Thought I’d give an up-date on my latest project.
I purchased this little ‘gem’ from eBay in May, as another project to tackle over the winter months. I brought it home, walked
around it a few times, scratched my head and asked myself, “why?” The vendor said that it would fire up with 2 or 3 kicks.
I wasn’t too optimistic, but sure enough she fired on 3! She idled quite happily, so I pulled the clutch (no funny noises) and
selected first (slipped in smoothly) and eased the clutch out, just to see what happened. No ugly surprises, but with no brakes,
2 flats and a decidedly dodgy looking drive system, I chose not to try riding it.
Content in the knowledge that it would run, I shut her down and on a cold, wet, miserable Melbourne day,
I pulled her down to the frame to start the resto. It never ceases to amaze me the amount grunge these old bikes seem
to accumulate! I scraped heaps of mud and grease out of all its nooks and crannies, and I reckon the frame weighed about
5 kilos less than when I started!
The rear guard (which is steel), had a sizable chunk taken out of the end. It’s probably repairable, but I sourced a replacement
and got that ready to paint. The seat that came with the bike is not the original, and for that matter, doesn’t even fit! It was
just sitting loosely on the frame and I don’t even think it’s a Suzuki seat! So I got one out from the US, and purchased a seat cover,
so they will be sent off soon to be put together.
I sent the frame off to be sandblasted, and set about blasting the swing arm, stand, brake rod, pegs etc in my blasting cabinet.
When the frame was ready to collect, I set up and blew two coats of 2-pack over everything, and got ready to re-assemble.
I had also blasted and painted the triple clamps, and bought a set of taper bearings to replace the original loose balls.
The kit said “no machining necessary”. Bull-dust! The lower bearing didn’t fit, so Wade helped me out again, and got
this sorted. Still waiting for a replacement bearing, but expect that this week.
So when the paint was dry, I bolted on the swing arm (complete with new bushes, thrust washers, o-rings and dust caps).
Cleaned and attached the inner plastic rear guards and the freshly painted rear guard. Affixed the air-box, oil tank holder
and oil tank. Replaced the brake pedal, brake control rod and stand bracket. Put the tank rubbers in place and that’s about it!
I had sent the suspension to Chad’s Offroad set-ups to get serviced. Turns out that the rear shocks are serviceable
(which is great), but I got a call from Chad late on Friday with bad news about the fork. Apparently, one leg is rooted!
I glazed over when he started telling me this, so I don’t really understand how bad it is. That will be this week’s
dilemma to sort out! I don’t think it will be insurmountable, but will probably require a few more dollars that I hoped
to spend! Oh well, I guess that’s the way it goes in this game!
More as it comes to hand.