1987 gb500tt

[Nausea]

The GB arrived today (thanks Biketranz), this is Paulo's old bike from Wellington that now has a new home up here in Auckland. She needs a bit of a tidy up so I'll start this weekend by giving her a thorough clean & then see what shows up. BTW, does anybody know why some GBs are all one colour like this one & others have silver guards - was that just a year thing?

Anyway, I'd love to hear from any other people who have owned GBs in the past who may be able to pass on some tips & tricks

[unstuck]

Nice bike. enjoy.

[Str8 Jacket]

Oh yummy, love GB's! Enjoy

[BuzzardNZ]

Looks mint for its age. Nice find.

I've owned 3 GB400's and things I learned from them:

1) Change oil often.

2) Starter motors can die, 2 of mine did, but who cares when you have a kick-start.

3) Cam chain may need to be replaced if high kms and getting a bit rattly.

I wish they'd release a new version, I'd get one.

[fridayflash]

cool bike man, i had one and did loads of kays on it, that thing was bloody fast on gravel too hehe. your front and rear guards have been re-painted i reckon, single seat is cool, thats what i had altho the dual seat has merit insomuch as it lets you sit two inches higher thus releiving the knees a bit lol

[Bender]

Ride it.
*****

[avgas]

Looks mint for its age. Nice find.

I've owned 3 GB400's and things I learned from them:

1) Change oil often.

2) Starter motors can die, 2 of mine did, but who cares when you have a kick-start.

3) Cam chain may need to be replaced if high kms and getting a bit rattly.

I wish they'd release a new version, I'd get one.

1) Yes! - I found Visco 5000 the best out of all the tests I did (allowed for cold starts better).
2) Yeah I didn't care after the second one went. Its really easy to kick over. You also start to not care about the battery being flat either.
3) Around the 100-120,000 km mark for me. Horrible task.

your front and rear guards have been re-painted i reckon, single seat is cool, thats what i had altho the dual seat has merit insomuch as it lets you sit two inches higher thus releiving the knees a bit lol

Yeah from recall guards were always silver. Side covers matched the tank.
Single seat looks cool but feels horrible after 15 minutes. The dual seat is a huge improvement.

[Nausea]

It came with both a single & double seat which is good... and starter motor is already dodgy.

What normally goes in the starters, is it the bushes or the solenoids or do they just die completely?

[avgas]

It came with both a single & double seat which is good... and starter motor is already dodgy.

What normally goes in the starters, is it the bushes or the solenoids or do they just die completely?

Yes.

Nothing in particular......different parts at different times. Generally when it dies its stuffed and cost of rebuild outweighs cost of replacement. (well for me 3 times).
Its rather exposed, runs high load and in not the best quality. So you might fix the bushes and 6 months latter find and electrical fault. Fix that and 6 months later find something else to fail on it.

[Wingnut]

Yes.

Nothing in particular......different parts at different times. Generally when it dies its stuffed and cost of rebuild outweighs cost of replacement. (well for me 3 times).
Its rather exposed, runs high load and in not the best quality. So you might fix the bushes and 6 months latter find and electrical fault. Fix that and 6 months later find something else to fail on it.

So they really did try and replicate british motorcycling then. Not just in styling but in reliability also....

[BuzzardNZ]

So they really did try and replicate british motorcycling then. Not just in styling but in reliability also....

Not true. Apart from the starter motor, the GB's are ultra reliable. I never had anything ( apart from normal wear and tear ) go wrong with any of mine. They kick over really easy, so most don't bother replacing the starter motor.

[Nausea]

The previous owner said the same thing about the kick-start

Do you recommend regular or super gas for these bikes?

I hope the weather improves so I can go for a blat over the weekend, typical having the rain come down now!

This one has Tomaselli aftermarket clip-ons & one side actually lightly touches the tank, do the standard clip-ons come that close to the tank too?

So many questions haha!

[BuzzardNZ]

The previous owner said the same thing about the kick-start

Do you recommend regular or super gas for these bikes?

I hope the weather improves so I can go for a blat over the weekend, typical having the rain come down now!

This one has Tomaselli aftermarket clip-ons & one side actually lightly touches the tank, do the standard clip-ons come that close to the tank too?

So many questions haha!

All mine ran on regular. I seem to recall that's what was recommended in the handbook. The good old GB's have a pretty decent sized tank on them , plus they run on the smell of an oily rag. Most economical bike I've ever owned.

I seem to recall dents in the tank from the stock clip-ons on one ( or more ) of mine.

How available are parts for these things now? Can you still get genuine ones?

[IkieBikie]

Do you recommend regular or super gas for these bikes?

I use higher octane petrol and runs fine

Have you got the workshop manual - if not I have one but in hard copy only

[avgas]

If setup properly the bars shouldn't touch the tank, this will break your wrist in a crash (DAMHIK). The tommo bars are about 1/2 inch longer from recall, so might just touch, what bar end weights are you running? or do you just have the enclosed grip on the end?
They can run 91-104 octane stock. But if your going to run 96+ more often I recommend an iridium plug. Less hassle and seems to help for some reason.

Yeah kicking is really easy. 1/4 choke, kick. Should start first time every time. If you kick 3 times and nothing, turn off choke and try kicking without......but I would suspect something else is up (like kill switch). Likewise engine is very reliable. If you remove the starter I have had bikes that haven't been serviced in decades and still work.