The Story of My First Road Bike - Long Post

[skida]

It was in the mid seventies, when Japanese straight line speed had killed off the Brit motorcycle industry, that I became old enough to legally ride on the roads. Having grown up racing across the local fields with a series of Bantams, NSU Quicklys, Raleigh Runabouts, Francis Barnets, James, Excelsiors and a legendary Velocette Viper, it was time to drag Mummy to Westgate Road to buy a learner legal street racer. At that time learners could ride anything up to a 250cc, and learners started at sixteen!
We entered the shop and I impressed the salesman by standing in the middle of the showroom, scanning slowly through 360 degrees and pointing to a bike hanging at shoulder height and saying, “That one, please! Where do I sign?” I had chosen my first road bike.
For the next few days, I impatiently waited for the delivery of the bike. Eventually Saturday came and so did the pickup with my gleaming, nearly new Suzuki GT125. As soon as the pickup disappeared, I kicked it into life and heard the 2-stroke burble for the first time. A couple of ying yings, then I selected first and nearly shit myself when this wild little thing took off at maximum revs with me clinging on to the drop bars with teeth clenched to retain all my mercury amalgam! Even the Viper never accelerated like the Suzi (but then again the Viper had lost its gear lever and remained forever in second, which was all we could select with someone’s molegrips).
I luckily survived the next few days of getting accustomed to the bike and grew to love the acceleration and top speed, though the fuel consumption caught me out twice in the first week and the handling did not inspire confidence at all. By the end of two weeks, I felt that I knew what I was doing and that switching to reserve meant get to the next garage! Also by this time a few niggles had been noticed, like: Why can’t it go into a head wind in top gear? Why did the previous owner put those stupid drop bars on? Why has the chain developed so much play? Why the f#*% does the front brake not work in the wet?
A certain pride in the machine developed and I soon bought a Haynes manual to help with servicing and maintenance; it was during the first service that I discovered the previous owner had fitted the wrong plugs and one was totally melted. I’m sure that the short reach plugs would have had quite an effect on the compression ratio of such a small engine, but I didn’t notice any difference in performance when I fitted the correct long reach plugs. Another thing that bugged me was why was everything in the ignition chain in pairs? Two sets of points, two coils, two condensers etc.. If a four cylinder car can have one of each, why not the same for bikes?
The statistics would make a modern day learner drool: 16hp; 9.4 ft. lb. torque (or just talk?); 85+mph (and I still have the summons as proof). This is the stuff that learner dreams are made of. Although I have already complained about the fuel consumption, how many modern 12hp race replicas these days would return 60+mpg when thrashed as my Suzi was?
The bike was used every day for commuting to work and weekend fun, which consisted of local trips to the biker pubs and cafes, plus the occasional run across to the Lake District. The two friends I usually rode with had a Royal Enfield 250 and a Honda CB 360 and it is amazing how well matched the three bikes were; the Suzi shaded the Honda on acceleration and the Royal Enfield on flat out speed; the Honda was the fastest; the Royal Enfield had the best fuel consumption and I would struggle against it into the wind.
Some of my best memories include burning off an RD250 (though he was two up), passing scooters with the choke on for smoke effect, and almost keeping up with a Velocette Venom - I conceded defeat when I saw how far he could lean on the corners. The worst memory was when one of the gang lost his GT250 on a bend in front of me. It was his first day on his first bike and though I told him to take it easy, he couldn’t resist the temptation to blast past me just as we were returning from his first run. At the last moment he noticed a wet patch on the bend, braked, lost the back end, over corrected and high sided, flying into the only obstacle for half a mile - a bus stop pole. I pulled up to find him lying moaning with his leg at a crazy angle; one of his L-Plates had detached and was sitting poignantly by his head. The leg was broken and he nearly died from an undetected ruptured spleen two days later. I didn’t top 40mph for a week after that and looking back now, I think our current learner laws are more responsible and I believe that with the benefit of CBT this accident would not have occured.
I guess in two years I added about 6,000 miles; mainly dry after the new bike novelty wore off, and I have to admit that the GT125 was a lot of fun. It would see off any Brit bike up to 350cc, except in a headwind, and never failed to leave any cage standing from the lights. The downside was the cost and frequency of replacing consumables. In those two years it ate innumerable sets of plugs, three chains and a set of sprockets, two sets of points and condensers, and one rear tyre. On one bend the chain came off and took out the clutch pushrod. Within ten minutes, I had been joined by about ten other bikers offering tools, advice and assistance - another half an hour and someone would have opened a cafe! The next day I discovered the outer casing had also been cracked by the push rod. My father worked at Newcastle University, so he took the casing in to the Metalurgy Department to be welded. They took one look at the magnesium alloy and said “Buy a new one”. It was surprisingly cheap, but took five weeks to come from Japan.
All good things come to an end, of course, and I succumbed to the lure of the girl-pulling powers of four wheels. The Suzi was laid up at the back of the garage for another year until I needed the space, when I sold it to some lucky bugger for £90. If only I’d kept it..... if Kawasaki 250 triples go for £1500, what would a real classic fetch?

[beatnck]

nice one
i enjoyed reading that
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no silly comment here!!

[thegubner]

quality, that was good read

[ncrn]

That was a good read mate, very interesting
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Past: 55 Sym Jet, 91 ZZR250, 03 NSR125R. Present: 97 ER-5.
https://www.nsr125.co.uk - NSR Owners forum.

[st3v3]

yeah, quality read
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Roger wrote: Women don't get damp for clingy puppies. Get some better happy pills, hit the gym & buy a medallion the size of a dinner plate. Job done

[cokker]

My mums first bike was a Suzuki GT125

When she met my dad he put on some clip 'ons and a racing seat
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No longer have a bike due to a DVLA/Court royal f**k up.

[pwntifex]

Great post.
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the warped one: This is a follow up from the thread 'my willy hurts'

[skida]

[skida]

This is a picture of a standard one with normal handlebars:

https://www.suzukicycles.org/photos/GT/GT125-brochures/1974_GT125L_UKsales_800.jpg

[cokker]

[Ariel Badger]

Smashing post.
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.