G'Day from the Sunny Coast

[blackbird60]

Gidday all. I live on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland in QLD Australia. About a year ago, I had an attack of the "nostalgias", found an old TS185ER (1981) and set about restoring the old girl. When I had finally taught myself to paint, and sort of finished it off, it took 3 kicks, and in the words of The Speaker of The House.. "I haven't seen you grin that much in.......forever!" I had forgotten how much fun these little beasts are, pop a mono in the blink of an eye, sooooooo light to chuck around.....what's not to like. The lawn got torn up a bit (and continues to be when I feel like a bit of a cheer up). We have a little bit of room up and down, little creek and a few obstacles for a bit of trials riding. Have just got the decals to finish it off, and one or two little minor things to tidy up and it's all done. Soooooo.......I happened to be trawling Gumtree with a comfortable rum or two by my side (never again! says Herself), and chanced upon a pretty sorry looking 1974 TS185L for $395. After a bit of a chinwag with the seller (drunken rambling, some unkind souls might call it), he actually made the offer of it to me for $200 -I hadn't even said I was overly interested. It's all there, but plenty of work to come.
I had a PE175 twin shock ('78, I think) back in the day, and almost everyone had DT Yammies or TS Suzies of one size or another. I actually was looking for a DT, but they hold their price too much. Almost all my riding is on the road, with a Honda Blackbird (mainly for forays over the border and playing in the hills), and a KLR650 Kwaka (down the Diamantina out to the Birdsville races, rallies, work commuting through the hills etc). I hope to be able to pick brains for suggestions of suppliers for bits and pieces for old beasties and knowledge about 'em (and pick the Missus' pocket to buy the bits!). Over the next few weeks, I hope to finish a little video of the ER's journey from when it turned up home 'til the finish - when it gets done, I'll post a link.

Looking forward to participating in the forum,
Griz

[80-85 husky]

welcome. i have a soft spot for the early ts's. 125 k was my first road reg trail bike.

[pokey]

Was that 74 from Palmwoods? i had a look and went naaaa. everything needed replacing or repair. it did have spark and comp though.
 good luck as if thats the one your gonna need it or lots and lots of folding fun tickets.

Not many decent parts left over here  so most stuff needs to come from the US or Thailand.

[blackbird60]

Yeah, that's the one. For $200? I could probably sell the seat (solid pan, extremely hard to find), engine, other bits like airbox and wiring etc and wheels for more than my outlay. Its similar condition to the ER I have finished, except I had to rebuild seat (welding and fibreglass) and tank, and buy new sidecovers and headlight surround on the ER. I think I'll be looking at a total (including buying) of around $1000. Got a few bits and pieces heading over from partzilla (fasteners etc -just a few bucks) at the moment, and a sidestand from Adelaide for $15. If the chrome bits don't come up to scratch, they'll be painted instead. For the ER I made a few bits myself (one was a seat hinge, as I couldn't buy one for what I thought was a reasonable price, took about an hour, hard to tell from original.) I paid $450 for the ER, and that ended up costing about $1200 (including the cost of a reasonable spraygun, paint, seat cover etc etc). A 43 yo bike, unless its been rebuilt already, I would expect in this condition. No fun if it's too easy!! There's a few photos of the ER process and the (almost) finished product on SuzukiTS.com forum (under Rattleytappet and Blackbird60 - I drink, therefore I forget Usernames). I'll see how it goes with this little beastie - no biggie either way for $200. There's bugger all on TV, and the shed is a nice place....

Griz 

[pokey]

Cool. yeah seatbase was very usable, foam as usual well used but it does have the new skin. I have enough engines, pity about the pipe as it has that poor repair to the engine pipe as i could use that and a baffle. Front guard may come up ok but the rear has too much corrosion. Give me a yell if you do decide to part it out.

[blackbird60]

Yeah, if I proceed with it, I'll clean up and redo the exhaust repair - should be able to make it back to almost un noticable. Rear guard...once I get it apart, I'll have a dekko. Either a plastic thingo shaped and adapted, or cut out the worst, weld/tack support plates behind and "lead load" cut out bits, dechrome and paint....dunno yet. Had a quicky run of the engine (Start Ya Bastard squirted through the carby for a couple of secs).. first kick, sounded good and fairly tight, no rumbles. We'll see once I clean up the carby and strap a little tank to it for a fang around the yard as a "proof of life" run to make sure it's all worth going ahead with.

Griz