Suzuki GT380 “Major work just completed”

This now very nice GT380 was one of those “late night Ebay purchases that seem such a good idea at the time. Come on, we have all done it. Its buyer described it as needing recommisioning, might need the carbs doing (yup that old chestnut!) but basically all there. It came to us to see if we could actually get the thing to start, if not do the aforementioned carb jobbie. No joy so carbs off and what a mess. About now realised that the seller had been..shall we say “less than honest”. With a closer look it became very evident that the bike needed a whole lot of work through out.But the owner, against my advice i must say, decided to press on with a full blown rebuild of whatever was needed. So the motor was pulled and rebuilt from crank up, front forks were rebuilt with new stanchions, seals etc. New head bearings fitted. Rebuilt wheels, front and rear with new tyres, fresh paint work, all its electrical maladies were repaired, the list goes on. Thousands spent getting it to where he wanted it for the moment, a nice presentable bike that was not a show pony, one that he could use for this season. He was looking for some expansion pipes as that’s what his bike had when he was young, but couldn’t find any he liked so the original pipes wre retained, nice enough but there are some scratches. The next stage was going to be a be a full blown cosmetic refresh to the chrome when he took it off the road for this winter, as while again its presentable its original so has some marks etc to it. Unfortunately he has developed a medical problem with his legs, one that a hard knock to them could be massively dangerous to his health, so he has had to stop riding just in case. So its up for sale having covered less than 300 miles and so still needing to be run in where the engine is concerned.
But,and i do have to point this out as some people struggle to understand this. This bike is over 50 years old, it WILL have its own foibles and will not drive or behave like a brand new Honda CBR1000 blade. If you do not understand this please refrain from buying a classic bike, they messed about when new, we just like to forget that bit.Thanks. G

Better and more pics to follow when/if the weather improves.