This is how I spent my summer. A guy with a 1986 Suzuki GSXR 750 R Limited Edition just dropped into my son’s business, “Trackstar Motorsports” trackstar1.com on the net (shameless plug), and said he wanted to sell it. The kid gives me a call and asked if I wanted to restore a bike. “Sure” says the old man “I’ll come and take a look at it”. What I saw wasn’t very pretty. It had been out in the sun and then in a barn for the last 10+ years and I don’t think it had been started for at least that long. There are some pictures of it at the bottom after it was pressure washed by the guy selling it.
I really had no idea what I was looking at and told my son that the bike was really not what I was looking for as a project. He promptly pulled up some info on the LE and then I got real interested. Apparently the guy selling The bike had no idea what he had either as I got for next to nothing. We put in fresh gas and charged the battery. It started!!! To make a long story short I bought the dirty bugger and then the fun began.
We had a great time restoring it and I even started having fun finding the parts we needed (yes, that can be fun if you drink enough). With my son’s help on the mechanical side and a really good painter by the name of Adam Paul at Time Warp MC in Ogden, UT we ended up with a very nice restoration. The bike is all there and runs really strong (scares the hell out of me and I haven’t even ridden it). I can see and hear why everyone goes nuts over the dry clutch.
Anyway that’s how I spent my summer and now I will part with the Gixxer and move on to the next challenge. I can guarantee it won’t be a 25 year old barn find though. Or maybe it will be if I get really lucky again. The 86 LE will be for sale in the near future.
That’s my story and I’m stickin to it.
Best,
R Rees
I really had no idea what I was looking at and told my son that the bike was really not what I was looking for as a project. He promptly pulled up some info on the LE and then I got real interested. Apparently the guy selling The bike had no idea what he had either as I got for next to nothing. We put in fresh gas and charged the battery. It started!!! To make a long story short I bought the dirty bugger and then the fun began.
We had a great time restoring it and I even started having fun finding the parts we needed (yes, that can be fun if you drink enough). With my son’s help on the mechanical side and a really good painter by the name of Adam Paul at Time Warp MC in Ogden, UT we ended up with a very nice restoration. The bike is all there and runs really strong (scares the hell out of me and I haven’t even ridden it). I can see and hear why everyone goes nuts over the dry clutch.
Anyway that’s how I spent my summer and now I will part with the Gixxer and move on to the next challenge. I can guarantee it won’t be a 25 year old barn find though. Or maybe it will be if I get really lucky again. The 86 LE will be for sale in the near future.
That’s my story and I’m stickin to it.
Best,
R Rees
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