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Post by Lucass2T on Oct 7, 2019 15:43:15 GMT -5
My signature is saying I have a 'Suzuki TS50X long time restoration project'. Thats still the case but there's some significant progess since last week. A little background about this project: Somewhere in 2016 I bought a friends Suzuki TS50X with registration papers for €75. It was sitting in his backyard for years and I just some day casually asked him if he wanted to get rid of it since he wasn't doing anything with it. He said yeah and we agreed on €75 which is actually very cheap, even if it was only a bare frame with papers. It was cheap, but also a total basket case. It had rusty suspension, tired motor, some half-ass welded/baked exhaust which was total shit. It did had a good Mikuni VM20 tho. But in general nearly the entire bike was junk. I think I can use the skid plate, carb and front and rear fender. It's a shame I don't have any pics of it when I bought it. It didn't really motivate me to start working on it and it stayed somewhere in a friends garage for 3 years, until now. Previous week I found a Belgian market Suzuki TS50W via facebook marketplace. It was a complete and bone stock bike. And it has the watercooled 6 speed! It made a very good basis to begin with. Belgian market mopeds are generally a little different from Dutch market mopeds. The Belgians had a bunch of different models compared to Holland. But they otherwise didn't got various models we here in Holland did get. They also have some different laws which meant belgian market mopeds were a bit faster than Dutch market onse. Their mopeds were allowed to legally reach 80kph (50mph) and kids from the age of 14 were allowed to ride. I think in France you are allowed to ride 125cc bikes when you're 16 which also means Aprilia RS125 and Cagiva Mito 125. Anyway. The belgians had the watercooled 6 speed version of the 'fairly common' dutch market Suzuki TS50X. Back in the days here in Holland the TS50X was the less popular competitor to the Honda MT and MTX. The 'normal' Dutch TS50X had a aircooled 5 speed. The Dutch TS50X could reach 55mph with just a pipe and 16mm carb. Fairly fast and very comfortable bikes with their large wheels and long travel suspension. They came with 21 inch front an 18 rear. Below you can see the difference between a very typical Dutch TS50X and the (to me) way less common and known Belgian TS50W.  Dutch TS50X  Belgian TS50W This Belgian TS50W is a bit different from the Dutch TS50X. Engine wise it has a watercooled 6 speed which is super nice I think. Chassis wise it has a bit of a shorter seat and shorter rear shock. The bike is lower and looks and feels a bit smaller compared to the more dirtbike like Dutch TS50X. The radiator shrouds are also shaped a bit different. But apart from those things they're nearly identical. It needs some work done to it because it has been sitting for nearly 10 years. the PO went on his face with it once according to some minor scuff marks here and there. The silencer is gone just like the left side radiator shroud. Our highly regarded member Mr. tsimi helped me find the missing parts in Japan, thank you buddy!   My goal is to have it running like new with a pipe and carb. I want to give it the looks of the 1986 RM125 with that 80's yellow/blue livery and blue engine cases.  In fact there's a guy who did his just like I want to do mine. He only didn't do the blue motor.  It needs to look like this eventually |
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Post by milly on Oct 7, 2019 15:53:08 GMT -5
Nice bike
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Post by birdman on Oct 7, 2019 23:44:39 GMT -5
Congratulations on the nice find! I am tuned in and can't wait to see this come together. Make sure to take many pics of your progress. I've been hyped on the "shifty fifties" lately.
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Post by christopher on Oct 8, 2019 5:45:24 GMT -5
I had a ts185 as a teenager years ago, now you made me start to search Craigslist and eBay for one.
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Post by fuzzyruttin on Oct 11, 2019 17:42:43 GMT -5
Friggin eh man! The RM 125 with the Full Floater swing arm?! New technology, no more dual rear shocks. I was in love with that bike as a kid! I had an older RM 250 that I used to jump the crap out of, it just couldn't handle it, didn't have the travel. That picture brings back fond memories, I must have hours of staring time on that one haha
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Post by aeroxbud on Oct 12, 2019 1:04:52 GMT -5
Nice find.
I had a couple of TS suzuki's in the 80's. A 125, and a 50x like yours. The 50 was red, had a 65cc kit, and Fresco pipe. All the road stuff was taken off.
Got beat to death off road riding.
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Post by Lucass2T on Oct 13, 2019 15:30:28 GMT -5
I really like the tsx. Big bike thats comfortable to ride and is also very quick with some basic goodies like an exhaust and tad bigger carb.
Got it to run this weekend. Did some basic stuff first like adjust clutch and brake cables, put oil in, new plug. It needs 10W40 wet clutch oil which seems weird but internet says so.
The thing hadn't been started in 10yrs according to the PO. Cleaned the carb (mikuni vm18) with brake clean and compressed air but i just couldn't get the tune right. It didn't respond to the air mixture screw and was acting weird at idle. Sometimes it ran really high at idle and then it came down and died. It also ran very lean at idle.
It was exactly the same with the other vm16 i had laying around. Really strange but i couldnt find any worn or damaged parts or anything. Called up a friend who has access to an ultrasonic cleaner. Im really curious if thats gonna solve it.
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Post by jloi on Oct 13, 2019 16:25:17 GMT -5
does yamaha count? in '71 I had a '68 yamaha 100 street. loved it. with me on it , it hauled ass. my buddies, 1 with Sears 109 called me the Singer sewing machine .
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Post by Lucass2T on Oct 14, 2019 9:44:13 GMT -5
does yamaha count? in '71 I had a '68 yamaha 100 street. loved it. with me on it , it hauled ass. my buddies, 1 with Sears 109 called me the Singer sewing machine . Whats a Sears 109? When I google it I only see some lathes? |
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Post by jloi on Oct 14, 2019 10:00:55 GMT -5
this seems really close to what mine was; not sure about gas tank , mine may have been more teardrop shaped; not sure . def remember twin carbs/exhaust
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Post by jloi on Oct 14, 2019 10:52:23 GMT -5
there was a thread a while back and it was about "Puch" foreign classic(?) motorcycles. there were some images of older bikes and 1 of them looked a lot like my buddies Sears 109; and there were some posts about how some were imported I think by Sears etc. . Some people here were real knowledgeable about this topic. I remember "ALLSTATE" BEING MENTIONED TOO . I can't find a 109 but I found this about a 106 so maybe I got it wrong. www.searsallstateriders.com/model/808.895403.htmlthat looks very similar to what I remember. mostly I remember he took it out in a "field" and ended up messing up his ankle for a while on the footpeg . nothing too seriously bad tho .  |
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Post by Lucass2T on Oct 14, 2019 13:47:53 GMT -5
They are basically rebadged Italian bikes right?
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Post by jloi on Oct 14, 2019 13:58:33 GMT -5
apparently , rebadged Austrian - ORIGINALLY - they had several incarnations along the way . gone now since early 2000s. if you're interested it's all in the wiki article. Puch (German pronunciation: [pʊχ] (About this soundlisten)) is a manufacturing company located in Graz, Austria (Former Austria-Hungary). The company was founded in 1899 by the industrialist Johann Puch and produced automobiles, bicycles, mopeds, and motorcycles. It was a subsidiary of the large Steyr-Daimler-Puch conglomerate. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puchweb.archive.org/web/20150602231156/http://van-hoesel.nl/pm/future002.htm |
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Post by Lucass2T on Oct 14, 2019 14:11:13 GMT -5
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Post by jloi on Oct 14, 2019 19:03:16 GMT -5
wow , yeah
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