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Flauski's Two-smoke Suzi GT185


Flauski

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Thought I better do a write up on this. I am madly trying to get it ready for DGR in Welly on the 27th.

 

I bought it from Hastings a couple of months ago. It was on the Tard but it had sold cheaper than I expected and I missed the boat. A couple of weeks later the bike was up again with a lower buy now. I hit buy now within minutes.

 

I travelled to Hastings and picked it up from the nicest couple ever. The old owner had done a crap load of work to get it where it was but it just needed finishing and recomplying for registration / wof. The dude that hit buy now the first time used the 'My Mother is terminally ill and needs money' trick after wasting their time for two weeks.

 

They were so nice and so hospitable they made me crackers with pickle for lunch and we spun a few yarns. Basically he was selling it because of a back injury and had turned his mind to restoring a car instead.

 

This is how he got the bike ;

 

1973%252520Suzuki%252520GT185.jpg

 

And after an incredible amount of work, I got it like this;

 

20150711_160520.jpg

 

Take my hat off to him, a huge amount of polishing and work was done. The plastic part behind the seat is off a later version of the same model just moved forward about 6 inches. The seat was custom made and works perfectly.

 

SOOOO, super stoked with it, I got it reregistered / WOFed and rode it for a bit.

 

I decided to give it a birthday as the jets were standard and therefore too small since the pod filters were added. Dumb idea. This thing has cursed me ever since. Once back together it had the symptoms of an air leak and I have taken the carbs off and on at least 10 times since then. Cue new plug caps, plugs, intake rubbers, points.... argh!

 

I busily tried very very hard to have it running right before the QCR welly meet not that long ago. I thought I better test ride it the night before and glad I did as it ran like an absolute dogggg.

 

Boy was I pissed off that weekend, was keen as to roll in Welly and I missed an epic ride.

 

SO, then I have been going hard for the DGR ride. 

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Episode 3

 

Well, I quite like the look of yellow headlights, spent ages trying to find one here or in Europe where they seem to be used a lot. No luck.

 

Then I stumbled upon people using this 

k2-_da5fc62f-fb93-4f74-b821-1151d634801c

 

I saw Supercheap sells the same line however only ever advertising red/blue/silver. I tried my luck today and found a can. Then did it

 

Before;

 

upload_-1.jpg

 

After 4 coats;

upload_-1.jpg

 

upload_-1.jpg

 

I'm not 100% on the idea, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that the headlight is massive. Well it will do for DGR, will look at smaller options another day.

 

Pic showing seat action (which still operates on factory hinges / clip) ;

 

upload_-1.jpg

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Mate that looks outstanding. ! Top job on everything .

Also the laser skull is drawn by Maxwell Paternoster from Corpes from Hell fame. He's a good mates flat mate and deserves credit.

Plan to bring QCR back to welly in the near future so hope to ride with you again mate

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Yes it is Maxwell Paternosters design, his artwork is awesome and I hope I don't piss him off then! Imitation is the best form of flattery right? I saw it on a mean raw BSA on some bike blog.

Nick, I have spoken to other GT185 owners and it seems despite the displacement and factory advertising, they rarely can achieve over 100km/h so will be sweet. Revin was easy, just had to clean some switch contacts and tighten swing arm. They tried to fail me on front axle nut not having a split pin but showed them a factory manual showing it was original 1973 spec.it was easy because it was still on the NZTA system having expired in 2006. Probably no spanny chambers, I'm happy with it being finished. I will ride for a while then sell, onto the next one. It's not as cool as an RD.

The paint is like a solar system, it's so deep and intense, it's better IRL. Total cost for paint job inc paint/clear/vinyl was $150. If I had the same job done all at paint shop it would be over 500.

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Sounds sooo much better IRL now that I have removed the baffles. When opened up it really does sound like a swarm of angry bees. Loud pipes save lives :)

 

Saw a cool RX-2 bridgey cruising the streets on Sunday too so I gave it some stick to catch up with the guy. We both appreciated each others machines and probably annoyed a few Yank lovers / Hippies both at the same time.

 

I got light headed when I first got this started again too leaving it running in closed garage. Dumb idea, carbon monoxide kills - and fast.

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  • 5 months later...

soo, before Christmas I let my old man take it for a ride down the street and the rear wheel locked up completely.

 

Luckily it was not the engine seizing but a bearing in the rear wheel, and it was a slow halt, not full lock up at full speed. I have procrastinated for ages before finally getting around to fixing the damn thing (over summer = dumb wasted opportunity to ride.)

 

Said stupid bearing;

 

IMG_20160224_192217.jpg

 

 

 

What the shaft and spacer should look like are below.

 

 

IMG_20160224_192308.jpg

 

 

 

Due to the heat, the spacer on this dumb shaft thing has practically hot welded itself to the shaft, missing threaded shaft section much!

 

Figured I may as well sort another few issues while I was there. When re-registering I was only just let through with swing arm bushes. I decided to have a look since rear wheel was off. Glad I did, bushes did not look like they had ever seen grease. New ones from Ebay Taiwan, $15.

 

Then I always knew that exhaust didn't feel as strong pulse on right side but still ran like a champ. So procrastinating again I finally purchased a compression tester. I was suitably surprised to find between 100-105PSI for both sides.

 

I then set about cleaning the exhausts, the right side was quite badly blocked. Despite outside appearances it would appear the internal factory baffles are quite shit as bits of metal fell from both exhaust pipes upon cleaning. Who makes expansion chambers again?  :)

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