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It was deepest winter, it was dark, I had just had a hard day in work, it had just stopped snowing and started to rain. I was cold to my bones and I still had to clean the GS850 when I got home. So when I was invited into a warm house and given hot coffee and chocolate biscuits I nearly forgot why I was there...
In the garage stood a mangy Suzuki GSX250, rust was bursting through everywhere and the chain looked like it belonged in an outside toilet. The only good thing was the barn door fairing. The fairing kept all the rain off and I could feel some heat rising from the engine. I must admit I was sold on it, but not at £280 - I offered £200 which was accepted only after I'd walked to the end of his driveway.
The bike had been dealer serviced before he sold it, so all through the winter I did not look at the engine. In fact, I never cleaned it or lifted the seat or tank once. By the end of the winter the top speed had dropped from 95 to 80mph.
It was only when the exhaust rusted through that I decided to have a look at it. The chain, never adjusted, could be lifted off the sprocket and moved around by hand. The spark plugs had worn down so much that you could not see the centre electrode. The front brakes had rusted in place. A whole weekend was spent doing it back up. The exhaust was held together by rust and fell off when I touched it. New plugs, chain, sprockets, oil change and even a new filter.
The brake pads proved to be much harder to do. Much elbow grease was spent on freeing them. All the rust on the frame was left as it had got no worse but the mudguard was showing signs of imminent disintegration. That was all the attention the bike received in 10,000 miles.
The bike itself was always reliable. It started first time every time come winter or summer, rain, snow or cold. After my weekend of loving attention it rewarded me with a speed of 90mph once more and stopped well. It frequently had the balls revved off it, especially when I was late for work. However, the Motad I fitted caused a huge flat spot between 4 and 5000rpm. This meant the six speed box had to be used constantly to keep up with bigger bikes.
For a 250 it handled very well. I could easily lean it over far enough to smash the fairing into the tarmac, which resulted eventually in wet feet as the fairing wore away. Tyre wear is virtually non-existent with AM21s fitted but chain wear is excessive - perhaps I should adjust it more than once a month.
Another consumable is the clutch pushrod oil seal. You're supposed to do a total engine strip to get it out but I pulled mine out with a screwdriver and whacked a new one in with gasket seal on the inside.
My neglect came to light when it went for a MOT. I knew that there were many faults with the bike but not that many! Most of the faults could be sorted out easily and the bike scraped through. A second winter saw the end of the alternator, a common fault, which took out the regulator/rectifier and the battery. I could see this would be an expensive business so went to work on my GS850 until I started to miss the fairing in the cold and rain. Rewound alternator, used regulator/rectifier and a new battery sorted that.
I had now done 30,000 miles on the bike and looked at it about six times. I lost track of oil changes so I just waited for the oil light to come on and then did it. In fact, I was once chasing my brother home along the motorway when the oil light came on and stayed on. I had two choices, stop or keep on thrashing it. By the time we got home the engine was melting and it took three litres of oil to cool it down.
Probably due to my total lack of interest in maintenance, the bike developed a minor oil leak which meant I had a total loss oil system, so there was no need to do oil changes any more.The second MOT brought to light a major fault. The swinging arm bearings were shot. On collecting a set of new bearings the dealer offered to do the job for £25. I told him to get lost and he told me I would have some difficulty. And I did. It was bloody impossible to do. In the end I smashed the swinging arm about so much that I had to cut up a can to act as shims around the bearings. Laugh if you must, but it passed. Also the mudguard fell off on the way to the MOT.
So that's where I am today. With a bike that looks like a dog, gets treated worse and serves me like a faithful hound. I love that cycle and I will be very sad when it goes to that great scrapyard in the sky. My old man has always said the more you look after something, the more it lets you down and my bike is living proof of the reverse. I have done some 35000 miles on the old girl and spent, in total, about £200 on parts over three years. I would certainly get another one should one come up at the right price.
Lance Astley-Jones
First impressions of the bike were physical size - the GSX250 is a tall bike with wide bars, although the weight is about usual for its class. Next impression was quality of finish. I had the blue model which looked the business, the paint heavily lacquered giving a good gloss, the chrome and alloy sparkled.
As the bike was new it had to be painstakingly run in. A six speed box is fitted so the maximum revs allowed for running in gave a bearable speed in top, although I kept getting lost in the gearbox. In all, I liked it save that the cornering was weird until I discovered that the dealer had got the wheels out of alignment. After that it could be handled with a degree of ease, once some speed was up, that belied its large size. It's also usefully narrow for riding in traffic jams.
Performance was good if not up to the stroker opposition, with a top speed in the high eighties. Acceleration, too, was fairly good and fuel consumption was always in the high sixties. Where it lost out was on the motorway, where headwinds and steep inclines needed use of fourth gear to break the speed limit. Luckily, the gearbox was smooth and slick and it was no trouble to play tunes on the box and clutchless changes did not cause any disturbing noises.
Brakes, a single front disc with a sensible rear drum, were well up to the job and never caused me any concern. The forks were stiff enough to preclude either excessive dive or massive twisting when the single disc was applied. It was difficult to lock up the back wheel, even with the less than perfect Jap tyres which had a tendency to slip in the wet.
Stability was good right up to the top speed, although very bumpy roads would cause the back end to hop all over the place, but the bike's light enough to heave back onto line when it tries to go its own way. Even though the rear shocks were not well damped, the bike still felt safe for most of the time. A set of Konis would probably make it as good as the British stuff.
So far so good, but at just three thousand miles I found an oil leak near the gearbox sprocket. I immediately suspected the output shaft but it was in fact the clutch pushrod seal - the seal is fitted from inside the engine! Suzuki did modify it later so it could be replaced without a total bottom end strip!
The back tyre was worn out at 7000 miles, the exhausts were rotted by 10,000 miles, the chrome front guard and alloy wheels corroded at a ridiculous rate despite application of Solvol and elbow grease. The motor, itself, a DOHC vertical twin, a sort of smaller version of the 450, was reliability itself, humming along vibration free whether flat out or through town. I had the feeling that I could thrash along all day flat out without any concern for engine reliability. However, imposition of the 125 law meant that values of 250s were set to plunge so I exchanged it for a 550 when I could still get a decent price for it.
Phil Gooding
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I've owned my 1983 Suzuki GS250 twin for the past six years. It was a low mileage, pristine bike when I bought it and now is a 60,000 mile rat. What happened? I started off full of good intentions but after six months became so bored and pissed off with the little vertical twin that I decided it wasn't worth the effort of doing regular maintenance or even cleaning it.
It's interesting to compare the current state with the newish bike. In good nick top speed was 85mph, fuel nearer 70 than 60mpg and handling whilst dubious was basically safe. The brakes worked after a fashion but the front disc would cause the forks to judder slightly during emergency stops.
The custom looks brought a lot of wrath down upon my head from real bikers. They took a great delight in taking the piss, although I did get my own back once by burning off a wallowing Harley through a series of curves. I caught the grimace of the bearded rider in the mirrors and felt sure that he would have given me the finger had not letting go of his bars thrown his bike off the road.
I have to admit, though, that such antics were a bit dangerous as it was easy to catch the stands on any bumps in the curves. There was also a tendency to run wide and shake the tiller-like bars when running out of corners under hard acceleration. The only way the bike would accelerate was by keeping the throttle wide open and changing up through the box sans clutch. This technique perhaps explaining a chain life of 5-7000 miles!
The first sign of age came at 13000 miles when some holes developed in the silencers. The noise didn't increase significantly but this mere interference with correct exhuast flow was sufficient to put several flat spots in the rev range, futher emphasizing the need to rev the motor until it dies. Even more trouble came at 15000 miles when I decided the solution was to fit a 2-1 exhaust. After much fiddling I managed to get the engine to run above 5000rpm but below that it either stalled dead or misfired depending on weather conditions. Fuel improved to about 75mpg, which indicated that the engine was running lean.
That exhaust is still there but very rusty now. The Suzuki won't do much more than 70mph and turns in a mere 55mpg; not an impressive combination. The front brake doesn't work any more.......they needed a strip down ever 6-7000 miles to avoid permanent seizure but the calipers are so worn that even new seals don't help. I don't use the bike for anything other than short hops so until the MOT is due I can survive.
Fond memories of summer tours stop me throwing it off the side of the nearest mountain. One good thing about the bike was comfort - as long as you can take a 50 to 60mph cruising speed! After 20,000 miles with the suspension well shot that kind of speed was the most that could be safely maintained. I could do 200 to 400 miles in day without too many complaints.
Vibration was never a problem until about 35000 miles when some tingling got through to the tank and pegs. More than 150 miles in a day would leave me less than enamoured with the little Suzuki. Which wasn't a complete disaster as the bike had become less than steadfast in its reliability on long runs.
The first time I was caught out was when the CDI went down. Complete ignition failure 70 miles from home. Luckily, I was only a five mile push from a Suzuki dealer. Of course, they didn't have one in stock but agreed to take one out of a used bike in the showroom if I was willing to pay the new price for it. I didn't have much choice.
The next little trick was for the rear wheel bearings to start grumbling. The already weird handling became wild, with wobbles and a certain tendency to run right off the road every time I banked over a few degrees. I made it the 15 miles home without needing to resort to pushing.
At 42000 miles the cables decided it was time to start snapping. The throttle was the first then the clutch. New cables are real rip-offs but I had no time to make up my own. The original battery then decided it was time to go dead but it didn't do the usual trick of taking out all the other electrics. The only other problem I had was with the indicators flashing beserkly - fixed by using a car control box.
By the time 48000 miles were up I was expecting the engine to fail but frequent oil changes had paid off......I hardly ever checked the valves or carbuartion, they seemed to have worn into permanent settings. Of course, there was a bit of oil seeping out of the engine gaskets and a gradual diminishing of power output.
I once tried to take off the clutch cover to investigate drag at low revs but the engine screws refused to budge. The only one I managed to shift snapped off. After that I decided to leave well alone.
Once I'd fitted the new battery it whirred away the starter motor so furiously that after a week it jammed solid. A hunt around the scrap-yards found one in slightly better nick. Starting had always been good just so long as the spark plugs were changed ever 2500 to 3000 miles. The only time it refused to start was when the ignition coil started to die, although a bump start would still work.
The latter was hard going as the sick front brake always had pads that dragged heavily against the disc and for a lot of the time the chain was half seized up due to the need to keep it going for as long as possible. For such a relatively light motorcycle, pushing the Suzuki around at low speeds is absurdly hard work.
Recently, the running became rather too rough, tracked down to a split carb diaphragm, a common problem on Suzuki twins. Various solutions to this that avoid the horrendous cost of a new one, mine was to Superglue the rubber back together. Not a perfect solution as it's still a bit rough running but on such an old, tired hack it soon fades into the background.
The swinging arm bearings are now becoming a bit slack; the front fork seals went about 4000 miles ago (drain forks before the MOT test) and the rear shocks are down on the stops if I'm ever foolish enough to put a pillion on the back. Handling is okay up to 40mph! It's a useful way of persuading caged friends, by taking them pillion, that I really am completely mad, out of my head to be involved with this two wheel business. One guy, with an obvious lack of character, not to mention stiff upper lip, limped off the bike and promptly spewed up his dinner over an outraged ped. I sped off, left them to fight it out.
The most impressive part of the bike is the engine which has so far refused to fail. That said, it never made much more power than a good 125. The least impressive, the chassis, which in both looks and function, even when newish, was about twenty years behind the times.
I neither hate nor love the Suzuki. It isn't the kind of bike that causes much passion. I was forced to keep mine as I could not afford to buy anything else. Unfortunately, I still can't afford anything else so when the motor finally fails I'll be back to walking the streets or begging lifts from vengeful car drivers or equally insane friends with dubious rat-bikes.
Mike Barclay
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One of my best friends ran a GSX250 from new for six years and 60,000 miles. Then he handed the damn thing over to me. As the engine was still running, the MOT still valid and I had to get to work every day there was no choice but to swing a leg over the still shiny iron horse. I knew that the only maintenance he'd dealt with was the oil and weekly polishing sessions.
The first few rides were quite interesting. The DOHC twin was gutless below 6000rpm and didn't want to run above 8000rpm. I put this down to the rusted through silencers. The front brake needed an almighty wrench before anything much happened, then the disc squealed in protest. I put that down to half seized calipers. The handling was fine up to 60mph, when weaves and wobbles came it as if the tubular frame was breaking up. I put that down to shot swinging arm bearings.
Some work needed, I cajoled myself. A couple of weeks commuting went by before I got around to a serious renovation session. Because of the lack of revs, fuel was 70mpg but voracious oil consumption made up for that. It was seeping out of the cylinder head gasket and clutch mechanism seal. A secondhand Motad was the major expense at £30 but the most difficult task was knocking the swinging arm spindle out. I had to use some washers as well as new bearings to tighten up the back end.
The Motad allowed the engine to rev out to ten grand, with most of the power coming in at 6500rpm. I was immediately taken with its turn of speed. Whilst the new swinging arm bearings stopped the worst of the weaves and wobbles, the speed revealed the suspension as being shot. The whole bike oscillated on the shot springs, above 70mph it left me feeling sea-sick!
Then the chain broke. It had needed a daily adjustment but wasn't so snatchy that it upset the still good gearbox action. Having a chain whack into the back of my leg whilst I was pottering along at a mindless 70mph certainly woke me up. I went from a state of contentment to agony in a matter of moments. I knew there was a good reason to fit the chainguard back on, but it had rattled so much that I hadn't bothered. Luckily, I was wearing boots, about six inches of leather was cut open, absorbing a lot of chainsaw action, which left a couple of inches of opened skin flapping around.
It f..king hurt, anyway. I only just stopped myself from passing out and a cager, who pulled over to find out what all the hollering was about, took me to the hospital. NHS cuts meant, after an hour or two of screaming abuse at the nurses, it was dabbed viciously with what felt like acid and then stitched up by some burly nurse who seemed to be using knitting needles. The scar is quite impressive!
I hobbled out of the hospital, having temporarily repaired my boot with insulation tape, and took a taxi back to the bike with a new length of chain in hand. I feared that vandals would've descended on the abandoned machine but it was still intact. I rode home in third gear, with massive clutch slip, as it was too painful to change gear. The new chain lasted all of 600 miles! The sprockets were shot, a new chain and sprocket set needed.
The first couple of months were during an astonishingly dry summer, as soon as the rain started I found out why the previous owner had to clean it every week. Just a slight bit of water turned the alloy white, amazingly deep layers of corrosion. I soon gave up, the wheels were almost impossible to clean up once the corrosion got a grip on them. By then the engine had done 65000 miles and I didn't think it would keep going for much longer.
To deal with winter riding I purchased a secondhand Rickman full fairing. A horrible looking thing that was so well made it must've weighed almost as much as the GSX. The first time I picked it up I knew I'd have to fix the front forks with some heavy duty springs and treacle-like oil. A pair of ancient Girlings with ultra-stiff springs were fitted out back. A quick ride around the block, without the fairing, revealed suspension movement on a par with a vintage bike but once the fairing was bodged on (the fittings were for some other bike) they worked quite well.
The fairing was such a huge wedge that the Suzuki wouldn't put more than 75mph on the clock (compared with 90mph on the naked bike) and fuel dropped from 65 to 50mpg, but come the winter I could motor serenely through the worst downpour and the coldest of weather. The lack of speed was no great loss in the winter as the roads were too treacherous to do much more than 60mph.
As soon as it started raining it became necessary to dump the square section Avons, they squirmed all over damp roads and leaning over was like falling off the edge of a cliff. A set of Metz's made a massive improvement to stability and made the 400lbs easier to flick around, even with the horrendous weight of the fairing out front.
With all that weight the single front disc was given a real work-out. I had a spare set of calipers, had to change them over every other month as they seemed to seize at the merest hint of a salted road. The rear drum was very jerky but a determined stamp would lock the back wheel up.
Halfway through the winter the engine started to misfire. Every time I tried to check it the mill ran perfectly. It seemed to be one of those transient problems that I'd have to wait to intensify before I could fix it. The misfiring was confined to less than 5000rpm, so there was always the option of caning the bike in the lower gears, with the lovely resonant howl out of the Motad.
It wasn't until the spring, with an amazing 71000 miles on the clock (I was changing the oil every 750 miles but not doing any other maintenance), that I tracked down the source of the misfiring to sticking carbs. They were so worn that I had to put on a used set (£27.50). The misfiring had become cutting out, which had me twirling the engine over on the starter for a couple of minutes before the mill fired up.
The last time the motor cut out it was in a fast flowing stream of traffic with cars behind me and to each side. Clutch pulled in, foot gently pumping the brake lever to get the stop-light flashing, I rolled to a halt, the cars behind pulling up but those on both sides roaring past. The engine rumbled over on the starter whilst horns blared and angry fists were shook at me. Some huge monster came out of the car behind me, waddling towards me like he was going to tear me apart when the engine finally caught and we screamed off up the road, leaving a layer of rubber as evidence of our passing. I certainly couldn't go on like that.
The frame and tank paint, except where it'd been worn away by my knees, was in good shape. The engine, wheels and exhaust were wrecked by an excess of corrosion. The engine was difficult to start when cold, rattled and creaked, but was still powerful enough to see off most cages. It was too good to dump but looked too nasty to off-load for a decent wedge.
Spring weather meant I could tear off the fairing. The bike felt completely different, the taut suspension and free revving engine made it feel just a couple of years old. I enjoyed myself immensely throwing the GSX around my favourite country lanes, taking huge chunks of tarmac out of the road with the centrestand prong. The compact chassis was as good for back road madness as it was for frightening cagers in town.
Then the swinging arm bearings went for the second time. The bike was due for another chain, rear tyre and set of pads. No way I was going to spend that kind of money on such an old bike. The swinging arm only had sideways play so extra washers fixed that. The square section Avons, about half worn, were put back on and a used set of pads and chain found in the breakers.
When the battery started going flat I was glad I hadn't bought new consumables. The acid was an inch below the minimum level (I'd never checked it before...), some water and a couple of hours on the charger had things back to normal. For a while......I found it needed a boost on the charger twice a week. That was without using the lights too much, riding for fifty miles with them turned on would have the engine stuttering until the lights were turned off. There was just enough power coming out of the alternator to power the ignition. There was always the fear that if I turned off the engine there wouldn't be sufficient charge left in the battery to turn over starter.
By the time 75000 miles were done I was on the lookout for a replacement, the engine rattles hinting that the camchain was about to break and the smoke out of the exhaust that the oil rings had already worn out. It was still good for 80mph and I had few qualms about using the power band in the first couple of gears.
My friend was amazed that the little Suzuki had lasted so long, having bought a Honda CBX550 that blew up on him in 4000 miles he was cursing his foolish largesse. I annoyed him even more when I picked up a 20,000 mile engine for £80 in a private deal. I actually bought a whole bike, but it was so smashed up that the motor was the only thing worth saving. Apart from a couple of engine bolts that snapped the transplant went without incident and I had given my rat a new lease of life. The original engine, on examination, was on the verge of wrecking its crank and pistons whilst the valves were halfway through their seats. Shows how tough it was, to run like that.
Adrian Dee
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A ten year old (1982) Suzuki GSX250 for £400? It seemed okay, there was only one owner and just 17000 miles on the clock. I knew someone who'd owned a 40,000 mile GSX, who'd regaled me with tales of burnt out valves, quick rot cycle parts and terrible starting problems. But he did admit he'd never changed the oil, touched the engine or even cleaned it.
I had a quick test ride, that revealed more performance than I'd expected, and handed over the money before someone else turned up. It was that kind of bike. Believe me, I'd spent a couple of months looking at overpriced dogs until this one turned up via an advert in the corner shop.
A new MOT was part of deal, so all I had to do was sort out third party insurance. Being only 19 I could've cried when I found out how much they wanted but what can you do? They say they don't make any profit out of motorcyclists but you don't see them slashing salaries or benefits (low rate mortgages for employees, etc), do you?
I was full of enthusiasm and joy at my new acquisition, but it wasn't shared by the autumn weather, which consisted of cold drizzle. I rode through it regardless, but after the first couple of days my shining machine was reduced to rat status and I had doubts about the half worn Japanese rubber. It seemed a little too easy to slide the back wheel, although the drum was quite sensitive. A panicked braking session had the back wheel locked solid, waggling from side to side. I felt like throwing my guts up but kept control of my bodily functions.
I didn't much like the single front disc either in the wet. It was powerful enough, but there was a bit of lag and a bit too much haste in locking up the wheel. Engine braking was so-so, although there was a lovely bark out of the 2-1 exhaust on the overrun. That might have been the cause of the stutter at 6500 to 7000rpm, but I didn't really mind, it emphasized the way the power flowed in strongly at the latter revs.
The bike would run well enough at low revs but there wasn't much power, it felt more like a 12hp 125 than a full bloodied 30hp 250cc twin. To make the little Suzuki fly, the six speed gearbox and throttle needed to be worked hard, the revs kept between 7000 and 10,000rpm for maximum performance. Fortunately, the six speed gearbox was sweetness itself, both clutch and throttle light and precise. In short, I found the GSX highly amusing to hammer along the roads, at least in the dry.
After buying the bike and paying for the insurance I was right out of cash, no way could I afford to replace the tyres. They were okay on dry roads but felt like they had 60psi in them on wet surfaces, incredibly sensitive to whitelines, manhole covers, and the like. Slides were all too easily encountered, pushing to the limit my reactions on this, luckily, light and responsive motorcycle.
There is nothing revolutionary in the cycle parts, direct descendants from the fifties with twin rear shocks and gaitered front forks. This was original fare, with only a few inches of travel and a paucity of damping, but the tubular frame's strong and the steering predictable. I suppose if my second vehicle was a CBR600 instead of an ancient pushbike, I'd be horrified by the Suzuki but coming from a rat RS100 it felt pretty damn good!
I'm a slim 5'8'', the dimensions of the GSX suited me down to the ground, the layout of the bars and pegs so natural it was as if the designers had knocked them out just for me. This instant rapport did much to compensate for the choppy ride resultant from the worn suspension; encouraged me to hustle along at quite indecent speeds for such an old 250.
Maximum speed, on the clock, down a quite steep hill was 101mph. That had needed the engine revved into red in all the gears. Top gear was too tall for normal use, only really making sense with more than 85mph up. Fifth, or even fourth, was much better suited to the real world of fast A-roads. I often ended up playing with the red zone, when snarling up hills or against fierce headwinds, in fourth gear! The bike would weave a little but never shook its head even when bumps were whacked coming out of corners.
The real test of a machine's handling occurred when I screamed up to bends 10 to 20mph too fast, only realising my mistake at the last moment. Then it was down to losing speed on the brakes and taking a wide line through the bends. The old RS used to try to throw me off under that duress, the GSX was appreciably more composed and, somehow, we always avoided falling off.
After a month of getting to know each other, we were great friends. I did about 1200 miles in that time, would've done much more if it hadn't been so cold. Decided it was time to do an oil change and carb balance. The manual reckoned there was an oil strainer hidden behind the sump plate, so I pulled that out but there was only a little bit of gunge - a sure sign that the previous owner had been meticulous in servicing the GSX. Essential for long life with these high revving twins.
It wasn't until the spring that I had the money to put on a new set of Avons. The GSX wasn't expensive to run, turned in 55-60mpg despite my abusive right hand. The only real hassle was keeping the rear chain oiled and in adjustment, it needed attention every few hundreds miles. Chain life turned out to be about 8000 miles, not that bad considering it was the cheapest available and the sprockets were far from being brand new.
Over the winter I'd had two chronic problems. The straightforward one was keeping the alloy (both engine and wheels) in nice condition. That was just hard work. More perplexing was erratic starting on ice cold mornings. Sometimes it'd growl into life straight off, other times I had to persuade my brothers to give me a push the whole length of the street. WD40 didn't help but it became impossible if I didn't put in a new set of plugs every three weeks.
Apart from that, it never failed to get me to work every day, take me for short evening runs (all I could do in the winter) and generally impress with its friendliness and ruggedness. Come the spring it was obvious I'd have to get into serious touring. The GSX could cruise at 80 to 90mph all day (with a bit of gearbox work and quite comfy mild racing crouch). The seat was something else, good for only 75 miles before the cramps started and thereafter I had to move around a lot as well as pull over every 50 miles. If you ever saw some lunatic standing up on the pegs at 70mph on the M1, that was me trying to relieve the crippling cramps in my thigh muscles after 200 miles of self-abuse.
The seat so spoilt the touring ability of the GSX, that I tore the cover off, put in several layers of high density foam, them compressed it down with the old cover and half a mile of adhesive tape. The finished result was far from elegant but good for about 150 miles before my bum started complaining. Perhaps I've got a sensitive backside, on the RS I was in agony after 30 miles!
By the end of 1993 the clock was reading 33000 miles. True, the carbs were so worn that they needed balancing every 750 miles and it was very hard to put more than 95mph on the clock, but the little twin still whirred away with stunning reliability. Our relationship was such that the GSX let me cane it relentlessly and in return I kept the machine beautifully polished. Rust would occasionally break out on the frame but I cleaned it off, proofed it and painted it gloss black.
With the winter, the poor starting returned. My brothers had both left home and I couldn't bump-start the Suzuki on my own. Several times I ended up frantically pedalling into work on the pushbike. This pissed me off no end, a massive loss of face. I took the GSX to the local dealer who charged me £75 to tell me there was nothing wrong.....that's the problem with sporadic faults, they never turn up when you want them to.
A nice GS550 for £600 turned up, too good a deal to miss. The GSX would have to go. £500 richer, my happiness lasted just a day as the insurance company took most of that for the new policy. I wasn't all that overjoyed with the 550, it was so much heavier that it didn't seem any faster until I got to the open road.
As the next step up from a 125, the GSX250 is a natural. There are quite a few rats around and some nice ones. If anyone knows a solution to the winter starting, let the world know via the UMG. That aside, I'd happily buy another.
Fred Cummings
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Weird shit. Buying a bike off a woman. She simpered like sex might be on the menu, but one look at her eyes persuaded me it'd be like putting me wick in a waste disposal unit. To be fair, the bike appeared in reasonable nick and the £750 price wasn't bad. I mumbled something about the exhaust being a bit tatty and the chain about to fall off. Would six hundred quid be alright? Her face turned into a Thatcher clone and if there'd been an hatchet near she might've turned nasty. £700 was hastily agreed, money and doc's exchanged. She sweetly told me that it was due for an oil change and service. Bitch!
I was still swearing five miles down the road. Then it opened up into a dual carriageway and I thought might as well see if I'd bought another dog. The private bike market's all very well but it's dead easy to get it all wrong. However long you've been in the game and however much you know. The GS had a bit of a reputation for burning out its valves but this one was free of exhaust smoke and engine noises.
The engine's a bit gutless, all or nothing on the throttle. The gearbox was still slick and the clutch light. I used the throttle and box, roared up to 85mph when the bike ran out of spirit and I felt like I was going to be spat off the back by the wind blast. Maybe 90mph on a good day. Not bad for an old 250 with 52000 miles on the clock.
Home was a welcome sight. The high bars and set back pegs were not well matched. The seat was well padded and nicely shaped but not so good as to make up for the riding position. As little as thirty miles was enough to have me leap off to shake my legs like John Cleese in a tantrum. Oh well, can't expect perfection for this kind of money.
The bike was still shiny so all I had to do was change the oil, set the carbs and do the valves. This was when I found out someone had Araldited the sump plug in. It popped out when a five foot long steel pole was attached to the socket wrench and a couple of heavyweight mates persuaded to haul on it whilst I counterbalanced the machine. Easy, though I, ignoring the tearing and popping explosion of metal.
The only slight problem was that rather than come out, the surrounding alloy had snapped off, leaving a gaping hole in the crankcase! A gush of murky oil poured forth like blood out of an artery. To add insult to injury, I slipped on the slopping lubricant, falling on my arse. My mates found the whole incident hilarious and it soon became a bit of pub lore - how to ruin your engine and break your spine in thirty seconds!
Drunk, later that night, I phoned the previous owner up, gave her a piece of my mind, that was far too filthy to repeat here. Two hours later half the police force tried to knock the front door down. They interrogated me for half an hour, refusing to let me put any clothes on over my undies. Threats of being prosecuted as a sex pervert and stalker were left ringing in my ears once they went off to rig some evidence elsewhere. It's an unfair world.
An old school friend had a worldwide reputation as a bodger and was summoned from his cellar where he had a reputation for performing unsavoury acts on sixteen year-olds. No problem, alloy weld the plate back on after drilling and tapping the old plug to take a smaller bolt. I should've done the latter before wrecking the engine. This involved turning the bike upside down after taking off the tank and battery. It was then revealed that the petrol was sharing space with a bucketful of rust and the underside of the tank had been filled with GRP! I was beginning to get really angry!
Bodger nonchalantly did the work, only afterwards mentioning that I'd better flush the engine out a couple of times as a few blobs of molten alloy might be inside the sump! Putting the bike back together I managed to drop the battery on the garage floor, the resulting explosion of acid taking out the cat who'd been regally reclining on the concrete. He screamed in agony and leapt into next door's garden.
One new battery and used petrol tank later, I was ready for the road. Having decided the machine was jinxed, I went out in a mood of maximum paranoia and great restrain. As mentioned, unless you use the throttle you don't get anywhere fast, so I was soon stringing the bike out at maximum revs.
Handling was an odd mix. The suspension was harsh with a modicum of damping but there was something wrong with the front forks as they tended to amplify rather than damp down minor imperfections in the road surface. White-lines had the front wheel going all squirmy and cat's eyes made the bars try to swing from lock to lock unless I inputted a wrist-snapping amount of muscle.
I looked on the front wheel with suspicion. A cast job. Sure enough, the tyre was too narrow. It was also way down on psi. Turned out it lost 5psi a day. The cause was an inner-tube with more patches than original rubber, just waiting for the opportunity to blow up. New inner-tube plus Michelin to match the rear, quietened down the front end, though I suspected that the real solution would only come from a set of flatter bars to get more weight over the wheel.
Handling was then determined by the smoothness of the road, a mildly bumpy surface turning up a 70mph plus weave. A really knackered road made the Suzuki unsafe above 50mph, as the wheels didn't seem to want to go in the same direction. On the other hand, stability was fine on 80mph stretches of motorway despite the unlikely prone position I had to assume.
Fuel was around 60mpg, which given the throttle twitching was okay. Tyre wear was minimal, as was front pad wear. The chain, alas, was a different matter. Don't know why, but it needed loads of adjustment and fettling - the sprockets looked fine. I kept taking links out but it never broke.
Which is more than can be said for the old camchain. Snapped when I tried to start it one cold morning. It had always rattled a bit but no more than you'd expect on a bike of this age. This era of Suzuki's had much tougher camchains than other makes, the only time they go down is when the camchain tensioner sticks.
I was lucky, the broken camchain hadn't ruined the engine. One new camchain was all that was needed to revive the bike's fortunes. And some emery cloth and grease on the tensioner slider. The rattles were gone, the engine strangely quiet, but the performance was just the same. Barely adequate once I'd become used to the bike. So much so, that I'd often end up caning the GS close to the redline, just to provide some kicks.
Apart from the aforementioned mishaps, the engine did 13000 miles without causing any serious hassles. Don't know anything about its history, wouldn't believe anything that woman said! Might've been rebuilt, it was certainly bodged in parts. The alloy welding held up, the sleeved plug allowing me to do the mandatory 1000 mile oil changes - neglect this and you'll end up with a crankcase full of valve bits!
So it served its purpose well. As something to do the commuting, ride around on for fun and even haul down the motorway at safe speeds, it was an adequate tool. Inspiring it wasn't, and it's easy to see how many of them ended up neglected and run into the ground.
This means that there are lots of overpriced dogs out there. The cheap and nasty alloy means something as simple as a ruined screw thread can leave the motor close to wrecked. And it takes a keen eye to pick up clever bodging. Not to mention some inbuilt engine flaws. The electrics can also turn nasty, but mine was okay.
I saw one £1500 GS that was close to a rolling wreck. Another for £500 wasn't half bad, but needed a bit of chassis work. I paid and sold mine for £700, which seems about right given the potential pitfalls and the less than inspiring power. I probably wouldn't bother with another, but for someone looking for cheap wheels or working their way up the motorcycling game, they ain't bad.
L.K.
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