My Suzuki GSX-R 750, a complete history: Road Trip

Well . . . I realized one day after all of these 200 - 300 mile rides that I had NEVER done a real "Road trip" on this bike in all the years that I had owned her. I started thinking that I would like to ride this bike to Denver from San Antonio . . . well . . . the bike would need a lot of work . . . but would she make it???? I managed to hit a real good sale at Cycle Gear and picked up an Alpinestars tank bag along with some Ogio saddlebags and a tail pack. Everything would have to fit in these . . .

I knew this bike needed a lot of work to be able to make it there. First order of business was tires. I also ordered new front rotors from Bike Bandit during their annual brake sale and pads all around. The used 1100 rotors I had put on there back in 2003 were worn past spec. I re-installed the ORIGINAL 750 wheels with the Sport Demons and tires sizes close to stock specs.

Other things needed to be replaced as well. The clutch was starting to show signs of slipping. Went ahead and replaced that. Other items replaced for the trip were the Speedo cable, misc missing bolts/screws and also the original rearsets were re-installed to give the saddlebags a better mounting platform. Went through the machine and did the prerequisite once over as well: Valve adjustment, oil change, new plugs, chain clean & lube and the break-in of the rotors.

After seeing how the saddlebags would fit, I decided to remove the nice rear panels and replace them with my well-worn originals. Turned out to be a good idea. I also replaced the original license plate mount and light that had been removed for track use.

The bags mounted up and lined up just like they were made for the bike. Turned out to be a really good fit.

The bike was ready. Everything I could do to ensure the bike would make it I did. Also bought some rain gear and other supplies for the road. I would be taking a full set of tools and a spare CDI box and spare throttle cable "just in case". I also picked up an Airhawk Cruiser Pillion inflatable seat pad. I heard real good things about them and figured I'd give it a shot. It also lifted me about an inch off the seat giving my legs/lower back a rest.

Here is the trip report as posted on Maximum Suzuki:

Day 1: We rolled out at about 5:15 on Sun am trying to beat the heat. Pushed it real hard the first few stops trying to beat the heat as much as possible. We managed pretty well until we started rolling into OKlahoma. That's when the heat started rolling in a bit. Didn't see any dead Amadillos in TX, but when we rolled into OK, they were everywhere. Hmmmm . . . we were hydrating big time. Lots of water and gatorade at every stop.

North of OKC I damn near ran over a snapping turtle that was in my lane. WTF? TURTLE? Where the hell did that come from??? Lorie said I missed him by about an inch or so. I had to dodge him by a quick flick of the bars. I thought I was getting tired and imagining things. We made it to Wichita which was the inital goal, but there WAS still daylight . . . ate at Applebees for a cool-off. We decided to cut the breaks down to 50-miles and we would ride until it was dark. Lorie mentioned a pool to swim in when we stopped. I saw a Comfort inn with a pool and hot tub! YES! Rolled in as the light was almost gone about 9:20 p.m. 720-miles and about 16-hours later. We wanted to push it hard to help keep the hours down on day two. Both bikes ran great which was good news. Hot tub really helped as did the cold pool. Weren't so sore as we thought.

Day 2: Woke up to fog and a lot of static humidity. Rolled out at about 6:45 a.m. I still have a glitch in the electrical harness where one of the cylinders wants to cut out. Dunno if it is a plug wire or something more in the harness. We got on the highway and the fog got worse and worse. I'm talking massive euro-fog the likes which I haven't seen since I was in Germany. Visibility was down to about 100-yards or less. My helmet was getting really fogged out inside and out, as were my glasses. I had to stop at one point to clean off my glasses and windscreen. Kinda scary shit pulling off the road like that. I was dealing with that and also dealing with the engine cutting out. We rode like this for close to 100-miles with the fog and engine issues. It got so bad at one point I yanked the harness and it stopped for a while. After Hays KS, the temps rose a bit and we finally got out of most of the fog. The cutting out issue eventually went away and the bike ran fine. We dealt with wicked sidewinds the rest of the trip up. No biggie and I was expecting it. Both bikes ran fine. Temps rose a bit but the lack of humidity was refreshing.

After riding through the fog. In Hays, KS.

About 100-miles out We stopped for gas. Met up with a guy on a decked out BMW GS who had passed us earlier. We got to talking and he scrunched his face as he looked at my bike and said “That’s real man's touring right there”. He basically thought I was nuts. Also ran into a guy on a Bandit 1200 from Alaska. We talked a bit and was glad “someone” (meaning me) had some taste in bikes HA! Ride into town was uneventful until we pulled off the highway a few miles from home. We hit a major intersection with a traffic light on the “stop and go” mode. My bike started overheating bad. Clutch started grabbing and stalling the motor. I pulled off and tried to find another way home. Almost got hit by a car because I couldn’t pull the clutch in. Lories bike started running super hot as well.

Needless to say, after a mile or two of air across the motor, the clutch started working OK and we made it. Tank was blistering hot at the house. Fuel vapors under the tank bag blistered the clearcoat on the tank. I had to scrape it all away so that it wouldn’t fall into the tank. I was a little concerned, but I rode the bike this morning and she ran fine. Tank hasn’t been that hot since a ride down the 80 back from Sacto in 2002 when I got caught in rush hour traffic and blistered my leg insides. Nuts, but I think bike is OK. Just kinda sucked after all that riding to have that happen at a f**king stoplight. Oh well. Mom brought out two Heineken’s for us and handed them off before we were even off the bikes! Mom rocks! We rode 1175 miles in two days. 720 the first day, the rest the second.

Mom hooked us up with some Heinekens after we made it to Denver.

Turns out the heat from the stoplight and all the riding she was about a quart-and-a-half low on oil. I got her topped off the next day and she ran just fine.

Deer Creek Canyon.

We decided that after a day of rest, the rides would begin! Headed out and hit Deer Creek Canyon, through Tiny Town, rode into Turkey Creek Canyon then up HWY 285 to Aspen Park then Conifer.

Tiny Town, CO

The ride was a whole lot of fun, and I hadn't ridden in Colorado since 1997. It was nice revisiting some of my old haunts.

Aspen Park, CO

Rolling up and down the hill brought back a lot of memories. The bike ran real well with no issues except for the occasional glitch of the cylinder cutting out. I was going to have to track that down sooner or later.

Past Bailey CO stopping to take some photos of the mountains.

My Suzuki GSX-R 750, a complete history: Colorado Trip

The trip report continues:

After some nice riding in and around the foothills of Denver, we were going to head out to join the family in Buena Vista for some campling and trail riding with a Pinzgauer group. The ride up was fine, except that nagging cut-out issue and the carbs not wanting to run right due to the increased elevation. Don't know if that was due to the carbs not really being synched, or them being made out of other sets of carbs, or that the motor is pretty darn old. Most likely a combination of all of those. Regardless, I had to adjust the idle every time we stopped. When we pulled over along US 285 to shoot some photos, I was paranoid that I wouldn't be able to get her started again. Luckily after a bit of massaging the throttle, I was able to. I remembered NOT to park anywhere again on a flat surface "just in case" I needed to push start her.

Parked at the top of Kenosha Pass.

Luckily, the idle adjustments worked well and after a couple of stops and some beautiful riding, we made it to the campground.

Working on the "cutting out" issue.

I was headed out for a beer run a little bit later. The store was a couple of miles away. Unfortunately on the way back, that cutting out issue turned in to a non-firing cylinder issue. And this being the ONE TIME on the WHOLE trip I didn't bring my full-on tool set. Weel, my guardian angel was watching out for me because my dad DID have his tools. I had some basic tools, and he had the rest. I figure the issue had to be in the spark plug wires . . . at least I hoped so. As we got the bike pulled apart, Lorie noticed that the #1 wire was arcing against the valve cover. You could hear it, but she saw it. Turns out when I did the plug change, I left jut an 1/8-inch bit of center lead sticking out of the boot that covers the plug. I went ahead and pulled the wire, cut the lead down and reassembled it. That did the trick and I had NO problems with it the rest of the trip.

Pull-over near Bailey, CO.

After a day of riding the Pinzgauers in the wilderness and enjoying spending some time with the family, we were off and headed back to Denver. Made a couple of nice stops along the way, one being along US 285 below Bailey along the river.

Having a beer and cigar after the mountain ride.

We made it back and I finally felt like I got my "mountain-riding" legs back under me. Too much flat-land city riding the past few years. It felt real good. The bike ran great and we dodged a rainstorm on the way home.

One of the views during the Pinzgauer excursion.

All-in-all, the trip was rolling along maginficently. I was pleasantly surprised that how well the old Suzi kept running.

Next Page

---

GSX-R Home | GSX-R Links

---

GSX-R index: 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

---