A very hot June weekend, bikes whizzing past me in the car. I began plotting. Later, a glance in the local free paper revealed a couple of MZ's and a seventies Suzuki GS400. After a bit of thought I recalled that it was a vertical twin, generally well thought of, but nothing exceptional. At 400 quid, worth a phone call. Only two owners but 48000 miles and in need of an MOT. Needed silencers, tyres and front brake pads.
Went to have a look. Engine dribbled a bit of oil through the cylinder head gasket but wasn't noisy. The suspension was OE, worn out, but the frame seemed straight and it went where it was pointed. After the cage, seemed damn quick, too. Alright, I'll have it.
I hadn't realised how expensive parts for motorcycles had become. Bloody robbers! The breaker saved the day, sold me half worn tyres, pads and a set of silencers that looked like they might fit. Next day the local, back lane, MOT tester had a look at the bike and gave me a ticket. He muttered something about the chassis bearings but he was always a bit of a moaner.
Back on the road, the GS galloped along rather spiritedly, gave my reactions a good going over. Took a couple of days to get used to. Never had any idea of what the tyres were doing, the rider left remote from the tarmac. The engine was worn enough that its balancer didn't completely remove all sensation of gas being turned into motive force, but the vibes that got through were irritating rather than the stuff of character.
There were lots of minor hassles to sort out. Cables that snapped, wiring that fell apart, the fuel line started leaking then the floats went awry, and the brake nipples broke off... The whole bike gave the impression that it was getting on a bit, rot setting in as a prelude to total failure.
The best part of the GS was the motor. Not that it was full of character, exactly, but it still delivered most of its original 36 horses and would push the bike along at 85-90mph with hardly any effort. A couple of times I pushed the bike past the ton, no great trauma just that the vibes became a bit frenzied - new bikes were much smoother.
Handling was a bit dodgy from the dead suspension but it could still be hurled around when the occasion rose... I was following this Volvo hearse, which was meandering along at about 20mph, veering to the left slightly every time a turn-off came up. He finally found the turn he wanted, left indicator on. I played games on the clutch and throttle, started to accelerate past when I saw the guy wrench the wheel towards the right!
Apart from a parking space, there wasn't anywhere for him to go. I lurched the GS across on to the wrong side of the road, whilst swearing my head off at him. He braked, allowing me to get past with an inch to spare! In the mirror, I then saw him swing back to the left and finally make his turn. Either a complete idiot or a homicidal maniac.
It was one of those streets with large signs for speed cameras and my 45mph excursion on to the wrong side of the road, if snapped, would've got me a ban. In the cage, I usually meandered along on the speed limit without much thought or worry. On a bike, these limits were pretty absurd as there were always stretches of tarmac where I could bowl along at 40-50mph in perfect safety. It almost makes owning a bike pointless...
Except in heavy traffic, the GS narrow and fluid enough to run through the cages without much effort. Fuel was 55mpg, so both money and time were saved on the 11 mile run to work each day. Not that it was the point of the bike, I bought it for kicks rather than practicality but it does show that even an old hack can offer plenty of savings.
Until it goes wrong. In the GS's case, the first hint was an increase in the amount of oil seeping out of the cylinder head gasket. I didn't do anything, other than add oil, for a few weeks - it was still working, leave well alone. Eventually, I decided to tighten down the cylinder head bolts. Easier said than done as the fuel pipe didn't want to come off the petrol tank. I actually had to hacksaw the pipe in half and then work the halves off the carbs and tank once the latter was removed.
Annoyed by this additional hassle I probably put a bit too much effort into tightening down the head. A stripped thread was my reward! The air was blue with my curses. I could take an hint, engine out, head off and cylinder removed - only the cylinder didn't want to come out of the crankcase, did it? After five minutes thought a large hammer was taken to it; a couple of broken fins later, all was revealed...
And it wasn't a pretty sight! The pistons and bores were heavily scored, a slight amount of movement in the small-ends, whilst there were a couple of lumps missing out of the camshafts. The gaskets were destroyed in disassembling the motor. Ever the optimist, the ruined thread was repaired with Araldite and the whole lot reassembled with Hermatite replacing the gaskets. At least it stopped the oil leaks but the engine was an order of magnitude louder in its rattles and knocks.
Generally, once a Jap engine has been stripped down it never runs too well. The GS was no exception. Top speed was now 85mph and fuel 45mpg, whilst vibes had increased in intensity. It still motored along quite happily but I had reservations about doing any great distances.
When the chance of a used GS400 motor came up I handed over a hundred notes, sight unseen. The motor didn't look too promising, all furred alloy, but I knocked it in and spent half a day getting it to fire up. Smoked like an MZ! The next day I took the motor down, found that the oil rings weren't really oil rings! A new set of oil rings, a bit of care in the rebuild and I had a good running motor. Well, 95mph and 50mpg. Decided to rebuild the original motor as and when the parts turned up on the secondhand circuit.
Worth the effort? Well, we're talking cheap motorcycling here - if the worst came to the worst I could always shoehorn a totally different motor into the chassis. The latter has lately benefited from a secondhand pair of Girlings and stiffer fork springs - handles really well now! In some ways, it's infinitely rebuildable, or at least easily bodged, The total cost is equivalent to a year's running costs for your average replica and with all the speed limits and plod madness I reckon I get where I'm going just as quickly and have loads of fun along the way.
I don't even mind the winters, on a reasonable set of Avons the GS ain't half bad and there's little to damage (other than myself) when she slides down the road - it's all pretty far gone already! It's quite likely that the car will be sold soon and I will get very serious about motorcycling again.
Terry Williams