Suzuki B105P 120cc Bearcat

[2LZ]

May as well start a thread. I didn't list a year in the title because, well.....I'm really not sure.
The seller said it's a 1968 but I think he may have been guessing. There is no paperwork and I haven't found a thing on the frame stating year. Just frame and engine serial numbers. I have yet to find a serial number translator for it.

On to the bike. The good news:
I pulled the spark plug and sprayed a bunch of PB Blaster down the hole. Broke it loose 10 minutes later! Rotated the heck out of it and ran it through the gears. Shifts good, no weird noises. Froze motor, unfrozen. Major victory.

Apart it came. Very happy to see there's no real rust anywhere. Just the usual places like where stuff is mounted by nut and bolt. Not one broke or frozen bolt that wouldn't come out. That said, there was one buggered up Allen head in a side case bolt. At this age, I find only one to be more than acceptable. I remember what my case bolts looked like when I was a kid.

The bad news: Surprisingly, not much! I was really expecting running across some serious problems, or stuff others have done to the poor thing in the past, but other than a dried up, brittle wiring harness, and one buggered up case bolt,.....oh.....and about a quarter cup rain water in the tranny, that's about it.

Of course, crank seals, the harness, cables, tires, tubes, etc will all be replaced, and some are already on order. I can't decide if I'm going to repaint everything yet. I'll find out after a good pressure washing. There's no big scars or hunks of paint missing anywhere. We'll see. In my mind, original is always best unless it's really bad.

The spokes are old and have some rust. I may just try some 0000 steel wool and see how they turn out. Anyone have any good ideas on this, besides replacement, please chime in. The rims and chrome front fender will clean up perfectly. Very happy about that. The rear shocks have some rust as well. Not sure what I'm going to do about those.

The flat bottom headlight is vintage, for sure....and kinda cool really. The speedo is in great shape and man, someone put over 12k on this little thing! The rear brakes look replaced, the fronts need replacing, but the best part is there was no scum or pond scum inside either wheel.

All in all, I'm VERY happy with how the day in the shop went with the new little toy. It looks as though it was very well-kept, until it went into mothballs. No shade tree wrench work found anywhere.

[2LZ]

Motor popped right out. Nice.
Ready for the pressure washer, then drop the front end off.

[TominMO]

https://www.bike-urious.com/1968-suzuki-bearcat-b105p/

[2LZ]

Originally Posted by TominMO

https://www.bike-urious.com/1968-suzuki-bearcat-b105p/

Thanks Tom. This article is why I don't think this is a 1968. It doesn't have the dual range tranny. I'll keep digging.

[TominMO]

Mine was the B100, the street version of this. I suspect the B105s were imported here from 1965 - 67. Yours could be considered a '68 if that was when it was registered, cuz that's how they did things back before VINs. In 68(?) they changed the name to TC120, and dropped the dual sprockets for an arrangement similar to the Honda CT90s. Like Honda, they ;started using displacement in the model's name. I also had a 250cc X6 Hustler and a T500 Titan, the 500cc two-stroke twins that were their answer to the Honda CB450.

The Hustler had 20K miles on it and had bad piston slap, but would still smoke a BSA 650 in the 1/4 mile. Both literally and figuratively. After the 1/4, well, there's no replacement for displacement.

[2LZ]

Originally Posted by TominMO

Mine was the B100, the street version of this. I suspect the B105s were imported here from 1965 - 67. Yours could be considered a '68 if that was when it was registered, cuz that's how they did things back before VINs. In 68(?) they changed the name to TC120, and dropped the dual sprockets for an arrangement similar to the Honda CT90s. Like Honda, they ;started using displacement in the model's name. I also had a 250cc X6 Hustler and a T500 Titan, the 500cc two-stroke twins that were their answer to the Honda CB450.

The Hustler had 20K miles on it and had bad piston slap, but would still smoke a BSA 650 in the 1/4 mile. Both literally and figuratively. After the 1/4, well, there's no replacement for displacement.

Yah never know. My motor states a B100....but it's listed as a 105 on the tag. In all honesty, the Chinese had it figured right with the "163FML" type of coding they used. It made it easy for figuring us what you had.

My newer "old" bikes have been easier to figure out but the older (70's/80's) stuff has more info on the web.

[TominMO]

Yeah, B100 is the engine series, which my bike was named after. The B105 is a variant body style with the B100 engine.

[2LZ]

Finally got some more headway done yesterday. Ready for the pressure washer. I'll see if I need to take off the pegs/center stand or not. It looks pretty good, just mucky.

I thought I may go full resto on this one but the original paint may clean up nicely. There's no hunks of paint missing or any huge gouges anywhere. I'd rather leave it original, if possible.

It's just so strange that this thing has almost 12,500 miles on it and doesn't have any major road rash or scarring. It had to have been "adult owned" like a camping rig or something. That's a s--t-ton of miles on a tiny 120 two-stroke. I can't wait to see how many times it's been bored/piston/rings. I'd say at least twice with that mileage?

[2LZ]

Bonus! I was really balking on tearing the Bearcat motor down and clogging up my normal workbench for a month.....so Mrs. 2LZ got me a little HFT workbench for motor work for Christmas! WOO HOO! Oh....."some assembly required."

[2LZ]

It's been a blast searching out parts. Thankfully it's basically complete. All the rubber seals are obtainable since many other newer (TS/TC stuff) uses a lot of the same parts, I'm finding. Like the points and condenser are the same as the TS250.

I'm also finding at the moment some parts I need to replace like tank emblems and the muffler heat shield are currently made of Unobtainium. This project will take months, so I'll keep up my Fleabay searching and hopefully a heat shield will turn up.

I ordered some other "S" tank badges that fit perfectly, but aren't "exact" as the originals. They have a small white border. Only the keen eye will notice. Hey! It's 56 years old! What should I expect, right?

[2LZ]

Finally found some serious ugliness. I knew I drained some water out of it. Apparently it was all sitting in the clutch side. Fortunately the water didn't reach "bearing level". A new clutch will be needed as this one of glued into one piece. A good cleanup and I think I'll be ok! Everything rolls good. The magneto side looked clean and perfect. Got both crank seals pulled and the main bearings look and feel perfect. No odd movement in either end of the rod.

The other upside is no seize marks anywhere on the piston or cylinder bore. Gonna mic it all out. Hoping for a hone and re-ring and call it good.....and yes, buffed the piston dome. .50 so it has been bored once. The combustion chamber looks like it had once been beat by piston shards.

[2LZ]

It's amazing how many parts, both new and used, are on EBay for this thing. Got an entire clutch assy, and a set of new friction plates....from two different vendors,.....for under $100.00 delivered. I'll take it.

Gonna be a sunny day tomorrow after all the flooding here. I'll post a new, cleaned up pic.

[2LZ]

Cleaned up real nice! Some Awesome, soak, parts brush, and rinse with Brakleen, repeat.

[TominMO]

Nice!

[TominMO]

2LZ, tomorrow I'm going to go buy an old Chilton manual for my CT90s. He also has two Suzuki manuals for two-strokes, one is 1965 - 72 ($20) and the other is 1970 - 74 ($25). Do you want me to pick one up for you?