Will I Ever Get This on the Road?

[the_Journeyman]

Well, another project, or well a return to a stalled project

What we have here is (not a failure to communicate ) but a 1978 Suzuki TS185.


History:

My dad purchased this bike in the fall of 1978.  I wasn't even a year old then.  He did a little trail riding with another family member and used it to run around the property and back and forth to my grandparent's house that was about 3/4 a mile away.  Never saw heavy/abusive usage, just got rode around and found a little mud here and there.

Fast-forward about 10 years.  I had a Honda TRX125 for a while, and this bike really kept tempting me to ride it, every time I saw it in the shed to get my 4-wheeler out.  Dad hadn't ridden it for a few years at the time.  I finally asked, and we got it out and it became the first motorcycle I ever rode, and boy did I.  It was the coolest thing I'd ever ridden.  I had a couple small "whoopsies" that I didn't tell Mom or Dad about because Mom would have likely banned me from it since she wasn't not happy at all Dad taught me how to ride it.  I rode it until one day I went to kick it over and kicked myself right off it.  That's right, the piston had seized.  I was sad, no more motorcycle.  It went into the back of the shed to collect dust since we didn't have the money to fix it.

Fast-forward another 18 or 19 years.  I had been riding on the street and tinkering on bikes for a few years and had bought a house.  One random night, I got the bright idea I wanted to get that TS running again because it is a hoot to ride.  So, I rescued it from the shed, in the rain.


I did a few little things, cleaned the carbs, got it running ok, put a clutch in it etc.  Removed the seized piston and did a 1mm overbore and basically did a top-end rebuild.  In my dining room.  Can you tell I was a bachelor at the time?


I finally got a bucket of parts from my parent's basement.  That bucket contained all of the stuff that made it a street legal dual-sport, it's original configuration.  That got it to a decent running and decent looking bike.


However, I never got the electrics working right. So, I ran it around the yard and neighborhood and finally it just got parked.  It's sat for three or four years. 

Now, I'm revisiting it.  I *hope* I can get the electrics working right.  I'll have to clean the carb out since it had been sitting, but I REALLY want to tag this bike and ride it around town.

Thanks for reading and feel free to toss any useful knowledge my way!

JM

[seevtsaab]

I've got no useful knowledge beyond: it's a motorcycle, and you should ride it!
Nice job getting it going again, good luck on the electrics.
It's not magic, just try not to let the smoke out of the expensive pieces.

[DarkMonster620]

Just reminds me of my first bike, 1983 or 84 DR125, yellow/blue colour scheme was too tall for me, but, I got on it  . . . rode it in my backyard and one weekend, it dissappeared 

[the_Journeyman]

Just reminds me of my first bike, 1983 or 84 DR125, yellow/blue colour scheme was too tall for me, but, I got on it  . . . rode it in my backyard and one weekend, it dissappeared 

Yea. know what you mean.  Dad put a large block of wood by the shed for me.  I couldn't touch the ground while on it when I first started riding.  I had to use the block to stand on to kick start it and to get on and off it!

Seev;  I certainly plan on riding it, it's top speed is aroudn 45-50, but it sure is fun to ride!

JM

[Bill in OKC]

I restored a GT550 and am almost ready to start (try and start) a H1e project.  Your bike looks really great for the year.  You've got all the really hard to replace bits in good shape.  The electrics on bikes of that era are relatively straight forward.  I'm guessing by electrics you mean no spark?  There are not many places that can go wrong and a volt meter can trace any problem down.  The most common problem would be the coil followed by possibly the condenser.  A tricky one is (my GT550 had this problem) the spark plug cap comes apart and there is a resistor chip/spring inside.  The hidden bits can get rusty up in there and really weaken the spark. If you have spark then maybe revisit the carb.  I had one cylinder on my triple that gave me problems.  The carb looked just as good as the other two but the third time I had it apart I must have done something different and got it running OK.  Have you pulled the needle jet and cleaned it up?  FYI - e10 can do some serious damage to the carb and crank seals.  Good luck - I love old 2 strokes.

[Speeddog]

Does it have a battery?

[the_Journeyman]

Actually, ignition circuitry is fine.  Once I have the carb cleaned up and make sure it's getting oil from the oil pump it'll run good most likely.

The electrics I'm having trouble with is the lighting circuits.

It does have a battery, but it's a tiny 6V one that doesn't seem to exist anymore.

JM

[the_Journeyman]

So far what I've learned...

1.  Never, ever let premix sit.  It had a tank of premix due to concerns the CCI had failed. I have a carburetor full of black sludge.  I'll be washing out the tank as well, since there was some in it.

2.  This is the most simple bike I've ever worked on as far as mechanical stuff goes.  I had the tank off, air box removed and carb removed in about 15 minutes.

JM

[ducpainter]

That old Montesa I got had premix left in it and it seized the motor. I pulled the barrel off and have the bottom end soaking in ATF.

[ungeheuer]

I have a soft spot for the ol' TS185 

Looking forward to following the progress of yours... especially as it has history, been in the family for so long.

[the_Journeyman]

Rinsed the old pre-mix out of the tank with fresh gas and carb cleaner.  I probably looked like an idiot standing in the driveway shaking a gas tank for all it was work 

Petcock was so sludged I could barely turn it.  It's currently partially disassembled and will be further disassembled. 

Carburetor cleaner to the face isn't much fun.

JM

[DarkMonster620]

Carburetor cleaner to the face isn't much fun.

JM

How'd you know?

[GK]

So far what I've learned...

2.  This is the most simple bike I've ever worked on as far as mechanical stuff goes.  I had the tank off, air box removed and carb removed in about 15 minutes.

JM

I remember the simplicity of such bikes. I've had a few over the years, all pretty darn easy to work on.

Hope it's running sweetly soon.

[DesmoDiva]

Good luck, JM.

Wish I could get my dad to part with the old Rokon that's sitting in the shed at home.

He wouldn't teach me to ride it, only my sister.  She dropped it once and never tried to ride it again.

B dug it out and ran it several years back.

[the_Journeyman]

I remember that!  Those Rokons were really someting else!

One of my biggest concerns is the oil pump working properly.  I've got to find a way to prime it or something.  I think I'll take the spark plug out and and kick it over a few times and see if I get any oil.

JM