Suzuki B120

The Suzuki B120 is the only Japanese two stroke hack to seriously rival the Honda CD175. It shares the.same kind of style and simplicity and goes about as fast as is necessary to avoid instant termination by the general traffic flow. A straightforward single cylinder two stroke of modest power output, that on a good day - downhill with a following wind - will just nudge the speedo past 70mph. More importantly, it will stick at 60mph come what may and do better than 100mpg however well thrashed it is.
 
If the idea of a long lasting two stroke is hard to accept, note that I've owned this bike for 15 years and done 85000 miles! What's more, the majority of the original components are still in the engine that includes the piston, crank and gearbox. On the other hand it’s had four sets of shocks, two forks, six chains and two sets of sprockets (despite the fully enclosed chain), not to mention two oil pumps, three batteries and half a dozen condensers. I eventually sorted the latter by mounting a car component on the frame with wires leading to its original location in the magneto.
 
Maintenance is minimal. Change the gearbox oil when the normally precise gearbox becomes crunchy, set the points every 5000 miles and replace them every 25000 miles. The original exhaust is still there, its survival ensured by the coating of oil - the baffles have to be cleaned up every 7500 miles, although I've only cleaned the carbon off the head and piston twice. The bike pings into life first gentle lunge of the kickstart even on the most horrible of days and settles down to a regular tickover. Power pulses in from tickover and gradually builds up.
 
The motor feels smooth at all revs and will pull from next to nothing in fourth gear.  Drum brakes are fitted front and rear, the back just right, the front progressive but prone to fade. Combine that with a chassis that bounces around on bumpy bends (due to toy suspension and low mass) to make for some hairy moments on B roads. The bottom line, though, is that I have not yet fallen off!
 
The B120 is not my only bike, but it is my main hack and is also brought into use whenever one of the bigger bikes is out of action. The longest trip I’ve done is 400 miles in a day. And, yes, I was somewhat saddle sore after it, but the damn bike just sat there pinging away as if I'd only gone down to the shop.
 
Suzuki, whatever, their other faults, were the one Jap manufacturer to make really tough strokers until they got fed up and made even tougher four strokes. If I were to buy a replacement I suppose it'd have to be the GS125, but I don't expect to do that for some years to come.
 
Al Culler