[drones76]

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I am always looking for a project bike. A friend of a friend has a 1986 1400 Cavalcade LX. I had never even heard of them. Just looking to see if anyone here is familiar with the reputation of the bike as a potential rebuild. It is a full dresser with part of the front fairing missing and it has been sitting in the weather for 3 years. If I were to get it, it would be stripped naked and maybe cafe'd.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[chdesh]

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Bike was only built for two years . I have two friends riding them now , one owning his since new .

these are very good bikes in fact were far ahead of the others with features like air adjustable seats , adjustable rear trunks , smooth v4 engine with plenty of power and the best weather protection offered of any make at the time .



original list price was higher than the others and doomed the bike before it could get its share of the market



now with only a two year production run , you can bet parts are hard to find and expensive



Good luck

 

[drones76]

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Exactly the type of info I am looking for. thanks

 

[Winger77]

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Had one for a couple seasons and sold it because it was to hard to find parts. A real shame too,,,,,

 

[Shooter]

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They have a following of sorts, also a Cavalcade forum I've heard. I looked at them in 86, but was leaning toward the Yammie Venture. Same dealer was doing both brands at the time, somehow I fell into an 84 Aspencade:cheesygrin: :gunhead:

 

[fysty-1]

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drones76 wrote:

I am always looking for a project bike. A friend of a friend has a 1986 1400 Cavalcade LX. I had never even heard of them. Just looking to see if anyone here is familiar with the reputation of the bike as a potential rebuild. It is a full dresser with part of the front fairing missing and it has been sitting in the weather for 3 years. If I were to get it, it would be stripped naked and maybe cafe'd.

Any help is appreciated.

They sure look a lot like a wing. Here is one of many links from google when I copied your discription of the bike.

http://www.suzukicycles.org/Cavalcade-series/GV1400-Cavalcade.shtml

 

[mikef]

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Almost bought my neighbor's before I got my first wing. The deal fell through, so I went with the wing and never looked back.

 

[Bigmick]

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http://www.suzukicavalcade.com/
www.cadecountry.com/
Here is a couple of good websites for parts. Theyre kind of like our old wings in the fact they have a loyal following to them. They,re very dependable bikes and with a lot of the issues identified and fixes available that Suzuki never got to. For the right price your friends bike would be a great deal if you dont mind spinning some wrenches with it.

 

[Minimac]

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The Cavalcade was actually marketed here 1985-1988. I had an '86 model that I sold when I bought my 'Wing three years ago.The liquid v-4 was a rocket and plenty of torque. It was smooth riding and way advanced for the year. I think I could carry more"stuff" than I can on my Goldwing. The three piece fairing was a good idea-you could replace sections instead of the whole thing. The only thing that convinced me to make the change was the fact that engine/transmission parts were getting harder to come by(not that I needed any)if needed. BTW,Al King(Cade King) was an excellent source of information and parts.

 

[pogoism9]

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I feel kinda dumb bring up a 2 month old thread, but I will tell you this about the GV1400....

If you drop it, plan on spending a TON to get the fairing back together. The crash bars are not very good, and when the bike falls over, first thing that it takes out is the side mirror...which would be fine except the entire framework of the fairing relies on the mirror brace being straight. If you drop it you WILL break your mirror, and you also WILL bend the bar that runs from mirror to mirror across the fairing. Oh and all the bracketry and crap are behind/attached to that bar...It gets expensive fast...

 

[Kimswang]

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Too bad they stopped making them. Great bike and would have been the king of touring bikes had they continued.

 

[IdahoRaider]

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Those are nice bikes, and very dependable.

It was a very expensive MC at the time, and people opted for the Wing that had been around for awhile.

Even then, the Wing had a good reputation.