Hi All

[urbanus]

Picked up a 2003 K3 from my brother in law last month.  He stopped riding 12 years ago and forgot to mention it to the bike - it's just sat unloved under a tarp in his workshop.  It's either in fantastic condition for the age or terrible condition for its mileage (I'm the opposite).  Anyway, normally I ride my Griso or scratch around the countryside on a Himalayan but I couldn't resist the GSX as I also have an 82 1100EZ which I have known and loved since I was 22 and I thought I might enjoy the ride.

What happened to Suzuki tanks in the years between 82 and 2003? I was expecting some interior rust but hells teeth it was dire.  The outside is completely mint but the last time I had a vehicle with this much rust on/in it was a MG Midget!  My 82, which also stood for 19 years before I fired her up again, was clean as a whistle inside - it must be this crappy fuel we get now!  After doing all the usual checks over the last few weeks and prepping it for the big switch on, and after getting through Lidls entire stock of white vinegarsorting the tank out, she fired up today and is sweet as a nut.

Well, an introduction combined with a gripe, living in France must be having an effect on me.

Cheers,

Urbanus

[KiwiCol]

Gidday Urbanus & welcome to the fourm.  Nice intro too.  Glad & actually amazed you managed to clean the tank out.  For peace of mind, I'd say it'd be a good idea to do the HP filter bypass mod & fit an external filter.    Here's a link to that, good for a read any case.     https://gsx1400owners.org/forum/index.php?topic=590.0

[urbanus]

Cheers KiwiCol, all the best mate.

I was a lurker on here from the moment I knew I was going to buy the bike so I picked up some tips in advance. 

I figured that there might be some issues in the tank but, based on my 1100EZ, I never checked it, won't repeat that mistake in a hurry. Due to my aforementioned lurking however, I had researched the pump etc. and have made the recommended mods.

I did drop lucky in some ways though, when my brother in law looked in the tank with me (he really hadn't looked at his bike in over 12 years) he was so shocked by the rust in it he gifted me a professional, German made 30L ultrasonic bath, 5L of water based concentrate, 5L of solvent based concentrate and some Borosilicate glassware for doing small items! Its come in very handy for the injectors, pump parts and its a bloody miracle worker on spark plugs! Im going to be a total recluse this winter, in the shed buzzing away cleaning everything that's not nailed down - The AMAL carb from my old Tiger Cub is going straight in it.

[Notty]

 

[seth]

 
To all things 1402 .
Great to see a few new members lately especially the ones that come say hello .

[Kiwifruit]

True that Seth.

Welcome along Urbanus. Nice little cleaning hobby for wintertime.

[grog]

Welcome Mate

[GSXKING]

G'day Urbanus & welcome to the nuthouse 👍
Nice intro & follow up.
I'm surprised how many lurkers there are when I've checked 🙄🙄🙄
Where are you located ?

[VladTepes]

Well, an introduction combined with a gripe, living in France must be having an effect on me.

Yeah I can't imagine why anyone would live in France when they could just pop across the channel and get a house where they could experience that perfectly awesome English weather 24/7/365.






Oh and officially -

[T 24]

Welcome Urbanus 

[urbanus]

Thanks to all for the warm welcome.

GSXKING - I'm a Brit living in France, just north of Puy Dome. Didn't move here for the weather although it helps that's for sure, I moved for the space.  Half the time it feels like I woke up in a movie where "they" took everybody else and decided I was too old/miserable/awkward to bother with so left me behind - suits me just fine!

Fantastic roads though and great location for travelling throughout Europe, I went to the the Guzzi 100 year celebrations in September and the road trip was just fantastic as was the food and Italian prices - they didn't rip you off just because they could.

[Mick_J]

Welcome to the forum Urbanus.  We need to see a pic of the bike, anyone can claim to have one. 

[urbanus]

Hi mjgt,  True, I've met more than my share of folk who are, as they say, liberal when it comes to truth  - here you go

[urbanus]

Oops - forgot to include my chicken security system

[BooN]

I'm brand new here too, hope you have a great time with the bike