Possible Project, But First Some Questions

[Johnny1996]

Some of you may have seen my thread in the New Member Discussion section titled "Johnny Buys a Trike - Pre-purchase." In that thread, I basically summarize my Craigslist trike finds, thoughts and I ask for advice and discuss what I find. My main priority is finding a trike, and really just trikes in general, but I also enjoy dirt bikes. This is where this post comes into play.

About an hour ago, I found a 1974 Suzuki 125 cc dirt bike for sale about 5-10 minutes down the road from my house. The asking price is $500, but the bike has a seized engine. I'm not concerned about the price right now, but what I am concerned about is how much of a project and investment this would be. I want a project machine, but nothing too involved since I don't have much technical know-how. I was thinking about purchasing the Suzuki and putting an all new engine in it instead of dealing with the original, seized engine. I'd like to ask some questions before deciding what to do about the bike. I've compiled them together below.

• What is parts availability like for this bike or something very similar?
• What kind of prices would I be looking at?
• Where can I find a 125 cc engine compatible with this bike or one of a bigger size that I can swap in without much work?

Thanks for the help in advance, and I'll be sure to let everyone know what my plan is, but please keep in mind that I may not undertake this project.

[YTZ drew]

Parts availability is usually pretty good on ebay, Suzuki put a ton of bikes into the pipeline back in those days. New parts will be harder to come by. As far as prices go, piston kits can sometimes be found for $50, and most machine shops will charge $60 for a bore job. If the seizure is in the bottom end, you'll be splitting the cases and replacing crank and rod bearings, and possibly the rod and big end pin. A used crank is the cheapest way out, as it costs about $250 to rebuild a crank between machine shop labor and parts. And lastly, engine swaps are almost never easy or cheap. There are a few exceptions (some bikes share architecture with others) but I'm not aware of anything that will fit into the bike you mention without lots of work. In those days, Suzuki had tons of changes year to year, and model to model. In my experience, Suzukis are the hardest of "the big 4" to restore and/or customize. Too many differences.

Sorry if thats not what you'd like to hear, but I hate to see someone new to rebuilding bikes get in financially upside down. Keep looking, you'll find a better deal before too long.

[Johnny1996]

Parts availability is usually pretty good on ebay, Suzuki put a ton of bikes into the pipeline back in those days. New parts will be harder to come by. As far as prices go, piston kits can sometimes be found for $50, and most machine shops will charge $60 for a bore job. If the seizure is in the bottom end, you'll be splitting the cases and replacing crank and rod bearings, and possibly the rod and big end pin. A used crank is the cheapest way out, as it costs about $250 to rebuild a crank between machine shop labor and parts. And lastly, engine swaps are almost never easy or cheap. There are a few exceptions (some bikes share architecture with others) but I'm not aware of anything that will fit into the bike you mention without lots of work. In those days, Suzuki had tons of changes year to year, and model to model. In my experience, Suzukis are the hardest of "the big 4" to restore and/or customize. Too many differences.

Sorry if thats not what you'd like to hear, but I hate to see someone new to rebuilding bikes get in financially upside down. Keep looking, you'll find a better deal before too long.

Thanks. Judging by just your post so far, I'm better off either finding a different bike or buying my first trike. I'll wait until more posts come before reaching a decision.

[danbur55]

My thoughts. For a 74 model kinda on low end to turn over that price for a lock up "not in the plans" for me as could you part out and regain your cost to purchase?? Doubt it. But if cheap enough can be a good learning experience to tear down and see what and how it works internally. But at 5 bills doubt you could reclaim that much. If running maybe. Best of luck and I say keep looking

[Johnny1996]

I've thought about it overnight. I'm gonna buy a trike then sometime after that, buy a bike. I'd love for it to be a road going (street legal) bike but I'll just have to see what I can find.

[knappyfeet]

A lot of older yamahas have a parts life span in models up to 20 years. The earlier years were interchangeable dirt to street. What kind of Suzuki? An old TM properly done would be nice and maybe profitable.

Here's a link to my old Yamahe Project.

http://www.caferacer.net/forum/gener...-1-1971-a.html

[Johnny1996]

A lot of older yamahas have a parts life span in models up to 20 years. The earlier years were interchangeable dirt to street. What kind of Suzuki? An old TM properly done would be nice and maybe profitable.

Here's a link to my old Yamahe Project.

http://www.caferacer.net/forum/gener...-1-1971-a.html

I don't have a lot of time, so I'll check out the "Yamahe" project later. Now for the Suzuki, all I know is its a '70s Suzuki 125; not sure if it's a TM, RM, etc. I do want an '80s Yamaha or Honda the most though, so since I've already decided to scrap the Suzuki idea, I'm probably gonna buy a Honda or Yamaha in a few months.

[atc300r]

For $500 you can get a decent atc 200,200m ,200s even a 200x. Last year I bought a non running 84 200x for $100 it was missing some small parts ,clutch cable and handle ,muffler but I had those from a 200x auto build I did a few years prior. I put new axle bearings in it fixed the stator wires and she a runner .Iv rode and raced it a lot over the past year. I found it when I went to visit my sister it belonged to a friend of hers. So deals are out there. I drove 2 hours one way to get this one.

[El Camexican]

$500 bucks for a 40 year old seized 125 is about $400 too much and that's only if your needed it for parts to get a nice bike running. You'd be $2,000 into it before it ran reliably and it would still have a suspension about the same as a modern office chair. Run, don't walk.