My inventory included a solid 1978 frame, complete with title, a 76 spare motor of unknown history and numerous other parts.
I’ve always been partial to the styling and higher revving motor of the First Generation 1975-1977 GL1000’s over the 1978-1979 Second Generation bikes which have a bit more of their grunt at the lower end of the rev range.
I had the frame up for sale as well as a 16” rear Lester mag wheel for a quite a while with no interest, so decided to see what I could build with them.
Then I started searching for an 83 front end, because I liked the mag wheel and thought it would match up well with the rear Lester I already had.
While attending the Harvest Classic in Luckenbach, I happened to meet fellow NGW’r Jeremy, aka Phaserburn from Houston who put me in touch with Bob, aka Kwixdraw from Dallas who just happened to have a complete front end for sale from his 83…
Dallas is about 250 miles from San Antonio, but it just so happened my friend Moose, aka Moose (lol) from Indiana who was passing through Dallas agreed to pick up the front end for me and bring it down on his trailer. Things were looking up.
As soon as I got the front end, I really liked the looks of it. Kind of butch, robust and raw.
It was unknown if the motor would turn over or was hopelessly locked up for eternity. But I went forward and installed the motor in the frame and put the Lester mag on the rear so I could roll it around the garage.
With liberal amounts of PB Blaster soaking in the spark plug holes, a new oil filter and fresh mix of 10W40 and Marvel Mystery Oil (MMO) in the crankcase, I snicked the transmission into 5th gear and using the rear wheel, rocked the pistons bit by bit over several days to free the rings from their static positions (who knows how long they’d been still…). Hooray, she turns over and is not locked up!
Just then the phone began ringing and I got two inquiries from two different guys who now wanted to buy the ‘78 frame for their own builds!
So, I had to decide either to dismantle the rolling bike and sell all the parts or go forward with the project. Easy to guess which way I went!
