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This bike is clearly going to be a ginger, so she'll now be known as Ginger - Ginger Lynn.

What's the GL stand for anyway? I've read Great Leap, which I like - except for the not-so-pleasant association with Chairman Mao's Great Leap Forward. There's Grande Luxe. Go Long. Get Lost. And...

Ginger Lynn.

I took advantage of the 75-degree day on Saturday to spray the clear over my shiny orange panels, which of course made them shiny! The left side cover will need some sanding and a respray, as the wind kicked up and blew some plastic onto it while it was still tacky. it looks great, but a close inspection reveals some imperfections I'll deal with in about a week.

I'm going to let the clear cure a bit before a wet sand and polish, which needs to happen before I affix the Honda badges to the shelter sides.

But I rolled her out of the shed - finally - and bolted on the panels for a "dress rehearsal" of sorts.

And I snuck her out for a little 5-mile run down the road and back. I've got a little stumbling, rough running under load below maybe 3k. (I need a new battery still, and perhaps I got some gunk got into an idle jet or two - or something else.) Above 3k, she starts to come on and there was no shortage of power for the roads I was on. Shifting was good - up and down.

And the brakes work quite well. I have quite a bit more pedal movement than I want before the rear MC engages. I have to look into that situation, but I don't think it's air or a failure of the MC - I have a brake and it's not spongy feeling.

The riding position is relatively aggressive; time will tell if it ends up being rough on the wrists and arms.

I think registration will happen this week.

Teaser photo.
The emblems aren't mounted yet, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to apply a GL decal to the side panels to break up the orange a bit. But it's looking nice.

if you are running the 79 carbs they typically do not have stumble issues. I think the first thing I would check is the CV slide operation. They need to move like silk on silk.

She looks Great!!!

Very nice you beat me to it by posting the teaser pic, was just about to ask. Looks great and you are going to love the gunfighter. Have one on my 78 and they sit nice and look great IMHO

On the stumble, I'm not sure it's still there. I AM having some hiccups dialing in the clutch/throttle from a stop, but part of that seems to be an overly low idle rpm - easy fix with a screwdriver that I should make on Tuesday.

I plated the bike this morning and rode her to the office and back, with some detours through local twisties. Here's an admittedly early report:

It's a sporty posture with the sport bars, to be sure, and the Gunfighter really locks in my backside. I'm more "in" the bike than "on" it, which inspires confidence, and the stock peg position works quite well for a compromise between older-guy comfort and folded-over hips/knees. I'm comfy with the balls of my feet or my insoles on the pegs. No pain or discomfort in a 30-minute ride, which I'll soon stretch to an hour to test the comfort and let her stretch her legs a bit.

Shifting is solid and clean, up and down. I thought the clutch lever was going to be really stiff, but I didn't find myself noticing it out on the road.

It looks and feels smaller than my GL1100s, which is funny because it's really not. My secretary came in after lunch today and commented that it's a lot smaller than my other bikes. She asked if it was a 550, which she knows my son rides.

It may merely be a perception, but the 1100s feel a bit quicker. Then again, I caught myself going, umm, "fast" earlier today, and I didn't realize I had hopped up that much. The sporty posture and locked in saddle may be part of what's going on. Who cares, really? The bike has more power available than I'll ever really need.

I'm still leaking a little oil from the coolant weep hole. Maybe she spent her younger days hanging around old Harleys and wanted to fit in? It might be slowing, but I really can't tell yet.

She's a mere 50 miles on the road after at least a few years off.

With lower bars, you may find rotation of the clutch perch might improve the clutch/throttle coordination. I have small hands, and have to rotate the perch so that I can get a full grip over the lever, not just fingertips. Wasn't a problem on the 1800, but all of the 1000s (all with lower bars) have required it. The Triumph will, too I'm sure. It does require mirror adjustment to about the maximum it will go, but sure gives better clutch control.

I'm approaching 100 miles on the bike and her new rubber.

I have some issues that I think are carb related, which I'll try to describe. I noticed none of this when the bike was on the center stand. Putting the bike under load changes a lot of things, or puts smaller issues right in your face.

There's an issue rolling out from a stop. It's a bit dodgy to be comfortable long term, especially since I'm sure it need not be that way. Some is definitely clutch/throttle coordination, but there's something more happening.

I thought most of it might be an overly low idle, but kicking it up a bit (1100-1200 rpm) this AM seemed not to solve it. I do think I may have too much play in the throttle cable, which is an easily fixable thing but probably not the cause.

It's more that I need to get the idle a bit higher than I'd like in order to keep from a stumble or stall. And that means I'm over-revving a bit, which isn't comfy in a turn into traffic from a stop. I have 2 GL1100s. This bike is in a very different category of finickiness in the clutch/throttle balance. My hands are XL glove sized, so I get good wraparound on the clutch lever.

I'm going pull the carb rack before too many more miles, which is NOT what I expected to be doing.

I'll clean the slides again to see if that helps with what I think (or think I feel) is a bit of stubbornness under about 3k. And if it's the slides, maybe that's contributing to the start from a stop challenge. I could do that cleaning without fully pulling the rack. But...

#2 carb has an intermittent fuel leak. It's not consistent, and I have yet to trace it to either the bowl gasket or the drain screw.

To accentuate the positive: The bike is a lot of fun once she's rolling, and the riding position is growing on me. Also, shakedown runs are essential to sort out the things that don't quite show up on the lift. I shouldn't be surprised to have some tweaking to do.

Check that the vacuum port to the top of the slides is full open and that you don't have leaks around the "buttons". And, check the Randakk's note on aire jet position.

Lucien Harpress wrote: ↑Sun Nov 13, 2022 4:02 pm snip-
Not messing with the idle mix screws for now to eliminate variables is good, but once you get there here was my experience. The idle mix screws on these bikes don't seem to do a whole lot, honestly. I was told to set them at 3 turns out and leave them.
It's what I did, and it's seemed to work just fine. Just some food for thought once you get to that point.

I may not have located in your posts that the carburetors have been completely disassembled, thoroughly cleaned, and refurbished with quality parts.
I gather you haven't after reading your post#187, from yesterday.

Haven't seen any mentions of setting valve lash clearances, nor dynamic cylinder compression testing results. Yes. I must have not read far enough.

Mike Nixon's recommendation to set valves at 0.006inch and set air/fuel pilot screws 3 full turns out from seated, works.
No it doesn't foul spark plugs.
From my experience with my '75 , the bike's low speed manners are enhanced.
Your engine needs the 'extra' fuel and dynamic compression to act strongly when pulling away from the curb. Parking lot manners.
Yes, the paint is attractive.

Done

Best way to ride a 1000 is to keep the revs up. They can be a bit tubby under 3k, but wind them up over 5k and you'll be surprised how much they wake up.

somewhere I have Ginger Lynn's autograph

Sheesh! I had NO IDEA that I had named the bike after an "adult film actress." I just googled the name after reading about Rodger's autograph - presumably in a box somewhere. I suppose that says something about me? Everyone can have a laugh now.

On to the bike itself.

There's a lot of input here. I spent about an hour typing the other night, walked away from my computer to get a drink, hit submit - and found that I had been logged out of the site. Lots of typing lost. I went to bed.

• On the carbs, I did NOT rip them all apart and do the full monty, which is generally recommended. I did pull the jets, flush, etc. If I have ongoing issues, I'll consider the real deal. I didn't even know if I'd get the bike to run when I had a motor that wouldn't budge. I have determined that on the side stand, I get some leakage out of bowl #2, so the carbs must come out. While there, I'll also make sure to polish the slides to help ensure that's not what had me feeling a little stumble between 1k and about 2800 rpm - though I think that's mostly gone.

• Tubby. I like it. I can tool around behind traffic comfortably enough around 2k, but it's not the bike's sweet spot. Of course, it's not a sweet spot for the 1100s I have either.

• I'm getting the launch to work a bit better: throttle/clutch work is getting dialed in; I bumped up the idle to about 1100, which seems to have helped a good bit.

• Clutch. I'm playing around with the cable adjustment a bit. I had it to spec, I'm pretty sure. But I've been thinking that maybe I'm feeling a hint of minor clutch shudder just before I fully release the clutch at launch. Then the other evening I took her out for a super spirited straightaway ride and pushed her up to redline in third and again in fourth, moving to fifth at an unnamed speed. (There's some torque and speed in this bike.) I had unmistakable clutch slippage somewhere up around 7k+, as the tach climbed and the speedo didn't match it. It's not slipping at all in any gear under normal, even normal spirited riding. I'm not normally pushing so hard and shifting up around 7k. I have read that these bikes' power can overwhelm the clutch in hard riding conditions, and I was really on it when the slippage happened. Perhaps it's the beginning of the end for the clutch. I'll try a good flush with some diesel or seafoam just before my 1000 mile oil change and keep a feel out for a worsening situation. I think Lucian was the one who suggested about a year ago that I do the clutch while the motor was on the bench. Maybe he was prescient. In the meantime, I'll be toying with the cable tension a bit to see if it addresses things on launch.

NotSoLilCrippseys wrote: ↑Sat May 13, 2023 2:27 pm Sheesh! I had NO IDEA that I had named the bike after an "adult film actress."

Glamour photos are coming soon, I promise.

I'm rapidly closing in on the the first 1000 miles.

After work I took her out for a 130 mile run out to New Hampshire and back, putting about 160 miles on the bike today.

Here's what I can report:

• She's happy running at left/center lane highway tourer speeds

• No issues doing the ton(+) and holding it - aside from the very real issues of general safety, defensive riding, and speed traps

• Rear pegs make for reasonable highway-riding use, putting me in more of a tuck without funny hunchback-and-chin-on-tank positioning.

• Aside from discomfort at the knees after 75 minutes in the saddle while on the rear pegs, the ride is comfy

• I never have too much weight on my wrists or arms - assisted, of course, by the wind

• I think I'm on tank 4, with a top off somewhere in there. Tanks 2 and 3 yielded good 40 mpg ratings over about 4 gallons. It's clear from today's ride that running at 5k or so for a solid stretch will put a dent in that economy. It's not precise, but I think I came in closer to 35 mpg on the run out to New Hampster - based on the 2 gallon near top off and 75 miles on the tripmeter. I could almost watch the fuel gauge creep down. (List item #2 above may help to explain how sipping becomes gulping.)

I have yet to pull the rack to sort out the leak from the #2 bowl and polish the slides. I'm keeping her on the center stand exclusively now, which takes that leak out of the equation. My little oil leak continues - no worse, probably no better.

I've pulled up one of the "before" photos to place it alongside the "after" shots.
It's easy to sort of lose a sense of what a left-for-whatever bike looked like before you spent months turning it into something that works well and looks good.

The Vetter fairing sold a long time ago, helping me finance some little bits of the build. The guy who bought it was clearly a "Vetter guy," as he was super happy about the stereo option in it, the condition, etc. He was all over it, and I was happy not to see it heading to a landfill. I don't believe I sold the rack/sissy bar, but it's tough to remember - what with the others I have (and have sold). No local takers (yet!) on the Corbin leather king/queen.

Now, the new-to-me Corbin gunfighter is just right on this bike. I'm really pleased with that addition and glad I drove to Massachusetts to pick it up.
I like where I've taken this bike. I had my ups and downs, to be sure.

Today, it got the most important seal of approval: the one from my youngest son after he took it for a Maine backroads ride for the first time.

In a day or three, we'll pull the carbs, address that leaky bowl gasket, and polish up the slides to see if that improves on what I'm thinking may be a nonissue and just a difference between the 1000s and the 1100s. She is running a bit rich. I'll likely see what I might do on that.

In another 100 miles, I'll put some Seafoam in the crankcase and run her easy for a week before a 1000-mile oil/filter change. After that, I'll move to normal intervals.

At this point, we're talking maintenance more than a build and shakedown.