The bike was in good condition despite its 50000 miles and in better condition than a lot of bikes with less than 20000 miles on them. The bike had been used for despatch riding by my brother, hence the high mileage. He had used AMS synthetic oil which improves mpg, reduces tickover and even indicates a generator burn out as it changes colour when subjected to excessive heat. It is expensive but a worthwhile investment. The bike had never been red-lined, was well cleaned and oiled, and in the 40000 miles my brother had done consumed 2 sets of tyres, 3 chains, 1 set of sprockets and one dreadfully expensive rectifier/regulator (£72). It did 70-80mpg driven around town.
When I took over ownership it had been standing for over a month. Usually, it needed to be dragged behind a car to start it after such a time, but to my amazement it started first press of the button. First impressions - the bike felt heavy, the suspension hard, a very revvy engine and the tacho cable wasn't working.
When I connected up the rev counter I found that I'd been changing up at 3000rpm. I had been riding by listening to the engine, like a Brit bike owner equating excess revs to engine rebuilds and cycle part consumption. The engine has hardly any torque and needs around 5000rpm to keep it running along adequately. It handles well even in the wet, even brilliantly compared to a DT; that goes for the brakes as well, especially the front disc although the rear drum locks up the wheel a tad too easily.
The bike was doing fine, getting me to all the places I wanted to go, starting first push of the button. However, this happy state of affairs didn’t last too long as it became very difficult to start. At one stage it conked out a mile from my girlfriend's home and refused to start even after trying to bump it. A conversation with an old chap about bikes saw him off to get a job as a despatcher but still no go. There are a lot of old despatch riders in Dublin or is it just that they age quickly because of the lunatics in cars trying to kill them?
The problem was down to a dead battery because the rectifier was letting through AC current - replacement with the much tougher Superdream item soon corrected that - they are cheaper and much more readily available from breakers. There, I knew there had to be a reason for the existence of the Honda Superdreams.
A new battery was £26 so I found a non standard, Kwik Fit one for £15 with a three year guarantee. Only problem, it was too tall and hit the airbox. Fortunately, I was able to file down a ridge in this item where the two halves joined. It would have been much easier had Suzuki designed the bike so that the airbox could be removed without first taking out the engine! Four hours work to save £9.
The bike started first prod of the starter but refused to tick over at all. I was getting used to the good handling and I even began to thrash the engine. I found the chassis very forgiving, it felt much safer in the wet than the knobbly clad DT. It could even be safely braked when leaned over in corners. This on bald tyres, the bike only upset if you pushed it too hard on wet roads when aquaplaning occurred.
I stripped the carbs to find that each diaphragm had tiny holes in them - a common problem. At £36 a set, Suzuki were ignored - I always rang up the shop to see how much I shouldn't pay! A used set of carbs for £20 were bunged on but starting was still difficult - I could be seen running up and down the street trying to start the damn thing. By the time it started I was almost down to my underpants! I replaced the plug caps with long reach ones, fitted suppressor caps and cleaned up the little corrosion on the end of the HT leads, all to no avail.
When I left the bike outside with the keys in it, someone pinched the keys and left the bike there! The DT key was forced in and it worked. I then replaced the starter motor bushes to try to get it to turn the engine over faster but no joy. The GSX decided to tick over one day, but only after the engine had a 180 mile ride to warm it up. I eventually stripped off the head to check the valves.
I hadn't done this before so let a dealer have the head to do the work - he reckoned that the valve guides needed replacing and, er, Suzuki didn’t have any in stock. Eventually the head was returned but still no difference. Even the bores looked good, so I had run out of things to check.
The bike was cutting out, being a real bugger to start and I was all for making a bonfire out of the damn thing. A friend stripped the motor and expressed amazement that it ran at all. The dealer had left swarf in the head after seating in the valves - one had burnt out. A used one was fitted and ground in. Apart from that, with 55000 miles up the internals were still in fine shape.
I had spent a whole year fixing and fettling the bike and now I didn’t have the money to run it... just as it started to go alright it had to go. At least I got a good price for it. Would I buy another one? Well, maybe after all the hassle has been muted by time and I just recall the good times and not the trouble.
Rudi Monahan