Suzuki

A fantastic GSX750ET from the UK.

Thanks to Tony McGuire!

Another round of name that bike! What did it start out as?

A pretty radical custom Motard from Germany. There’s a LOT of love in this bike. Answer on the bottom…

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It’s a first generation Suzuki DR650

And while we’re at it… a 1965 Suzuki Hustler!

Henry Buss from the previous post also sent in this excellent Hustler.

Hi Steve.
This is a 1965 Suzuki Super Six or Hustler that I restored a while back from
a basket case. I had sent you some pictures before of a Honda CR 750 and a
1965 Ducati 350 race bike that I had biult. I can’t remember if you put the
Ducati on your site but I will send a picture for you.
Regards
Henry Buss
Canada

Timelapse of a DR650 rebuild in 48 hours.

Another cool use of amateur video!

DR650 Engine Rebuild in 48hrs from Rob Armstrong on Vimeo.

BikeBandit finally came through for me with the last few bits…

Finished the Motardization of the DR650 after a screw up on my part. You know that spacer that goes behind the cush drive between the bearings.. yeah well don’t ever forget to put that back in before going for a ride or stuff like this can happen to the bearing from the side pressure… wrenching while tired… stupid stupid stupid..

All came out in the end though!

A cool DR 650 that’s done some morphing.

I’m posting these in part to try and get Al Blair to send me some more shots of this bike.  As a DR650 owner I’d really like to see more of this.

He wrote in:

Hi Steve,

Just got your post on the DR 650. I wasn’t aware you had one.
Thought I would send you a couple of photos of what I did to
mine years ago. It ‘s an awesome transformation from the big 21″ front
wheel and onto sticky super-moto tyres, your gonna love it !

I was gonna sell it recently , too many bikes accumulating AGAIN , although
after loving it for the past 10 years and having had so much fun with it I
decided on a makeover. Goin’ with a kinda flat track style and made a final
choice on the Yamaha tank which took me ages to decide on.
I made the stainless steel muffler 5 years ago when I did the SM thing. It’s
2″ internal bore straight through. What a racket !!! Gonna quieten that right down
this time. Getting past all that mullarky these days.
Shortened the forks by 3 inches recently ( not done yet in the picture ). What a
change that’s made to the geometry.
Just a seat/cowl unit to make and then a scrub down and paint.
Not going too far at all with the finish. It’s just a wee bit of fun this project.

I realize the photos are crap and wouldn’t want them posted anyway. Just wanted
to let you see it. It has a really low mileage and the bike came to me in Scotland
from Italy. I really like the engine. Actually fought for a while about whether to
go flat track or cafe racer single………maybe that will be its next embodiment.

 

Sorry Al but I’m posting them anyway! lol..

My latest playtoy gets an upgrade!

Got my DR650 “care package” today.  Made a deal and swapped for some motard wheels.

Long day at work but when I got home I just couldn’t wait…

So after After a looong evening of wrenching…

 

Say hello to Mr Motard!  The ride to work tomorrow morning will be the firs test ride.  Too cold tonight.

(and yeah the entire shop/garage is a disaster…  Christmas was rough.. lol.)

At the Suzuki TU250 Cafe!

Saweeeet little build! Yet more proof that you don’t need big bucks to build cool bikes. I’d have killed for something like this once upon a time…

All origina low mileage Suzuki T500. The kind of barn find I dream about.

Regular contributor to my 2 stroke blog Ted Guthrie sent in his latest “barn find”.

Hi, Steve. Thought I’d share with you the great barn find I brought home recently. It’s a 1973 Suzuki T500 Titan, with 4,000 original miles on it. Although far from perfect cosmetically due to plain old aging, it is in amazing condition. All I did to get it look as it does in these pictures was to wash it. Torn fork gaitors show, as well as a broken lock on the gas cap – hence my baggie/rubber band seal. Tape on the tank is my label reminding me there is no fuel in it. Haven’t tried to fire it up yet, as I intend to go through the carbs and ignition first. Dig the condition of the seat and tires. They’re exactly as when I got the bike. No Armorall on ’em or anything. Nearly 40 years old. Amazing. What a survivor. Ted Guthrie PS: Please see also, pic of parts and pieces of ’75 Bultaco 350 Alpina I am putting together. 1960 Triumph Tiger Cub is next in line, too.

The RYCA / LS650 cafe conversion. A very interesting concept.

Jonny Imperial (AKA Jon Rickham?) wrote in that he “Just took this for a little test ride. Fun little bike. She ‘s a thumper.”. Go to the company website http://www.rycamotors.com/ for all the info. I think it’s a hell of a good idea.

I believe I did a post on this company quite a while back. At the time I was hopeful for their success but feared that they might go the way of other companies like this. Which is to say good idea with too little funding and too many folks who talk a good game but never make a purchase.   However  I’m happy to report that I’m seeing more and more of these cool little scoots pop up on message boards and photo threads all over the motorcycle related web.  It looks like they’ve got a good foothold started. It’s the type of build that you could use as a launching point and have a lot of fun personalizing. The cost are totally reasonable, especially when you’re looking at something like a Royal Enfield kit or an XS650 based build. The Suzuki LS650  “Savage” cruiser that it’s based on is a positively bullet proof engine and chassis that can be had on craigslist almost anywhere for very reasonable prices. My own (personal) problem might be the size. At my height and weight I might be a bit large for it.  As a side thought, if you guys have any spare time I’d LOVE to see a similar kit for a DR650 (or even an  XR650).  I know the wheels would be pricy to overcome but there already a ton of 17″ supermoto shod examples out there.  Like I said, just a thought.

 

Oh and if you’re curious, this is the bike they start with.