My very own experience speaks volumes. A few years ago I bought an M reg Suzuki GT185 for only £40 from a 14 year old boy who lived on a farm. Feeling flush at the time, I just made sure the engine ran and that the wheels turned. I should have suspected something when the bike kept cutting out or when he had to pump up the rear tyre, but it’s easy to be wise after the event. The lad’s father agreed to deliver the bike on the back of his farm tractor.
On reaching home the lad said something about sending me the documents. It never crossed my mind that maybe he'd built the bike from bits acquired at the local breaker’s yard but he did mention something about acquiring a side panel from the breaker. His dad did mention something about the GT only being any use to someone who knew something about bikes. This obvious flattery did have a worrying aspect to it.
On being left to tinker with my new toy, I found the crankcases had had their identification number bashed off. Also the tank was from another bike and tended to leak fuel from the tap due to the innards being a bit on the old side. The forks were a disaster and the rear tyre kept going flat.
After due reflection, I decided to strip it down in case the engine needed attention. To my horror it turned out that the pistons were missing circlips and that the oil pump wasn’t even connected up. Worse, the alternator was completely useless. The seat looked like it belonged on a moped.
It struck me forcibly that I had been conned. The bike needed too much attention for it to be useful to anybody except an idiot like myself. Perhaps it would be possible to sell the bike for spares, I hoped, as at one time there were a lot of these two stroke twins around, even if their peaky power delivery was not exactly suited to learners. After a few adverts in the local press it became obvious that the bike wasn’t going to sell.
My story has a funny twist to it, though, when the lad who'd sold me the GT185 appeared on the doorstep one evening in reply to an advert I placed trying to sell a Honda 125 which had stopped running. By the time he arrived it had started going again and I didn’t want to sell it. He seemed rather put out by this.
There is one thing in favour of owning a heap of bits, though, and that is you can rifle through them for spares to keep other bikes on the road. On coming off my Honda, I replaced the bars with a pair of cowhorns from my GT, used the front wheel in a trail bike and used up a few nuts and bolts. In the end there was so much debris in the garage that when a scrap man came calling I let him take the remnants away. Hacking isn’t always fun.
Michael Singleton