Wobbling home I swore to myself that the first job would be to fix the swinging arm bearings and then give the heap a good clean. Easier said than done. Two full days were spent trying to remove that swinging arm pivot, when it eventually freed a little there was enough free play to give an MOT tester a cardiac arrest... a fortnight later I eventually removed the offending pivot with the help of a large hammer and a hacksaw. New brass bushes were made at work and drifted into place after they had been matched to a second hand pivot.
The bike was ready to be ridden in anger. That night I gave it a real good thrashing... the first and last time it was ever to get close to the ton as it seized in rather a dramatic manner. Pushing the bike two miles home I cursed ever buying the thing. On reaching home I dumped the heap in the back garden, discretion being the better part of valour I went off to the pub to drown my sorrows. The next day saw my worst fears totally founded, a piston was shattered and both main and big end were destroyed.
A reconditioned crank was bought from a breaker for £50 and I was back on the road. About two months later, whilst screwing the bike two up, a crank seal blew, belching smoke from the right hand cylinder and killing the spark below 4000 revs. I picked up a bottom end from a private seller who'd taken off the engine number for some reason. When I discovered that third gear was shot, I stripped the thing down and changed cranks over.
After that, the Suzuki started running well and stayed that way for a while until a mate hit a lamp-post whilst borrowing the bike. Had to replace the front wheel, forks, headlamp, mudguard and caliper; and decided that while I was about it I might as well do the bike up. Blue epoxy frame, white yokes and swing arm, blue wheels and the rest resprayed plus a set of new chrome Microns. Hy-tech reeds were fitted to the engine.
Again I had some use out of the bike. It was light, fast and a general ball to ride on the throttle. Handling was dodgy in a straight line and it wobbled and weaved through the bends but didn’t actually fall off so it couldn't have been that bad, could it? Fuel consumption was, er, well we won't talk about that. Things turned bad when I returned to the bike one day, kicked it into life and the rev counter nearly exploded... some little bugger had turned the throttle cable adjustment fully up so that it came to life at max revs! The next two weeks the bike ran like a bag of nails below 3000rpm, refusing to tickover and back firing when | tried to start it. Two days were spent tearing my hair out until I discovered that one of the reed valves had shattered.
Two weeks passed and then the crank went again, this time it destroyed a big end. The cause was a block in the oil pipe from the oil tank where a piece of plastic had dropped off an oil bottle. Yet another recon crank was purchased. I decided a rebore was in order as well. The engine was totally reassembled and for the next two weeks careful running in was. strictly adhered to. Then the bike was stolen from my garden shed.
Three weeks later a bare frame was recovered by the police and the insurers handed over a cheque for £150. Anyway, I hope the dickheads who nicked it had twice the trouble I had!
Andy Wood