FWIW, I'm a small one-man shop in SW Louisiana that primarily caters to the general maintenance of the GL1800s.
About 3 weeks ago, a guy brought me a '99 1500 with only 34K miles on the clock, asked me to go completely thru it and fix/replace anything that was wrong.
Before starting, I asked how much he wanted to spend because this could get really expensive really quick and would likely make a good down payment on a new bike.
I also told him I was NOT a carburator guy and had no intention of even attempting to touch it.
He trailered it here, got it off the trailer, it started right up with 20-year old belts...and rode it into my shop.
He loves that 1500, money was not an issue and has no intention of getting rid of it.....ok, so up on the table lift she goes.
Well, I come to find out that he had ridden the bike to Alaska twice (2013 & 2014) from SW Louisiana on the same set of tires! Then, parked it if that tells ya anything....LOL
Fortunately, the bike was stored out of the weather in a somewhat air-conditioned environment, and he ran it enough to keep the fuel fairly fresh.
Just about everything on this poor bike was in need of attention/repair...I mean everything. I started at the front wheel and worked my way to the rear wheel.
Both tires replaced (over 5 years old and worn to the cords), front wheel bearings were shot and were replaced (rears were ok), shock maintenance, oil/filter change, rear gear oil change, three brake calipers completely rebuilt with new pads (2 of 6 pistons badly corroded beyond repair and had to be replaced, all 4 pad pins seized and had to be replaced), both clutch & front brake master cylinders completely rebuilt (both leaking like sieves), clutch slave cylinder leaking and completely rebuilt, rear brakes seem to be working ok (good thing as I can't even see the rear master, let alone get to it to work on it), petcock rebuilt (slightly leaking), all 3 air filters changed (sub filters crumbled in my hands, probably originals), got the pneumatics back working on the shocks (someone along the way left the plug undone under the right side shelter), and just an overall good cleaning. All the hoses appear to be ok...at least so far.
What I have left to do is replace the 20-year old original timing belts. New plugs and a coolant change will happen with the belts change. Hopefully, I'll get most of that work done today.
Also, I need to take a stab at changing the shifter shaft seal (slightly seeping).
IF it weren't for this site, I'd have never taken on this job. This site has been a Godsend.
Another positive is that this job helped me become more familiar with the 1500s....lol...boy, did it!
