Bloopers
1976 Suzuki B120P Student
I first clapped eyes on this bike in a mate’s garage. He’d bought it for 250 notes. It was covered in every colour of Hammerite metal paint known to man. I mean covered, even the exhaust was painted gold! The engine the only bit that had the original finish. The owner told him it had failed its MOT on emissions, as the painted exhaust was giving off toxic fumes!
But it ran, like a dream in fact - no rattles at all. He soon had it stripped and sprayed completely black. Then he realised the electrics were shot. So, as I was looking to upgrade from my AR50, I bought it off him (June 2003). My dad and I replaced the rectifier, which sorted it.
I was soon blasting around the countryside at a steady 65mph, leaving a light blue haze wherever I went! Once I had got used to the strange gear change (all four down!) and the surprisingly light clutch, it was amazing.
I had ridden a few four-stroke 125’s before and the little Bloop (it’s predecessor was the B100P which appears to spell Bloop.) out-accelerated all but the more modern race reps, and it handled a lot better. I would often scream round a corner scraping rubber off the foot pegs as I went, whilst my mate on his Korean CG125 copy struggled to keep up!
A few months later, I put on some more modern tyres that improved it even more (I also changed the plug to an NGK resistor type, to stop people’s televisions going fuzzy as I rode past!). The drum brakes were more than adequate, stopping the bike with no trouble at all.
I was worried that I would struggle to find replacement parts, especially rectifiers as they seem to die every three months, but I found a couple of web-based specialists who always had what I needed.
The only problem was how easily it rusted. The rear fender piece was looking a bit rough, and after some idiot pushed it over whilst I was at work, it disintegrated completely. A quick call to Suzuki Simon had a brand new part on my doorstep two days later!
One day after I arrived at college, a mate popped his head through my lecture-room door to tell me the tail-light assembly was falling off. The bolts had seemingly vibrated loose and it was hanging on by the wiring! God alone knows how long it had been hanging like that but I’m glad the connectors were tight! A quick wander round the market at lunch and I cable-tied it back on. Once home a few hours later, it was back on nice and tight. Dad swears blind he used Nylok nuts when he bolted it on, so how they vibrated off is a mystery.
Another day, when I was on my way back from college, it threw its chain - violently locking the back wheel. This happened across the road from the local bike shop, who found it extremely funny when I ran in to borrow a couple of spanners to sort it out. Once home I ordered a new chain and sprocket set, but before they arrived it did it again. Exactly three feet from where it happened before!
This time it totally trashed the rear sprocket and the nuts that held it on. So the bike was wheeled behind the shop whilst we waited for the parts, (we didn’t have a trailer at the time). So using the shop's tools dad set about the job, and soon I was riding home praying it didn’t do it again!
After a year or so it started to rattle and eventually, as I was riding along next to a large river, it seized with no warning at all! If I hadn’t instinctively pulled the clutch in, it would have thrown me straight into the water. The culprit turned out to be the small-end bearing, which went out the side of the piston straight through the exhaust port. The piston then disintegrated, taking the crank with it.
I later found out that the 2-stroke oil pump on early Suzuki’s slows the flow of oil when you shut the throttle dead. So every time I coasted to a halt, I was running the engine lean on oil for a few seconds, which gradually wore the bearings out.
When I checked the owners manual it states quite clearly - Do not allow engine to coast to a stop. But use engine breaking to slow engine safety - I know the spelling and grammar are poor but that’s exactly what the Japanese manual says. I wonder if they fired the interpreter?
So to fix it, guess what? I bought another one! This had a good engine, plastics, tanks and forks, so dad swapped the engine internals whilst I swapped the bodywork! I was soon back on the road again, just in time for the summer.
My fondest experience happened that summer, a ride around the Norfolk coast. It was a lovely sunny day, and everywhere I stopped people came and asked me about the bike! Most had never seen one before, but some had learnt to ride on them and had never seen one since! That day we averaged around 120mpg! Not bad for an aging old stink-wheel! (Indeed, what the f..k have the Jap engineers been doing in the commuting game, these past 30 years? - Ed. )
But soon afterwards, the ignition switch shorted as I turned my headlight on, setting the loom on fire. Luckily, it was in the middle of a storm and once I hurriedly removed the side panel the torrential rain put it out! I continued home through a storm with no lights! That was scary, but also a sad day, as the short had fried the lighting coil on the alternator and the lights refused to work at all.
So with great sadness the Bloop was retired, and last November (2005) I took charge of a Brazilian CG125 that refused to go any faster than 58mph. 2hp up but slower? This summer, after trying everything to work out why the CG was so slow, I brought the Bloop to my new house and began the strip-down.
I found all the parts I needed, and I learnt to weld so I could repair the seat pan, (which resembled a broken sieve!) The paintwork is done, and now I just have to finish the wiring. Then I can go back to pootling around, actually enjoying riding again!
There really is nothing like a classic!
Jon Crowson