps it is the Cycleworks exhaust ???? It certainly does sound glorious without be being unnecessarily loud.

I am very close to being finished with my part of the restoration (having continued on from the work of the PO) and I am just now waiting for the arrival of nos front brake hoses from the US. Until such time as I stumble across a nice OEM LH muffler, or one that can be saved (I have everything else), I will just enjoy riding the bike ......

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