first bike

Thumper · 12-17-2021, 01:23 PM

My first motorcycle was a 1972 Suzuki TS250. I bought it used for $250. But it was in good shape, except for the tank was replaced with a larger plastic tank, maybe for capacity.

Decades later (~2002, I found this nearly new 1974 TS250. It had tossed the original owner with 521 miles on it, and sat in a clean, dry garage for more than 3 decades. I guess he broke a leg or something. Score! The fuel tank was never properly drained, carbs, inline filter and fuel lines crapped up, but easy to restore.

The seat was the only casualty besides the handlebars (found a perfect chrome replacement for that), so I reupholstered it with black leather. I also found a vintage fork brace for it. This was the quintessential enduro of the early 70s. Kawasaki had one too -the F8 which I really wanted, but this was a deal. Kawasaki had the F11 which had the banana shaped rear fender like the big bikes. Both great bikes.

It ran OK except that there was some oil that had dried onto the parallel flywheels that hold the rod, so it had a little vibration, but not enough to crack the case, clean it up and buy new seals and gaskets to put it back together. I sold it to a collector, making us BOTH happy. Here it is when I finished the restoration:

12-17-2021, 01:23 PM	#1
Thumper Join Date: Feb 2021 Location: Kansas City Posts: 2,303	first bike My first motorcycle was a 1972 Suzuki TS250. I bought it used for $250. But it was in good shape, except for the tank was replaced with a larger plastic tank, maybe for capacity. Decades later (~2002, I found this nearly new 1974 TS250. It had tossed the original owner with 521 miles on it, and sat in a clean, dry garage for more than 3 decades. I guess he broke a leg or something. Score! The fuel tank was never properly drained, carbs, inline filter and fuel lines crapped up, but easy to restore. The seat was the only casualty besides the handlebars (found a perfect chrome replacement for that), so I reupholstered it with black leather. I also found a vintage fork brace for it. This was the quintessential enduro of the early 70s. Kawasaki had one too -the F8 which I really wanted, but this was a deal. Kawasaki had the F11 which had the banana shaped rear fender like the big bikes. Both great bikes. It ran OK except that there was some oil that had dried onto the parallel flywheels that hold the rod, so it had a little vibration, but not enough to crack the case, clean it up and buy new seals and gaskets to put it back together. I sold it to a collector, making us BOTH happy. Here it is when I finished the restoration: Last edited by Thumper; 12-17-2021 at 02:23 PM.
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