What can you buy for £200? Well, quite a lot in Liverpool, from smack to the dubious pleasures of the local hookers. When it comes to bikes the choice is more limited. Quite a few scooters and C90s, but proper motorcycles that actually ran were fewer on the ground. The high cost of insurance for anything bigger than 250cc was also a limiting factor. Not that there was anything large available that cheaply
After a couple of months of viewing terrible heaps and dubious devices, I finally found something worthwhile. A 1974 Suzuki GT250. The cosmetics were tatty, the engine was missing its Ram Air cowl (probably no bad thing) and noisy expansion chambers were fitted. On the plus side, there were few engine rattles, only a mild cloud of pollutants and the bike accelerated well even two up.
After a couple of months of viewing terrible heaps and dubious devices, I finally found something worthwhile. A 1974 Suzuki GT250. The cosmetics were tatty, the engine was missing its Ram Air cowl (probably no bad thing) and noisy expansion chambers were fitted. On the plus side, there were few engine rattles, only a mild cloud of pollutants and the bike accelerated well even two up.
There were two spare machines, both stripped down. Each engine featured wrecked small and big ends, scrapped barrels and wasted gearboxes. There was plenty of evidence of past crashes. Bent frames, dented wheels and split petrol tanks. I told the owner that he really should pay me to take away all the wreckage, there was not very much that was salvageable. He would not move on the £175 price however much I begged but agreed to deliver the GT and all the spares to my home.
Next problem was the MOT, which went OK except that the tester complained about the amount of noise the expansion chambers were putting out. I pleaded with him, saying I’d put some stuff in the silencers to quieten down the noise. With certificate in hand I quickly forgot all about that.
I was in for a shock when I went to buy some insurance. The rates had gone up yet again. I changed over to Eagle Star who were willing to accept my four years with Norwich Union for their No-Claims bonus. I didn’t bother with theft, just going for Third Party. I doubted that anyone would want to steal the Suzuki.
Next problem was the MOT, which went OK except that the tester complained about the amount of noise the expansion chambers were putting out. I pleaded with him, saying I’d put some stuff in the silencers to quieten down the noise. With certificate in hand I quickly forgot all about that.
I was in for a shock when I went to buy some insurance. The rates had gone up yet again. I changed over to Eagle Star who were willing to accept my four years with Norwich Union for their No-Claims bonus. I didn’t bother with theft, just going for Third Party. I doubted that anyone would want to steal the Suzuki.
The GT250 has the typical characteristics of a stroker with expansion chambers. It growled and spat at low revs. Huge clouds of smoke appeared after ten minutes trying to potter around town in a sensible and restrained manner. The spark plugs would oil up quickly, causing much stuttering, until a blast on the throttle cleared them. Sometimes, the engine went dead, refusing to start until a new pair of plugs were fitted. The oil pump was already on its minimum setting, so there was no use playing around with that.
Oil went through the engine at an incredible rate, a pint needed every 50 miles. Because of this thirst I never bothered with the expensive synthetic oils on offer, bunging in the cheapest stroker oil I could find. This didn’t help with the clouds of pollutants. What had been a mild haze soon became a dense fog if any sort of sustained slow work was undertaken.
Much better to thrash the balls off the engine in the lower gears. Power came in around 5500rpm, stayed strong until eight grand when it suddenly stopped as if someone had thrown a switch. That was with the ignition timing set to perfection with a strobe. The points were incredibly quick wearing, being out of action in under 4000 miles. Of course, both spare sets were useless. I didn‘t know if I should laugh or cry when I enquired at the dealers about cost and delivery date. Luckily, I managed to modify some car points, which only cost a pittance in Halfords.
After about four months and 2750 miles the engine started running very roughly. I had to decoke the exhaust and clean all the black muck off the cylinder heads and pistons. The bore didn’t look too good, so | started looking around for some better barrels and pistons, whilst continuing to thrash the machine. The top speed had gone down from a credible 95mph to a mere 82mph, which made the bike easy fodder for de-restricted 125s.
Handling had always been a bit weird. The straight line stuff was manageable but there was a reluctance to lean over that was disturbing in a machine that only weighed 350lbs. It was probably down to the Far Eastern tyres, but as they showed no signs of wearing out I was reluctant to replace them. They were not as bad as I'd expected in the wet, even with the sometimes violent application of the Suzuki's power.
Oil went through the engine at an incredible rate, a pint needed every 50 miles. Because of this thirst I never bothered with the expensive synthetic oils on offer, bunging in the cheapest stroker oil I could find. This didn’t help with the clouds of pollutants. What had been a mild haze soon became a dense fog if any sort of sustained slow work was undertaken.
Much better to thrash the balls off the engine in the lower gears. Power came in around 5500rpm, stayed strong until eight grand when it suddenly stopped as if someone had thrown a switch. That was with the ignition timing set to perfection with a strobe. The points were incredibly quick wearing, being out of action in under 4000 miles. Of course, both spare sets were useless. I didn‘t know if I should laugh or cry when I enquired at the dealers about cost and delivery date. Luckily, I managed to modify some car points, which only cost a pittance in Halfords.
After about four months and 2750 miles the engine started running very roughly. I had to decoke the exhaust and clean all the black muck off the cylinder heads and pistons. The bore didn’t look too good, so | started looking around for some better barrels and pistons, whilst continuing to thrash the machine. The top speed had gone down from a credible 95mph to a mere 82mph, which made the bike easy fodder for de-restricted 125s.
Handling had always been a bit weird. The straight line stuff was manageable but there was a reluctance to lean over that was disturbing in a machine that only weighed 350lbs. It was probably down to the Far Eastern tyres, but as they showed no signs of wearing out I was reluctant to replace them. They were not as bad as I'd expected in the wet, even with the sometimes violent application of the Suzuki's power.
No, more disturbing in the wet was the way the HT leads would short out, sometimes cutting the engine dead, other times turning it into a single. As it was one of those long hot summers I didn’t do anything about it until the winter, when I put on some coils and leads off a Honda G5 that had been quietly decaying in a corner of my garage. There was still a bit of misfiring after half an hour in heavy rain but I could live with that as I tended to avoid doing long distance trips in foul weather. I’m far too old for that kind of self abuse.
The rest of the electrics were marginal. The headlamp was just about adequate for alerting traffic of your position at night. The battery cooked itself even after I'd replaced the rectifier/regulator from the pile of spares. Either they were both duff or the vibes were attacking the battery. The leads in the G5 rectifier had fallen out so I couldn’t use that one. Bulbs and the horn were similarly affected, either by excessive voltages or vibration.
Vibration reached dizzy levels and power fell off until no more than 75mph was possible, this some 5600 miles into my ownership. There had always been a bit of a buzz in the bars and pegs. | had managed to buy a set of barrels and pistons off some ex-racer who assured me they were the business. By the time I'd stripped the engine I found that the con-rods were rattling around on their bearings.
Nothing for it but to get an exchange crankshaft. Unlike on the 500, the
250 goes through crankshafts so fast that you don’t have to worry about
the oil seals! There is a school of thought that says running in a
stroker it’s better to use the engine hard almost straight away. It was
one I was willing to adopt, I didn’t feel like hobbling along at moped
speeds for 1000 miles. This was just as well as the modified porting and
high compression pistons meant power was not available below 6000rpm.
I found some bigger main jets for the carbs and played around with the slide heights, but the little bugger still refused to pull at low revs. The engine just made a deep note of disgust and stalled if the clutch was dropped with less than 6000 revs dialled in. The power when it did arrive was sensational. The front wheel was picked off the ground, the bars twitching in excitement. The tacho needle buried itself in the red before I’d had a hope of changing gear. It was dead easy to find yourself speeding into the back of some cager. Brilliant fun but rather tiring on a long run.
Top speed turned out to be an indicated 105mph, which had the 125cc crowd scratching their heads in wonder. |Iwould not recommend those with weak hearts to do more than 95mph, though, as the chassis becomes really wild at those kind of speeds and the vibes make the tank feel like it’s tearing itself apart. Honestly, after an high speed excursion I could hear the petrol bubbling! The GT goes all over the road and a real wrestling match with the handlebars results. Well, it is running basically stock suspension!
With this set-up, the crankshaft and bores lasted all of 3750 miles before a drastic reduction in power occurred. The engine made more rattles than a Kawasaki H1. Whether the ruined small end bearings had allowed the pistons to wobble or if the tings snagging the ports ruined the bearings, I don’t know. The bloody thing had to have another exchange crankshaft. This time I fitted the refurbished stock cylinders and a newish set of pistons. Then I ran the bike in for 500 miles.
I'd also got hold of a set of stock silencers that were no more rusty than the rest of the bike. I had to do this as one of my neighbours had rushed out of his house at 7am, still in his pyjamas, and started hitting me over my helmeted head with a large hammer. As the helmet was an old plastic job it cracked into lots of little pieces. I put the bike between us before he could do any more damage and agreed that it was a noisy fucking horror show that should be put out of its misery. For several days I'd had to push it about a quarter of a mile when going out and coming home to avoid further retribution.
The latest set-up proved much more civilised, with better low speed running and a top speed of around 90mph. The spark plugs would still oil up but that was probably down to the cheapo oil more than anything else - a decoke was needed every 3000 miles. Fuel economy improved from an all time worst of 32mpg to averaging 55mpg, with a best of 62mpg and worst of 39mpg. Oil was still drunk at an incredible rate and I had to carry a spare can in case the tank ran dry on a long run.
Other consumables are hard to place as I always used old stuff, either off breakers or from the pile of spares. The chains and sprockets didn’t ever do more than 4000 miles but they were already worn. The front disc brake was surprisingly good for such an antique specimen - I suspected that it was off something more modern, as it didn’t have any lag in the wet and was powerful enough to twist the forks. The rear drum used to seize up as |Ionly very rarely used it. The back wheel liked to jump about all over the place under braking, especially when the swinging arm bearings were a bit worn (they lasted about 4500 miles).
I did tire of the comments about the wretched appearance of the GT and the way every cop car in Liverpool pulled us over - I was once stopped five times in a day when I had the spannies fitted. I ended up brushing some black Hammerite on to the frame and swinging arm, whilst spraying the tank, panels and guards in lime green. Everyone started calling me Lizard after that, for some reason. Chrome on the bars, silencers and wheels did not respond to fervent polishing, so got a dose of black paint. Engine alloy was so far gone that no amount of work had any effect. One day |Imay get the cases bead-blasted, but don’t hold your breath.
The latest engine rebuild has lasted for 8750 miles with no signs of fading yet. Which just goes to show that keeping things stock does pay off. I've thrown out a lot of the parts that came with the GT, there was no way they could be reclaimed. That has made room for two more spare bikes, both early GT250 models. They cost £55 and £85. One was crashed, the other seized, which in theory should mean I have a complete bike in the making or 100% spares availability.
Buying a couple of spare bikes is the only way to keep these old strokers running. New spares are both rare and expensive. I suppose this one has done something like 60000 miles, so it'll certainly need those bits in the future. The GT250 is still fast enough to keep up with modern traffic, has a gearbox that'll put more recent designs to shame and perfectly matches my needs and income at the moment. Future plans include some frame bracing around the swinging arm, a set of Girling or Koni shocks, a fork brace plus some clip-ons and rear-sets. Total cost so far has been around the £500 mark, which is higher than I’d like but as I’m well set up for the next few years just about acceptable.
I do occasionally see very nice GT250s with even shiny chrome - how the hell they manage that, short of buying new bits, I don’t know - but more usually they have been run into the ground. It’s impossible to sell them for more than 500 notes, few people would pay more than £200 for a good runner. Doing a proper restoration would be a quick way of losing loads of dosh, but as a dependable hack they have an excess of. good points. Honest!
RTP
I found some bigger main jets for the carbs and played around with the slide heights, but the little bugger still refused to pull at low revs. The engine just made a deep note of disgust and stalled if the clutch was dropped with less than 6000 revs dialled in. The power when it did arrive was sensational. The front wheel was picked off the ground, the bars twitching in excitement. The tacho needle buried itself in the red before I’d had a hope of changing gear. It was dead easy to find yourself speeding into the back of some cager. Brilliant fun but rather tiring on a long run.
Top speed turned out to be an indicated 105mph, which had the 125cc crowd scratching their heads in wonder. |Iwould not recommend those with weak hearts to do more than 95mph, though, as the chassis becomes really wild at those kind of speeds and the vibes make the tank feel like it’s tearing itself apart. Honestly, after an high speed excursion I could hear the petrol bubbling! The GT goes all over the road and a real wrestling match with the handlebars results. Well, it is running basically stock suspension!
With this set-up, the crankshaft and bores lasted all of 3750 miles before a drastic reduction in power occurred. The engine made more rattles than a Kawasaki H1. Whether the ruined small end bearings had allowed the pistons to wobble or if the tings snagging the ports ruined the bearings, I don’t know. The bloody thing had to have another exchange crankshaft. This time I fitted the refurbished stock cylinders and a newish set of pistons. Then I ran the bike in for 500 miles.
I'd also got hold of a set of stock silencers that were no more rusty than the rest of the bike. I had to do this as one of my neighbours had rushed out of his house at 7am, still in his pyjamas, and started hitting me over my helmeted head with a large hammer. As the helmet was an old plastic job it cracked into lots of little pieces. I put the bike between us before he could do any more damage and agreed that it was a noisy fucking horror show that should be put out of its misery. For several days I'd had to push it about a quarter of a mile when going out and coming home to avoid further retribution.
The latest set-up proved much more civilised, with better low speed running and a top speed of around 90mph. The spark plugs would still oil up but that was probably down to the cheapo oil more than anything else - a decoke was needed every 3000 miles. Fuel economy improved from an all time worst of 32mpg to averaging 55mpg, with a best of 62mpg and worst of 39mpg. Oil was still drunk at an incredible rate and I had to carry a spare can in case the tank ran dry on a long run.
Other consumables are hard to place as I always used old stuff, either off breakers or from the pile of spares. The chains and sprockets didn’t ever do more than 4000 miles but they were already worn. The front disc brake was surprisingly good for such an antique specimen - I suspected that it was off something more modern, as it didn’t have any lag in the wet and was powerful enough to twist the forks. The rear drum used to seize up as |Ionly very rarely used it. The back wheel liked to jump about all over the place under braking, especially when the swinging arm bearings were a bit worn (they lasted about 4500 miles).
I did tire of the comments about the wretched appearance of the GT and the way every cop car in Liverpool pulled us over - I was once stopped five times in a day when I had the spannies fitted. I ended up brushing some black Hammerite on to the frame and swinging arm, whilst spraying the tank, panels and guards in lime green. Everyone started calling me Lizard after that, for some reason. Chrome on the bars, silencers and wheels did not respond to fervent polishing, so got a dose of black paint. Engine alloy was so far gone that no amount of work had any effect. One day |Imay get the cases bead-blasted, but don’t hold your breath.
The latest engine rebuild has lasted for 8750 miles with no signs of fading yet. Which just goes to show that keeping things stock does pay off. I've thrown out a lot of the parts that came with the GT, there was no way they could be reclaimed. That has made room for two more spare bikes, both early GT250 models. They cost £55 and £85. One was crashed, the other seized, which in theory should mean I have a complete bike in the making or 100% spares availability.
Buying a couple of spare bikes is the only way to keep these old strokers running. New spares are both rare and expensive. I suppose this one has done something like 60000 miles, so it'll certainly need those bits in the future. The GT250 is still fast enough to keep up with modern traffic, has a gearbox that'll put more recent designs to shame and perfectly matches my needs and income at the moment. Future plans include some frame bracing around the swinging arm, a set of Girling or Koni shocks, a fork brace plus some clip-ons and rear-sets. Total cost so far has been around the £500 mark, which is higher than I’d like but as I’m well set up for the next few years just about acceptable.
I do occasionally see very nice GT250s with even shiny chrome - how the hell they manage that, short of buying new bits, I don’t know - but more usually they have been run into the ground. It’s impossible to sell them for more than 500 notes, few people would pay more than £200 for a good runner. Doing a proper restoration would be a quick way of losing loads of dosh, but as a dependable hack they have an excess of. good points. Honest!
RTP