86 GSXR 750 R LE Restoration

[randyrees]

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

 

[Throttlejockey]

Wow! That thing looks nice now. I remember when those first came out. I had a friend that bought one.
Another friend of mine still has an 1100.

 

[RaYzerman]

Very nice....... make sure you go on a couple of test rides before it goes.... hope you do well on the sale.

 

[sirepair]

Lots of those went straight to the race track back in their day! You rarely saw one on the road. To find one that has been sleeping in a barn, well, that's cool!

I remember putting one back together with a soldering gun and duct tape in the pits at Daytona. My buddy Fred had crashed in practice, coming out of the infield heading up onto the high-banks. Broke off the pegs, levers, etc and busted just about every piece of plastic on it.

He checked out OK and we went to work on the bike. Got him back on the track for the next practice session. Sadly, he did not qualify for the 200. But we had a great time!

 

[STBernard]

I bought and restored another bike of that era, the 1986 VFR Interceptor. But I did it with full intention of keeping it in the stable. The GSXers, the Yamaha's, the Kawi's and of course Honda were all well into the scene of the mid 80's. I purchased a new '86 VFR750 when they first came out and enjoyed the track scene and cutting edge then.

You did a great job on that time machine and a bet a few of the newer 600 class riders that were not even born yet (when built) will be in for an awakening getting smoked by a 24 year old bike.

 

[sirepair]

Hey, I found a picture of my buddies, Fred Giaimo and Mike Landrum (Mike was best man in my wedding) racing Gixxers at Mid-Ohio!! Kewl!

Note the custom-made ram air intakes (Castrol oil bottles cut up) on Mike's #116.

 

[Bones]

Looks great. I remember a ride around Sebago Lake in the late 1980's on a brandy-new 750 Gixxer...let's just say Bart's bike was noticeably faster than the CM400E I had at the time.

Enjoy that toy.

 

[randyrees]

I bought and restored another bike of that era, the 1986 VFR Interceptor. But I did it with full intention of keeping it in the stable. The GSXers, the Yamaha's, the Kawi's and of course Honda were all well into the scene of the mid 80's. I purchased a new '86 VFR750 when they first came out and enjoyed the track scene and cutting edge then.

You did a great job on that time machine and a bet a few of the newer 600 class riders that were not even born yet (when built) will be in for an awakening getting smoked by a 24 year old bike.

Thank you for your compliment and I wish I had balls enough to do a track day at Miller on that badboy but it won't happen. The damned thing scares me just running it up in my shop. It does have an EVIL sounding power plant.

Best,

 

[randyrees]

Hey, I found a picture of my buddies, Fred Giaimo and Mike Landrum (Mike was best man in my wedding) racing Gixxers at Mid-Ohio!! Kewl!

Note the custom-made ram air intakes (Castrol oil bottles cut up) on Mike's #116.

Great picture! I hope you don't mind that I copied it for the GIXXER album.

Best,