New addition to the garage…

Great bike! I bought one new in 1973. Sold it with 40k miles on it in 82. It would lay down a James Bond smoke screen at full throttle.
Just a heads up, I had to elong the slots on the points plate to get the timing right.
 
Soooo, the fun starts. Bike runs relatively well but, I’ve been known to not leave well enough alone. When cruising at liw speeds around 3,000 rpm in 3rd gear, I noticed the bike likes to surge and “buck”. You can minimize it by putting the bike in a higher gear. I researched this and apparently the “bucking” is not uncommon on a large displacement 2 stroke engine. For my generation of bike, with CV carbs, Suzuki released a technical service bulletin that addresses this. To remedy this (it’s a lean condition), the manufacturer tells you to install a #80 orifice in the pilot air circuit. This requires drilling and tapping for an M4 orifice. In the TSB they also warn that any metal shavings get in the pilot air circuit can easily ruin the carb. This wouldn’t be so bad on a single but there’s 3 of them 😩.
 
Mailman said:
I remember that from my Yamaha RD350, slower speeds with a steady throttle position and it surges and hunts. Two strokes live to be on the gas, that problem disappears at higher revs.
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Yeah... pretty much the nature of the beast. I had a water buffalo like yours for a short spell, RD's, Kawi triples.... they all did the little dance thing around town.
 
Thanks Jim and Mailman. Reassuring to know this. Just for a fun read…. The Suzuki TSB.
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bosco659 said:
Soooo, the fun starts. Bike runs relatively well but, I’ve been known to not leave well enough alone. When cruising at liw speeds around 3,000 rpm in 3rd gear, I noticed the bike likes to surge and “buck”. You can minimize it by putting the bike in a higher gear. I researched this and apparently the “bucking” is not uncommon on a large displacement 2 stroke engine. For my generation of bike, with CV carbs, Suzuki released a technical service bulletin that addresses this. To remedy this (it’s a lean condition), the manufacturer tells you to install a #80 orifice in the pilot air circuit. This requires drilling and tapping for an M4 orifice. In the TSB they also warn that any metal shavings get in the pilot air circuit can easily ruin the carb. This wouldn’t be so bad on a single but there’s 3 of them 😩.
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Yep, line did that too.
 
46th Georgia said:
Yep, line did that too.
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Did the tranny “clunk” shifting from first to second gear?

Getting ready to sync the carbs today. First time use for this manometer. I had been using gauges up to now. Hopefully this will work ok with the low vacuum that 2 strokes pull.
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Synced the carbs. Not so easy vs the 4 stroke. I found it difficult to get all 3 fluid levels the same. With the XS, any movement of the sync screw would cause a noticeable change in levels of a manometer. With the 2 stroke and limited vacuum it was much trickier - I eventually got it (I hope) getting decent readings at idle and elevated rpm’s. Test tomorrow is the weatherman is correct.
 
On the XS neutral is hard to find. On the Water Buffalo was too easy. Had the feeling it wasn’t right so I removed the neutral detent assembly and the spring for the detent plunger was missing! Made one from a spring I had, now going to neutral has a positive “click” in the shifter.

Was burning a lot of oil in the Center cylinder so I tore apart the crankcase scavenging system and found a blocked line and inoperative check valve. Cleared everything up and ready to ride again. The gunk in the bottom of the pop can id from the center crank case. Left and right were clear.

One day I’ll get a bike I don’t have to work on. Lol.


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I had that surging on my Kawasaki triple many years back. I cured it by slightly changing the timing setting. If I recall, I retarded it a very small amount, like only a degree or two. It might be worth experimenting with before attempting that carb mod.
 
5twins said:
I had that surging on my Kawasaki triple many years back. I cured it by slightly changing the timing setting. If I recall, I retarded it a very small amount, like only a degree or two. It might be worth experimenting with before attempting that carb mod.
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Thanks for the suggestion. I ordered the bits for the carb mod from the UK already but plan to do that in the off season - I’ll most likely remove an rebuild the set this winter. I like the timing adjustment idea. By retarding the timing I may sacrifice a bit of performance, but at least the engine won’t be in danger of damage vs advancing the timing. Very simple to do. I’ll give it a try.
 
5twins said:
Yes, my H1 has electronic ignition and there is no way to adjust it provided. But there was a small amount of play in the pick-up mount, and that was enough to "adjust" the timing a little bit. It did the trick.
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The points plate has plenty of adjustment available so I may mess with it tomorrow since the weather’s supposed to be nice.
 
The front discs of the bike have some noticeable ridges worn into the contact surfaces from many years of use. I have a deglazing tool that works well to prepare the surface for new pads but relies on a fairly flat surface to begin with. Assuming I have enough material left I could have them machined but I think that process would be quite costly.

Any tips or tricks for cleaning these surfaces up?
 
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