Bearded Baldy Posted January 4 Posted January 4 So a couple of weeks before christmas i was having a yarn with a guy who lives down the road from me, he had just bought a new bike, a very nice m109r, and i asked what was the gameplan for his old bike. I hadn't seen his old bike in ages and was convinced it was an early 2000s 750 katana, but all i really remembered was a yellow suzuki. I didn't go any further with it than expressing some interest, until he saw my neighbour and passed on the message i need to go see him. So i did. And i was met with this. Well yeah ok lets talk. Turns out has had cluth issues which started with it slipping, then he replaced the clutch but it would never fully engage and would creep forward at idle with the clutch in. Tyres are old and borderline, but the funniest bit, is that we couldn't start it because last time he tried, the fuel tap started leaking everywhere. Reg on hold since 2022. So we had a beer and a yarn, i offered a lowball price and he accepted. Then came 2 weeks of trying to sell random falcon parts to fund the idea. Long story short i ended up selling a full set of seats to one guy yesterday, and got over double of what the bike was gonna cost. So that makes the bike free. Wife does not understand basic maths when i explained this fact this morning... as i walked down the road to pay for and bring bike home. 350 meters is a long way to push a 240kg bike apparently, at least for my lazy arse. But pushed it home and looked over the bike again. Old mate had found the box and the broken part of the mount so that will be an easy fix. Will drill some holes and put a rod inside it, plugweld and repaint. Nice and easy fix. 9 Quote
Popular Post Bearded Baldy Posted January 4 Author Popular Post Posted January 4 First up lets look at the fuel leak. Turned fuel on, started dripping out the front of the tap. Cool as. Turn tap off, shit now it is really leaking. Quickly took the tank off and drained it into the lawnmower. Pulled the petcock apart and poos, no orings, it is a proper seal. Tank is in pretty good nic though. Ok next problem. The clutch. Can't test its operation with no fuel and a flat battery. But lets have a look at what we can see. Nearly no fluid, and a perished line, not a good start. Lets add some dot4 and see how it feels.... NO. I am not touching that screw today! 10 Quote
Popular Post Bearded Baldy Posted January 4 Author Popular Post Posted January 4 Other hidden thing i didn't notice before. Bit of a gark on the swingarm from hitting the exhaust at some stage in its life. Lh end of this photo. Heaps of clearance now though. And the bolt on the exhaust has no burr or signs of it hitting. So for now i will track down a petcock rebuild kit so i can get it running. And start giving things a bit of a clean. Once i am happy it runs ok, charges etc etc i will order some braided lines for the clutch and the brakes. In matching yellow. 12 Quote
Bearded Baldy Posted January 4 Author Posted January 4 Have tried charging the battery throughout the day but it is goosed. Stole the one out of the quadbike which is too tall but fine for testing purposes. Which also needed a charge lol. Have just been out to the shed hooked it up to the bike. So far everything electical works. Compressions sound even. Nobody has stock of the petcock kits that i can find so am filling up an ebay trolley. Will have a cull before i place the order but i did find a touring screen for pretty cheap, just waiting to hear back if it is for the water cooled models or the oilcooled ones. 1 Quote
Bearded Baldy Posted January 4 Author Posted January 4 @legendlives will be needing all the brake ones too. Will see what else i uncover and make a list. There is bound to be more lol 1 Quote
Bearded Baldy Posted January 5 Author Posted January 5 Had a better look at the fuel tap today to see if i could bodge anything, but the main shaft has lost one of the two prongs that turn the selector wheel. So any rebuild kit will just flog itself out fast. Suzuki nz $550 plus gst. Already found one on ebay, aftermarket for $130 plus gst n freight. Will keep looking and see if i can beat that price. 3 Quote
tortron Posted January 5 Posted January 5 1 hour ago, Bearded Baldy said: Already found one on ebay, aftermarket for $130 plus gst n freight. Will keep looking and see if i can beat that price. you should be able to fit a generic one by matching the height, the bolt spacing is pretty standard or you can make up a threaded adapter that bolts on and use a threaded fuel tap 2 Quote
Bearded Baldy Posted January 5 Author Posted January 5 Looked at that. Could easily do it and just plug/bypass the primer hose. Looking at options for now. 1 Quote
Bearded Baldy Posted January 5 Author Posted January 5 Ebay lister had a make an offer button. So i lowballed them and they accepted just now. $155nzd including gst and shipping. Successfull lowballing seems to a theme for this bike.... lets see who else i can get a deal from. 1 Quote
Nominal Posted January 5 Posted January 5 Can't believe a new fuel shutoff was over 30% of the cost of the bike! 1 1 4 Quote
Bearded Baldy Posted January 5 Author Posted January 5 @Nominal i told the guy at suzuki today he lost the sale coz it was more than i payed for the bike. He thought i was kidding. Also if genuine was the only option i would have most definately mucked around and made something. But when i look at the time/costs factor, i just couldn't be bothered. 2 Quote
h4nd Posted January 6 Posted January 6 I didn't like the clutch action on mine when came back from a warrant with surprise hose changes and braided brake had been moved to clutch. I'm going to get a rubber one. To add insult to injury, they put rubber lines on the brakes, which then felt like shit. Doubly annoying that they didn't bother to ring and ask what I wanted. 2 Quote
Bearded Baldy Posted January 6 Author Posted January 6 Man. If my mechanic does that to me he had better be drunk... Quote
h4nd Posted January 6 Posted January 6 Yeah, I ain't been back. Anyway, point being you may want to plan to trial/change the clutch line if braided 1 Quote
Bearded Baldy Posted January 9 Author Posted January 9 Scored an r6 shock for free on my way out of town this weekend so will have a measure up once i get home. Spring rate is a bit firmer too so might be a good match. One of the wreckers has a k8 gsxr1k for a good price if the r6 is no good. Internet lore says k8 one is straight drop in etc etc. So i dont expect it to fit at all. 1 Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted January 9 Posted January 9 On 05/01/2026 at 22:07, Nominal said: Can't believe a new fuel shutoff was over 30% of the cost of the bike! New to cheap projects are we...? 8 Quote
Bearded Baldy Posted January 22 Author Posted January 22 So the R6 shock is far too short. Haven't bothered measuring the clevis to see if it would still fit anyway. Will wait until i have sussed out my restricted licence before i order the k8 gsxr1000 shock from the wreckers. And a shipping update on the fuel tap.... 11 days to be processed after arrival. Almost nz post level delay. Quote
Bearded Baldy Posted January 25 Author Posted January 25 Was having a look today to decide if i can be bothered fixing the small cracks in the rear rh plastics. When i noticed the front main fairings are fibreglass not abs, which explains a couple of missing trim pieces. Best i keep my eye out for spares! Quote
Bearded Baldy Posted January 25 Author Posted January 25 Well, i noticed they were fibreglass the other day, my brain just didn't compute what was going on. Quote
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