Suzuki 2 Strokes

Hello,
I've been on this board for about a month now, soaking up all the knowledge and assistance that is available. I joined last month after I purchased a 1975 T500 locally on craigslist. I paid $500 for this little gem. Lucky I saw it because within about one hour of posting his ad, he had people from all over the country calling about the bike. I literally saw it 2 minutes after he posted and I called right away.

Once I got there, I knew it had potential. He showed me a video of the bike running a few months prior. No title- which tends to be a problem in Wisconsin. I used the Vermont work-around and I currently have a valid state of Vermont registration and license plate, so all is good. Time will tell if Wisconsin decides to give me a title when I transfer the registration to Wisconsin.

I have built maybe 7-8 bikes over the past 8 years or so. All of them completely stripped down to bare frame, and build up from there. Its a hobby for me and I try and get a little work done here and there on my free time.

here's the last bike I just completed last fall.



Here's my favorite build. Sold this to a guy in New Zealand last year.

On with the story:

Here is a pic of the T500 I purchased as seen loaded up on trailer directly after I handed over the $500



Here she is after unloading and removing all the accessory parts and racks

I toyed with the idea of using a GSXR600 inverted fork front end on the T500. It bolted right up without any issues. I decided not to proceed because I couldn't figure out a way to use a large, mag style wheel on the back of the T500. The sprocket offset and the narrow swingarm seemed too much of an issue to work through. So, I removed the GSXR front end and sold it off to free up some cash for this project.

I had a chance to start up the motor and it seemed to fire up on second kick. Seemed to idle and rev up nicely. I couldn't take it for a ride due to the condition it was in, so I proceeded to tear it down. The motor is literally caked in layer upon layer of sludge and crap. These pictures are after a couple hours of picking and wire wheeling away. I still have lots of cleaning to do.

side covers are sand blasted. I can't decide if I will have them polished, or if I will get them powder coated black.

The fork lowers are getting chromed

The drum plates are both getting polished.

a trip to the local metal supplier and I was able to fabricate and weld in some frame supports.

Here is my collection of parts. Paul Miller got a rather large chunk of change from me last month. Ordered some freshly assembled and polished sets of front and rear wheels, made using NOS spokes, rims, bearings, and polished hubs. Also got the NOS shocks and NOS center stand from Paul Miller too.
You can notice the shiny chrome headlight ears and clip-ons too. The swingarm is sand blasted and I removed the extra tabs. Also sand blasted the triple trees, sprockets, fork springs and a few other random bits. Most of the stuff is getting powder coated.

Not sure what to do about those fork springs. Mine were totally nasty and rusty. I sandblasted them and they cleaned up pretty good. I might powder coat them, but I will have to ask the powder coater how well he thinks they will hold up. I don't know if powder flexes enough for it to work. Any thoughts on what to do about the fork springs? I am kicking myself for not buying the NOS fork springs that were on ebay a few weeks ago for $80

Next on the agenda. save some money so I can order the Jemco exhaust and Titan rearsets. Also, plan on getting some Avon Roadrider AM26 tires.

It's a familiar looking procedure.....but a very satisfying one. I just love getting the painted, polished parts back, and reassembling into a bike again.
So you are going the cafe route with this one....what tank and seat are you looking for?

Probably going with stock tank on this one. Mine is good condition. I'm undecided on the seat but am leaning towards a legendary motorcycles aluminum seat. It's small and looks like the dimensions will line up just right. I prefer small seat pans. http://www.dimecitycycles.com/legendary ... t-pan.html

See this bike below. This was the second bike I made- around 8 years ago. I liked the proportions of the seat to tank and will probably do something similar. The seat pan on that bike was formed by hand on an English wheel,but the guy who made it is no longer around.

I rebuilt one of my 500s last year, and opted to use the stock tank. I wanted the bike to stay instantly recognisable as a T500, so the tank and the maui blue had to stay.

Sorry for the size of the picture !

I definitely like your bike a lot.
Hopefully the dollar-pound conversion rates will improve soon. Looking to order some rear sets from you at some point so I can get this bike all mocked up.

Got an e-mail from Dan of Vapor Blast Solutions.
Here is the website: http://www.vaporblastsolutions.com/

i sent him my carbs, oil pump cover, jug bolts and the carb intake pieces. I literally shipped them Fedex on monday, they arrived around noon today in New Mexico. By 4pm, I had an e-mail from Dan stating the parts were done and already shipped back, along with pictures. I would be surprised if he had those parts in his hands for more than 4 hours total before they were boxed up and shipped back to me.

I checked out multiple places nationwide, and he was cheapest by far, and he doesn't charge you until you receive the parts back and are happy with them. Top notch service so far. I am sure I will love the parts based on the pictures that he sent me.

The carbs are not exactly "stock color" but I think they look real nice and pretty!

also sent my cylinders, pistons, and cylinder heads to Bill Bune on monday. I requested that he sand blast and bead blast the jugs and heads. I also requested that he measure the cylinders and pistons and hone/bore/replace or refurbish as needed. Hopefully that will happen relatively soon as I want to get this engine back together.

If you are fitting next size pistons Bill would need them to fit the bore properly .