Handsome Brute

 

So, after NINE YEARS, the '86 GSX-R1100 project has advanced to the point where the bike is rideable and usable. Hallelujah!

So now looks like a good point to look back and ask, in the words of David Byrne, "well, how did we get here?"

The bike was bought back in 2008 as a light cosmetic restoration job. Of course once we got it back to the garage, it was found to have some serious mechanical needs as well - beyond what Dad and I were capable of as not-even-shade-tree-level mechanics. So we ordered factory-repro decals from the UK and after accumulating some panels that were missing, sent the works out for paint. We also had to buy some parts (many parts) - rear fender that had been cut, proper indicators to replace the stuck-on jobs, new subframe, clear windscreen, etc... We also sent the wheels to be powdercoated back to black.

The bike was consigned to a local bike shop for work... that took ages. I think the bike was in the shop for something like three years (!) and we only got it back when the franchise dealer closed (!!)

The panels came back from the painter (one of those guys who uses the boss's booth on the weekends, you know the sort) and while the job was "OK", the panels weren't cleared over so the gloss from decal to panel was not uniform. This would not do, so I sent the panels back to a real shop to get cleared. That was in 2013.

While Dad and I had the best of intentions to "just take a weekend and get this thing back on the road," logistics and the distance between Winnipeg and Brandon made this tough. We'd maybe get one or two days a summer to work on the bike, and often ran into roadblocks that stopped us cold. I'd ordered a new MAC exhaust to replace the rusty stock unit, but the MAC headers didn't fit properly and that stymied us. Carbs needed rebuilding and were sent away, returned and sat on a shelf, when they were finally installed (5 years later!) they had stuck together from sitting. That kind of thing.

So on our work day this year, we fitted up the D&D exhaust and just failed to get the machine running (the stuck carbs issue). So I said to Dad, let's just give the bike to Scott (buddy who runs the Suzuki/Kawasaki shop in Brandon) and get him to get it running. And so we did.

The bike was done last week so I took the bus in to Brandon (!!) and we picked up the bike yesterday (Saturday). We got it home and fitted the panels with new hardware from Speedy Fasteners, and it was ready for the run back to Winnipeg. Two and a half hours of pleasant riding later (we took our time with stops) the machine was tucked up in my garage in Winnipeg meeting its new stablemates!

Gotta love the instrumentation - 280kph speedo (!) and a tach that starts at 3,000rpm (!!)

The office. It's funny - the 1100 was described in the moto-press of the day as being almost too radical to ride on the street. The riding position was said to be racetrack-ready and murder on knees, neck and back... however I have to say it didn't bother me overly on the ride back to Winnipeg. My foot did fall asleep a couple of times and the pegs are quite high, but the stretch to the bars is manageable for me, and the monstrous bubble of the windscreen certainly keeps the wind off.

"Hyper Sports" indeed! Back in the day the GSX-R1100 was touted as making 130hp with a weight of 434lbs... some stunning numbers indeed. However magazine testers dyno'd the machine at under 100hp at the wheel (the ultra-restrictive exhaust system had something to do with this) and weighed it up wet at about 500lbs. I can vouch for this, as pushing the bike around it seems heavier than the R1 or 848.

Acronyms abounded in the glorious 1980s! "SACS" of course stands for "Suzuki Advanced Cooling System", the air/oil cooling method employed in the 1052cc powerplant. Suzuki engineers saved weight and complexity by opting away from liquid cooling for the engine and instead implemented a sophisticated oil-cooling system, with lubricant sprayed at the underside of the pistons and other hot spots. Heat was evacuated from the oil by circulating it through a large oil cooler at the front of the bike.

Nice view of the D&D aftermarket exhaust system here, too. As noted, the stock system's restrictive design robbed the engine of horsepower. The D&D restores some of that power and weighs much less than stock - the tradeoff is noise and plenty of it. At idle it sounds like a pitbull gargling broken glass and as it revs out, a banshee wail...

What's it like to ride? Well, compared to the super sportbikes of nowadays, surprisingly civilized. It idles well, and pulls from low rpm like a liter-bike should. You could ride it around town all day and never see more than 3,000rpm, and still see off any pesky traffic as necessary. On the highway it is supremely stable with its long-ish wheelbase and 18" wheels. Lay it into a sweeping corner and it just tracks imperturbably through. I'm sure it can go mental with the best of them but frame and suspension technology have moved on a lot in 30 years.

I'm really glad we opted back to the blue and white stock colour scheme. I'd considered other liveries, including Skoal Bandit green or even a Barry Sheene GP-bike tribute (with DAF Truck and Men Only magazine sponsorship, naturally)

But in the end, there's really nothing that can beat the iconic blue-and-white traditional Suzuki colour scheme.

Here's a good pic of the fuzzy line left by the painter... grr. Nice crisp decal though :-)

So what's the verdict on this hyper-sports monster, 30 years on? Well, I find it surprising civilized to ride. It feels like a softer modern sportbike. Plusher than the 900SS/SP but with a similar simple/vintage vibe, I could see touring on this bike - all it needs is maybe some slightly lower footrests. The front brakes are phenomenal for a 31-year-old machine, as well. It makes a great noise and people seem to love it. On Saturday I was approached two separate times by guys who saw it and wanted to talk about it. For me, that's cool, because a lot of what I love about motorcycling is talking to folks about their bikes.

There's a few things left yet to do, of course. I have to order a bolt and nut for the passenger footrest as I stripped the threads off the original (don't ask). New mirrors have been ordered to replace the painted ones on the machine. There's a bit of marring on the frame (covered in the pics by the Motul decal) that I have to address somehow, but I have some ideas.

I think it's a keeper :-)

Thanks to:

TransCanada Motorsport: http://www.transcanadamotorsport.com/
Urban Autobody: http://www.urbanautobody.com/index.html
Speedy Fasteners: http://www.speedyfasteners.com/
the oil-cooled forum at Gixxer.com, especially the Oil-Cooled Classified Ads
and...
my long-suffering Dad for hanging in there with this project. It's finally done!