The vacuum line is an automatic fuel tap shutoff and not a pump, back in the day it was always recommended to shut off the fuel when not riding and Suzuki made their fuel taps like that vs the 3 other japanese manufacturers Also the bleed screew ont the oil pump is reverse thread. Also the shifter is reversible the shaft extends both sides. Worked in a motorcycle shop from 1972 to 1975 a lot's of nice memories watching you fixing this bike in this video
That shifter is driving me crazy. The location of the brake pedal should have indicated it wasn't positioned correctly - and I'd be suspicious of anyone claiming to "rebuild" the mechanicals of the bike who couldn't see that. I'd go through the rest of that bad boy with a _very_ fine-toothed comb after hearing that. Really miss my GT. Always started first or second kick, didn't blow any smoke, and surprisingly comfortable to ride - but a little loud if you wanted to go on a long trip. My only real gripe was the solid-mounted footpegs which could pick the rear wheel off the ground on tight corners as they weren't hinged to fold up (which was a little unnerving halfway around a hairpin.) 👍
@@aussiebloke609 The gear lever would have been deliberately fitted to the right side after wear on the selector shaft splines on the left side got worn, making shifting unworkable from the left side. (These had a selector shaft that went right through the cases, and was splined on both sides to cater for the late 1960s UK market, as british bikes back then were ALL arse about, brake lever on the left and gear lever on the right. - how do I know? I had one (well...many) but one that the splines on the left were too worn and I swapped sides before a better fix. Someone had a bit of rat-like cunning to do that, rather than having no idea. Not a fastidious mechanic though... hence missing one of the muffler mount bolts on the right muffler. Solid mount footpegs ...not folding up? Gawd!! Someone (hopefully not you) fitted the footpegs the wrong way around. They are the same throughout the cobra/T500/GT500 range... if you look at 2:17 you can see that there is a bolt head ....this is what holds the footpeg itself in the footpeg metal mount bracket. The inner end of the footpeg has a 45 degree cutout, allowing it to fold back if mounted correctly. If mounted the other way around, it can't fold back.... and things get nasty if you scrape hard. You were blessed having a GT500... fancy having a front brake that worked! The drum brakes on the cobra/t500s were universally crap... they could hold the front wheel enough to do burnouts by holding the front brake and dropping the clutch (thanks to the long wheelbase) but they could not lock up the front wheel on a bitumen road. I would probably have had a few less bent forks if I'd had a front brake. They made a little bit more noise with "street legal" expansion chambers fitted. All the best
@@annpeerkat2020 @Ann Peerkat I should have specified - my GT was the 500's baby cousin, the GT250. Same layout, and virtually the same slyling, only on a slightly smaller scale. Definitely had solid footpegs on that puppy, and they were a little unnerving in the tight and twisties. Dropped the bike once and had to beat one down with a brick on the side of the road so the rear brake would release and let me get home. Still handled decently for that vintage, and more than enough stopping power with a single front disc. I see what you mean about the splined shaft being useful to change sides when one end wears out, but...when he pushes on the brake pedal @ 13:36 it hits the shifter, which strikes me as rather awkward. If he can do that by hand, either the brake doesn't depress enough to even work, or it's going to downshift automatically when you want to brake. Useful if you're just babying it home and don't use the rear brake, but I wouldn't want to ride like that on a regular basis. Hmm...maybe call that a "feature", instead of a problem? 🤔
It is actually a pump, pull off the fuel hose when it is running and you can see the fuel pumping out.The diaphragm pulsates, creating the pumping action. Most all Jap bikes (except Honda) had these by the late 70's. Pro motorcycle mechanic of 35 years and remember the two stroke road bike era.
Over 50 years ago, I rode a T500 as a daily commuter- 50-60 miles a day. On weekends, I was the mechanic for the same bike on race day when it performed surprisingly well against more powerful, race-prepared machines. (We ran it in stock form, minus the kickstand and some other bits.) I still consider it one of the most reliable, tractable and pleasant machines I've ridden over the decades. I could easily do 115 mph on it, as indicated by the rev-counter, and as calculated using the factory charted graph-line for speed and RPM in 5th gear. It was light, nimble and behaved - either heeled over in corners or negotiating crowded streets. It had bags of torque and pullled effortlessly in any situation. When Suzuki went on a hiatus from racing, some privateers modified and altered T500's for a couple of seasons to compete all over Europe. These machines acquited themselves well against factory prepared thoroughbred racers. Above everything else, that stands out in testimoney to the overall design of the motor and transmission. I'd have one today - with expansion pipes, disk brakes, rear-sets, Kevlar fenders, a fork brace, progressive springs and clip-on bars - a great "café racer".
Thank you for this great reminiscence which I only just read and loved. I had a GT500 in 1975 which is the disk brake fitted version of the T500. I had it ported and put expansions on, GRP front mudguard, clip-ons, rear-sets, Koni shocks, decent tyres and I built my own seat and tail piece like the racers of the time, Roberts and Sheene, and painted it and the mudguard and alloy tank yellow with black stripes like a wasp. It turned it into a cool looking beast - not too much faster top end, especially as I added a couple of teeth to the rear sprocket, but it got to 120 faster than just about anything, and handled too without any steering damper, not like an H1 haha. Loud too!
thats funny, I had an RD400 at the same time as my T500, and I remember the T500 as being heavy, poor handling, and not well behaved, with not much torque because of the piston port intake, funny how two people can have opposite opinions, haha!
I was Parts Manager in a Suzuki Shop back in 1973 & 1974 and I've ridden/raced the T500 Suzuki for 50 years. I currently have a 1968 T 500 (Racer), 1972 T 500 (Street Bike) and a 1976 GT500 (Parts Bike with Title). The Pre-73 T500 had a problem with the tranny oil building up in the clutch chamber and "Starving" the 5th Gear of oil. There is a Transmission Dam Fix available on-line. That being said, I ran my 1968 T500 to California and back, from Minnesota, in 1973, plus many more long trips, running 1 -1/2 Quarts of oil in the Tranny instead of the 1-1/4 recommended. I had no Problems with the tranny! I rebuilt the 1972 T500, including new crank seals, about 20 years ago and have been running 1-1/2 Quarts of oil in the Tranny without any problems. I didn't install the Tranny Dam fix at the rebuild. The Service Manager at the shop I worked in said if you run 1-1/2 Quarts of oil in the Tranny you might get slight pitting of 5th gear on a high milage T500, but you won't "Burn Up" 5th Gear! That being said, if you open the cases to inspect the Tranny and replace the Crank Seals, I highly recommend installing the Tranny Dam at that time. Incidentally, I modified my 1968 T 500 to the 1970 TR 500 Factory Road Racing Spec. (including handmade Expansion Chambers) in 1975 and I have been Drag Racing the TR 500 ever since! The Engine cases have never been split since 1973 and the Crank Seals are still good! I took a Bike Eliminator Trophy at the local 1/4 mile Drag Strip just this past summer. Finally, if you can find a set of 1973 TM 250 (Motocross) Carbs, they will be compatible with your Pod Filters with no more than a Main Jet or Needle Height change. These 32mm Carbs ran good on a 1971 T500 I owned back in the day, just as they came New out of the box! Regards, Motorbike Mike
Be still my pounding heart! I was 16 years old and working in a Suzuki shop when these came out. First ride on one left me weak in the knees. I'd never experienced that kind of power before. Later, we did some porting on one, took a millimeter off the heads and fitted a set of chambers -- man, that thing went like stink. One of them was also raced in AMA professional dirt track at Ascot Park and elsewhere. John Sperry was the rider, and the bike was tuned by a Suzuki employee from the local distributer. The bike was very fast, but in spite of not quite having the grunt of the 750 twins, John rode it to some good results. I rode a Trackmaster Suzuki twin as a first-year pro (X-6 Hustler engine with Grant barrels and pipes) that was very, very fast. So many good memories..... And I still dream of finding a 500 Titan.
Great memories. Had a friend in high school that had one of these. Rode and ran like a dream. Never failed him. Can’t say the same for my Triumph 650. Lucas Electric, the Prince of Darkness.
Wow! Lot of comments here. For my 2 cents I'll say put regular gas in it before you reject. Premix will make it run lean as it thickens the fuel. I have one of these too. I swapped H1 forks with a double disk brake. It's slightly better. If you want it to handle better get a T350 swingarm it'll bolt right on and shorten the wheelbase a couple inches. These (and the GR750's) were touring two strokes if that makes any sense... The crank weighs a ton and so does the frame! Don't pull the injector and just run premix whatever you do. It injects oil directly on the crank bearings, premix won't reach unless you drill passages in the case. Have fun keep the shiny side up! Oh and these are significantly more valuable stock. If you want to go wild modding it out, do it to the pink one!
Had a 76 GT 500 TITON in the mid 80's I road to work about 40 miles one way. All on I-25 New Mexico middle rio grande. Popped a hole in the second cylinder at 110 mph, bike slowed to 40 mph yet I made it home. Carol from southwest cycles helped me rebuild her. Crazy thing we never checked what size pistons to order. Turned out my bike had been bored once before and the pistons were the same size. He in turn removed a set of cylinders of a bike he had that was stock, bored those cylinders to fot the new pistons and traded me cylinders!! I kept my job, cuz I could get to it!! Thank you Carol and Theresa at Southwest cycles in the five point area of Alb NM. Your tops in my book! Thanks for the memories, great video!!!!!
Cool find. I have a 73 T500 I restored with Pod filters. Took me 15 attempts of changing the jets to get it tuned in. Stock for my year is Main 97.5, pilot 30 and sp4 middle notch for needle jet. I had to go up to 117.5 Main, 35 pilot and Sp4 5th notch. I also replaced the oil injectors with new ones from a source in the UK that still makes them. I also replaced the injection oil pipes with tygon tubing that i solvent welded together using the correct dimensions for the both the inner small diameter pipes and the oil injectors connectors by choosing two tygon pieces with the correct inner diameter and outer diameters. I then used two rc engine fuel connectors that went from a single to two. Worked a treat! And as folks mentioned, the gear shift can be installed on the left as well as the right. Another fickle thing with these bikes is that when the battery runs low it will only start on one cylinder due to a bad electrical design. During tuning, my bike ran away because it was so lean..scary stuff! Great find.
You've got me scratching my head about the runaway because of lean... sure you didn't have a carby slide in backwards, which meant they could only seat half way down the chamber instead of being fully down?
After seeing everything you did at just 26 minutes in. I will venture to say i would have pulled it split the cases and not trusted another thing on it until i had the dial bore gauges and mics out. Youve got a killer score there!
I will never understand TH-cam’s algorithm I have been subscribed for over a year, and clicked for new notifications. I haven’t gotten notified of any new vids for six months, and this one year old popped up. I am however glad that it did. I like being able to binge watch all the videos of the repairs at one time
That was some deal, I had the very same bike also a 71 but was in rougher shape. Had 12,000 miles on it. It run well though and was a great bike to ride. Sold it four years ago for €2,500. When the advert went up the phone literally rang of the hook. Happy 2023
@@dietznutz1 I bought it with 7,500 done. One owner from new. I did a top end rebuild when I got it. Never was touched before that. There seriously well built like a lot of things them days. I regret parting with it to be honest
Somebody else mentioned the words "time capsule"...so true. For me, the sounds, struggles and seeing you out tearing around on icy roads brought me back to 1979 trying to get my 74 DT100 going. I was 14, it was my first bike and I had no idea what I was doing, but I got it going over the winter, dragged it outside and bombed around the half-frozen dirt roads of rural New Brunswick with my new found spirit. Thanks for bringing back the wonderful memories and for saving another old bike.
I’m 15 min into this video and I am really impressed with the courteous approach of of both the seller and the buyer. I have no idea what the market value of the bike, but these two guys are priceless. Nobody trying to screw the other guy. Unheard of….so many people think they have to “win”. The seller knew he wanted to clean out the garage, and the buyer was just looking a fairly reasonable purchase. Absolutely stunning. You both could give lessons. Thank you!
I personally think it's because they're both from Wisconsin. I live in Indiana and drive a truck for a living and would visit Wisconsin often. Wisconsin people for the most part are awfully nice people. No one's perfect but they have this funny and yet polite Mid-Western way of speaking and behaving. I'd love to live there if it wasn't for the 2 seasons they have. Winter and Construction.
Summer 1977 I purchased my first bike a 1969 Suzuki T 500. Rode the heck out of that bike, desert heat, high mt passes, freeway stop and crawl..nothing fazed that tough as nails bike. Note the left side kick start lever. Im so fortunate to have owned such a great machine at 18 yrs old.
There's a vacuum gauge you can put on each of the carburetors venturi opening and adjust the slide so they both have the approximate same air flow. Worked really well on the old 2 and 3 cylinder carburetor snowmobiles. Love the videos!
@@smoothlover073 Can you make a video of that! Brings back memories from 30 years ago. We had a plastic device with a gauge and a small ball. Had to figure out if we were going to use the carb with the least flow or average flow to match the others to it. Good times.
The early T500"s had a shifter shaft that went all the way through the gearbox so you could fit the gear lever on either side. You'd be better off fitting the original air box if there's one in the parts bike, they never ran well with pod filters.
Velocity stacks did a bit for ambience and power on my various ones... not so good for cylinder wear though. Thru shifter shaft...nodsnods... a hangover from the earlier cobra, made to also suit the earlier uk market where brake and gear lever were arse about.
You sir are living my dream, just wheeling and dealing all sorts of power sports goods. Especially working on them. The sheer enjoyment must be blissful!!!!
My dad had a early '70s I believe it was a 73 GS500 two-stroke..OMG what a great motorcycle... Summer of 1978 I dumped my Honda hawk 400 in the rain being so slippery.. while it was being repaired I got to drive my dad's Suzuki GS500 two-stroke..WOW what a fantastic bike I took it down our local Beach where all the kids used to hang out.. all my friends were like wow where do you get that motorcycle.... Eventually in the early 1980s my dad sold it and bought a Suzuki 750 -4 .. but sort of regretted it he missed his GS500...
In the UK that complete bike would sell for £3500 - £4500 easily, I sold one in bits with a broken gearbox for £3500. Parts are seriously expensive, a petrol tap £205, oil pipes and crank outer bearings are hard to get and there is a gearbox mod that's highly recommended.
Although I was never a fan of these Suzukis, its a nice find. The good thing about them is that Suzuki had the CCI (Crank Case Injection) which injected 2-stroke oil directly to the crank bearings making the bottom-end and crank seals last longer. The down side is that they feel like a tank compared to Yamaha RD series. On these older 2-strokes, they often run much better with the factory air box than with the K&N filters. Old gas can dry out in the float bowl into a very thin lacquer that’ll hold the float to the bottom of the bowl. The first thing you do with an overflowing carb leaking gas is tap on the float bowl with the handle of a screwdriver which is enough to to get the dried up fuel film to let loose. Don’t expect it to pull hard under 3200 rpm.
starving for GO JUICE!!!!! i guarantee you get the fuel issue straight that baby will scream! ive owned and worked on many old 2 strokes--they are either spot on or usually way to lean! you have brought back tons of memories working on them in my youth! keep saving the old bikes! they are worth it!
Love the blue and white paint scheme. Visually ties the lineage to more current Suzuki models. I'm old enough to remember when seeing a T500 next to me at a stoplight was a pretty common occurrence. Those days are long gone now. Good to see you taking on this project. Best of luck with it!
@@RUKI2909 I know it’s just crazy cheap, easily sell that for 4 grand in the uk right now , I’m currently looking for a husqvarna tx 125 enduro but people got them up for silly money atm
Great video ! I owned a1970 Yamaha R5 350cc 2-stroker, the most fun bike I've ever owned ! Always wanted to ride one of these big Suzuki Titans, but never got the chance. Also very fond of the Kawasaki triples, and would love to find one that could be restored. Thanks for the great blast of the past !
It's a Titan 500. Had one back in 1973. Only thing faster in the quarter mile at the time was a Kawakaki Triple 750. How do I know? I rode one of those a bunch too. Also got to ride a Laverda 750 4 stroke. Not quite as quick but definitely the fastest 4 stroke I ever rode.The T 500 was awesome and this brings back a bunch of memories. When the Honda 4 cly 750 came out a neighbor had one. Kept bugging me to race and when we he gave up after about an 1/8 th of a mile, and I had my buddy on the back! Thanks for the good memories.
The Suzukis were good bikes. A guy in town bought one of the first water cooled shaft drive Suzukis. But for sheer speed one of my friends had a '70 Kawasaki 500 triple. After a while no one would race him because he smoked them so bad. He always claimed the hard part was keeping the front end on the ground. He would lay on the tank, crack her open and shift with the kill switch.
I had a T500 back in the late 70's, ended up stripping it down to the last nut and bolt, had the frame repainted and started to re build the bike from there. Rebuilt the gearbox, gas flowed the heads and added a two into one expansion chamber exhaust system. The project took much longer than I thought. Finished the bike and took it over to the Isle of man for the TT races, great great memories, loved the bike. I don't think it handled as well as the T350 or the T250 I owned the T250 and rode my friends T350 both awesome bikes for the day. Much faster than the new GT250's of the day.
That gas flowing the heads has me scratching my head... given that being 2 stroke they were just a little squish chamber. They did respond well to trimming 20 or 40 thou off the head, and/or using a thin piece of paper instead of the aluminium head gasket.
@@annpeerkat2020 maybe the wrong term but yes we skimmed the head gasket area and also polished the exhaust ports to a mirror finish also thinning that dividing wall to a knife edge and polishing that too. It was said to improve gas flow and improve performance
You got a very underrated bike at a good price. I owned a 1972 T500. Road it in New England then took a 4000 trip across the country. It always started and never broke down. I regret selling it. Enjoy my friend, enjoy!!
It's almost like walking out of a time capsule here, 11:00 into the video really looking at all the original parts, it's SO well preserved.. I hope she runs great once you get all the quirks figured out. I'm only 11 minutes in so I'm sure we'll get to see her run, what an amazing 2 stroke twin 500 from the 70s!! Wow..
Love these bikes owned Six types of Yamaha 450 and suk 500 wish i still had them. Worked on them my self crazy fun to ride beat Four stoked bikes all the time off the line
Just last week I was cleaning out one of my shops and in the far corner I came across a 1972 Suzuki RV 90 CCI that I completely forgot about. It's dusty but looks close to new. It's been back in that isolated corner for over 35 years. I remember riding around on it and it ran out of gas. Pushed it into the corner to ride another day... Things got stored in front of it and it was forgotten until last week.
I've seen toasted ones in the late 80's. And in the early 80's Suzuki had problems with early PE's coz they were stingy lubricating the magneto side seal.
You did very well on this deal. I've got a '76 GT500, and despite having sat for a couple years, it ran great the day I bought it, so I rode it home 125 miles, and it was a great ride. It cruises very well and the riding position didn't beat me up. These bikes were originally marketed as touring bikes. Imagine that, a two stroke 500 sold as a 'touring' bike. But, the gearing is so tall that it really does run smooth and low at highway speed, and this twin doesn't have the center cylinder overheating issue that some of the triples were having. The Titan is one of the great street two strokes of all time, and you got a good one. I hope you can get her cleaned and spruced up and take it to some shows, and enjoy some highway miles on it.
FWIW...Man, did I love my '76 GT 500A in Maui Blue...great bike! I found that by changing the front sprocket down 1 tooth [I think it was to 14 teeth] my acceleration AND fuel economy improved about 10%...whereas logic would say they should've gone the other way...Lucky you...wish I still had it...but bought new...I'm likely too old to ride these days anyways...
Had a friend who had a zuki 500. I had a 400 3cyl 2 stroke Kawi. It was pretty even when we raced. Sweet bike, my friend and I traded. Hard to get used to right foot shifting. I figured it out after a minute. Was so good to be taken for a ride with you. Thanks. Btw, I drove my 400 to college every day thru the winter in St Cloud Mn 74-76. I was young. Didn't care. Walking was not an option.
What a bargain that Suzuki was,I restore bikes in the UK,I've been after one of those for years after rebuilding a Suzuki GT750 and a RD350lc..nice Job.. Ozzy.👍
My Brother and I had the 250 and 500s as teenagers in the late 70s. They were super cheep bikes used. They were actually good fun bikes to ride. We had t250 gt250 t500 and gt750 over. The years they all ran and provided hours of entertainment for us in the 70s the GT750 did bite me and high sided me and broke my femur in 82 when I had mixed up ambitions with my capabilities 😀.
Hey Joe just put 6 inches of gas line on the carb after you clean it and with the bowl off hold the float in and fill the line with carb cleaner and let it flow thru and try sealing it to check if its seated, always good to check before installing it on the bike, cheers from Ontario Canada
This brings back memories. In the early 80's, I had 3 T-500s, a 1971, a 73, and a 76. I really liked the 76, as it had a larger tank, and more importantly, a front disc brake. I miss that 2 stroke sound, and would love to find another one, just to play with.
@@annpeerkat2020 Don't be too envious of the GT's disc brake. I too had one of these, complete with a sticker on the fork leg saying the brake wouldn't work in the rain - and they weren't kidding. Great engine though, albeit a little breathless at the top end, but fantastic low-down torque. Mine did about 50,000 miles before being taken out by a car turning into a side road.
Wow. Its been 30+ years since I've seen a Suzuki 509. My childhood neighbor has one. In fact. I believe it is still sitting under his house here in Australia. I still remember the sound of it as his son used to ride it and rev it up for me when I was little and watched him ride it around the back yard. My sister had a bike that was the same color as it with a whit seat. It looks kinda like a dragster bike but isn't. My mum still has it in the garage. Good memories 😎👍
A bit of misdescription I think... if I recall correctly they had 2 oversizes to cater for cylinder wear, but not "big bore" like increasing capacity to any measurable significance.
heres a trick that I did when i was younger, I had a suzuki 500gt titan (same bike) those rubber carb boots do eventually crack suck air, and idle rough, they also suck air where the boot mate with the engine, those rubber boots were very hard to find so we had to get creative with the old ones, we used 5200 silicone to seal the cracks make sure to get the silicone good in all the cracks, inside and out, make a cork or paper gasket to mount the carb boot to the engine, if you use any air cleaner other than the stock one you wont get full power from this engine. be careful with the plugs, using the wrong plug in this engine will burn A hole in the pistons. I highly recommend using only NGK plugs for this bike When she running good, this bike is a ridiculously powerful bike, this bike can be nasty, the thing is a Beast! Man i do miss this bike. lots of luck with it!
I had a T500 K from new and did a lot of miles on it. Note- The gearbox has two drain plugs and if you have an overfull gearbox oil will feed up the tacho cable on a trip and spray oil on your tank. Mine had really soft front fork springs that needed attention, like replacement or a preload spacer. The k Model has a longer carby to cylinder mount and makes the engine perform better at low and mid rev range. I never rode your type, just what I've been told. There great old bikes , enjoy.
Another former owner here who misses his badly. They were a well designed (mostly), safe, forgiving and quick bike. I wish they still made them, I wish all the old simple 2 strokes would come back but, especially these. I had the 3 cylinder GT 550 too before I got one of these and THIS was a better and quicker bike than that show pony.
@@lorditsprobingtime6668 Oh the memories. I used to own a race prepped Kawasaki KH400 triple. Learned so much on that bike at an early age that has helped me always. I swear that frame had a hinge in it. Rocket in a straight line though.
Scratching my head about the two gearbox drain plugs... but the front brakes and forks were never wonderful. Yep, longer intake manifolds dropped power from 47 to 44hp... reduced intake noise a fraction, and fractionally better lower rev torque. Worth it? no way.
@@auralumin I never rode either the 4 or the 500 triples Kwakas but I did get to ride the big brother, the 750 triple, both in stock config (bonkers) and then a month or so later, again except now bored, ported and expansion chambers fitted, possibly bigger carbies, I just can't remember for sure. What I do know is it was both the most exciting thing I'd ridden till then (only beaten by a 200kg 165 hp BMW insanity monster fairly recently but, that Kwaka was even more insane. Kind of good to know they stuck with a super light rubber band frame right down to the small ones too lol. BTW, I never rode the 400 but did have a mate with one and that little thing WAS quick too!
@@annpeerkat2020 Damn! I didn't know about the 2 gearbox drain thing, that would mean 2 separate fillers too and I definitely don't remember that. Mine blew 5th gear on me eventually and now I'm wondering if it could have been my fault for not keeping enough oil in one but, I stripped the engine in the bike down, found the tooth missing off 5th gear and all the other teeth worn almost away, then stripped down the spare engine that I'd got with the bike only to find 5th gear in it in almost as bad condition. Admittedly that was about 30 years ago but surely I wouldn't forget something like that. Discovering that would probably have answered why 5th blew and would have well and truly stuck in my memory. BTW, agreed on not reducing power, stuff that idea! I've got the workshop manual still, not here with me unfortunately but I do remember in the specs showing something just under 50 hp and that seems so weird. I know these were pretty quick bikes and I've since owned one that likely weighed less but had 165 hp and yeah, it's quicker from speed and much faster but, those T 500s were still quick and a pretty stable platform. I think they did a pretty good job when they designed these, all except some cooling or too small and weak 5th gear. The bike was at least third hand by the time it wound up in my hands and I can't remember how many but, had done quite a few miles but, the bores were still almost like new, cross hatching marks from the final factory honing still clear to see. That engine itself could have gone a LOT longer.
A 500 Titan! I had one in '77. Bike would lay a strip 50' long but you couldn't get that front wheel off the ground with a clutch pop. That one looks just like I remember it. Kick on the left shift on the right. Great find!
Nice... you may want to consider to find a stock airbox for it.. it was coming up on pipe a little, then you'd shift.. but not a ideal day to be trying out a 2 stroke vintage.. becareful on that one. It'll get away from ya real quick & hurt ya... Great find.. I had a beautiful 1 of those back in the day, they'll get up & go.. good luck & be safe, looking forward to the update...
Me too! I loved everything about mine except that crazy wrong sided kick start. And yep, they do get moving pretty good. The thing that surprised me most was how much pull they had from even pretty low revs once tuned and running perfect. Mine ended up having 5th gear lose a tooth and lock my rear up at near 100 mph, right in front of the semi I'd just overtaken. That was rather exciting and meant I had to spear it offroad into the scrub at that speed but, somehow even then I didn't drop it. Very forgiving bike and if that hadn't happened I'd probably still be riding it today. I had a spare engine but when I stripped it down to go right through and rebuild anything needing it, it had exactly the same problem almost ready to happen so a design flaw there. A great bike though except for a couple of weird things and 1 design flaw a really good and pretty quick old 2 stroke twin. I do really miss mine.
Stock bike with a standing 1/4 of 14.28 and about 100mph if you fart... not what I found to be "get away from ya real quick" once I'd ridden one for a few months. If you aren't accustomed to something with a modicum of power I agree, but that's more about the rider than the bike. My ultimate version with various engine workings and chambers ran standing 1/4 best of 12.97 seconds, with about 120mph top speed. Fast, but like stock, everything was quite predictable... nothing like the yam rd350s or kwaka 500s of the day. That was get away real quick material.... no power then zap when they hit the powerband.
@@lorditsprobingtime6668 Wincing @ the lockup in front of a truck. 5th gear was an ongoing problem with the 1200cc gearbox oil capacity. Mr suzuki knew all about it, and finally got round to sorting it on the 1975 GT500s, doing a cheap bit of crankcase trickery to increase gearbox oil capacity to 1400ml. Problem solved, after selling thousands of replacement gears and countershafts! Kick starting... well.. compared to 4 stroke big singles and twins they were a pussy. I was fine with the left side kick start...quite a novel feature when folks tried starting it without your permission.
@@annpeerkat2020 Ahh thanks! That all happened over 30 years ago and no internet and way out in a tiny country town too so information like that wasn't easy to find. I kept it for several years, bought other bikes and kept hoping I'd find parts somewhere, I just didn't know where to look, or about any types of mods to cure the problem. I didn't even know for sure till your post here that it was a common problem. Oil would have been all around in a spray in the gearbox, if increasing the oil capacity/ raising the oil level suggests the main issue was it getting too hot and softening, does that sound right? I'm glad you liked the kickstart, I hated the thing. I don't know if this is common with them but mine could kick back, not like an old 450 BSA single a mate had that would throw a kid like I was at the time across the room, more like someone swung a light ball peen hammer really hard and fast against the bottom of your foot. I had BOTH feet bruised in the finish and it was getting to be a "I have to go somewhere but, to do that PLEASE start first kick WITHOUT smashing the bottom of my foot again" type situation. I did have a Hilux 2 WD ute but MUCH preferred riding so kept punishing myself. It was good comedy watching someone else try to work it out, even throw them the keys and maybe bet a beer on whether they could fire it up in 1 kick lol. In stock config they weren't an insanity machine but, they were reasonably quick, stable and surprisingly forgiving. Many times I should have come off but, somehow that bike always stayed upright, it's one of the very few bikes this particular silly b stard never dropped. I would love to ride a race setup one, I can imagine a VERY big difference if done right. Of the quick ones you mentioned, I did have an RD TWO fifty. I swapped a fish tank for it completely stripped down and in boxes. He'd had the cylinders bored and new oversize pistons and rings so it was just a matter of putting it all together. Not having pulled it apart made that challenging but, I had no leftover spacers, nuts or anything left over so that's always a good sign. That little thing was surprisingly zippy! The RD 350s were a legendary fun machine, till I got that I didn't even know they had a smaller but still pretty lively little brother. A mate here still has one that was apparently running when he stuck it in his shed years ago. He offered it to me but after a crash that I wasn't expected to survive a few years ago I do still ride but I can't make it far and am pretty useless so, rebuilding, or at least, going right through an old rusting bike isn't something that excites me anymore.
Absolutely marvellous find in beautiful condition for the year I had one of these bikes in the in the early 90s good bike the run well and have decent power you should be able to get the dent out the petrol tank you should do full restoration on it as it will clean up to emaculate condition nice find I've only watched first 20 minutes and had to leave a comment buying the other parts bikes for the price was a bonus happy new year Joe & jade & vinny & other dogs may 2023 be a prosperous year may it bring you all the success in everything you do in 2023
When I was 16 I bought a Kawasaki 2 stroke KH 500 , that was an awesome bike that I never should have sold , I won a lot of races and had a lot of fun on that bike
I used to have one of those in the seventies in UK and eventually destroyed it as one did in ones youth. I subsequently bought a GT750 triple many years later but I never forgot that five hundred. Very very simple bikes and very strong; there's not a lot of moving parts on a 2 stroke. Suzuki should have stuck with them for longer. Price seems incredibly reasonable. Crankshaft seals were the biggest issue as they drained the gearbox oil and caused them to smoke.
I had 2 triples but once you had a twin. I didn't like 3 cylinders yhey were not a stable moter kawasaki.tried but all them were a flop poor hsndelin frame issue on and on yhey should of made the h1 in a twin then all there issues would be gone
Not mine ever no.leakes .mine never sat ever.. greatest bike Suzuki ever made yhe only thing thst would cause crank seals to Leake is if the bike sat for years not running or driveing this does a huge amount of damage to all the seals when they sit all seals dry up and crack
I don't know why more people didn't get 2 stroke bike's back in the day! They have awesome power with a smaller displacement engine! Good find for sure!
I love two strokes, but the smoke gives me sinus. On a road bike expensive two stroke oil adds up in costs. Until the Yamaha LC, the technology never advanced. 1960's basic designs were being sold in the late '70's.
Used to own a T500K from 1973. Took well to being ported, because it's really a basic 2 stroke with no fancy electronics. Would pull 8000 in top gear ! Easy to maintain, chewed plugs a bit requires new ones every 3500 to 4000 km. Love to have another one but my current bike has almost another 100 hp over an original T500. Described as a cutlery drawer in motion with all the clatter.
I used to delight in letting my very ported titan wring out to the tacho needle to the flasher light when "dragging" something slower... just running alongside watching their aghast expression before changing up. At that stage of evolution it would have had about 20thou off the heads, but no chambers. Sitting idling, if you had play in the clutch basket they could alarm onlookers a bit!
@@annpeerkat2020 Mine would run the speedometer around to point back at you, needed a slight slope to do it. Had terrible fuel consumption after porting. Had to sell it when I got married, miss the beast despite terrible brakes and mediocre corners. Riding BM now! Done over 500,000 km on 3 of them. Suzuki wouldn't have lasted anywhere near.
By the way if you want it to run good for no cost and keep it stock which is what that bike is all about use the stock intake setup. Ditch the pods and re-connect the airbox and buy a new OEM air filter and adjust your main jet from there if needed. If you ride such a bike often the airbox is better overall that's why they make it.
2V, the carbs are probably lean because of the non-stock less restrictive air filters sans filter box. When I changed to a White Bros exhaust on my 500 cc Yamaha 4 stroke I had to go way richer on the low and high speed jets. But in the end it was much faster than stock and sounded better. It doesn't take much on these older Asian bikes to improve performance happy motoring and have a very Happy New Year!
Nice! I have one too👍👍 the shop manual for these can be found online it's actually very usefull. I'd say you propably should do a full teardown of the engine with all the problems it seems to have. And this model year has the problem of too small oil capacity in the transmission they wear out look for '' Suzuki t500 oil level modification''
The tranny problem was the oil flowed away from 5th gear in 73 they put a dam to retain oil on the 5th gear..also I think they did increase the oil supply
My recommendation would be to find a stock airbox cheap online and return it to mostly stock and it will run really sweet. I like returning these old bikes to close to baseline so you can use factory specs to tune them and can usually find factory specs if you dig a little bit. Great little bike and great content!
I'm kind of jealous.😂 Congratulations!👊🏼 Major "steal"! Dude didn't know what he had. Nice find.👍🏼 Straight up, this bike should have sold for $3,000 +/-. Restored, $6,000 plus depending on how far you go. Just freakin' gorgeous.❤
Dad had a T350, he used to hang with Yamaha 175 Enduros on dirt roads while camping in the desert. Fond memories of afternoon joyrides before he got home when I was about 14. Yup, Dads was a smoker too! Blue/white trails out the back!
You can get that gas tank dent out with a motorcycle inner tube, cut the tube in half then fold over each cut off end. Use two zip ties on each folded cut end, position the tube in the tank against the dent and position the air valve at the filler cap hole and start inflating the inner tube until the dent pops out perfectly leaving the nice original paint intact! A little heat directed at the dent from a hair dryer will also help out the process.
I was road racing outside of Aspen Colorado in 1974 and there was this one guy who road a T500 which was a pretty slow bike compared to everything that was on the track. By the 2nd or 3rd lap he passed everyone and won going away every race I saw. He was so darn smooth he seldom slowed down. I think his name was Rusty, so Rusty if you are still out there you were one smooth dude.
I had one about 35 years ago. It was the only bike out of about 40 over the years to wind up blowing up on me. Not the engine, the gearbox, 5th gear seems to be poorly under engineered in some way, possibly not enough oil or oil flow cooling it. I've missed it ever since though, they are a great bike. They weren't as quick as the Kawaskai 3 cylinder 500 and 750 triples (and I have ridden their 750 bored, ported, expansion chambers fitted ready for the racetrack, one word, INSANE!!!!) but these were very quick but with surprising torque down low for a 2 stroke too. I absolutely loved mine and wish I still had it. They ARE quick but very rideable and forgiving. Grab one if you can find one but, remember about that 5th gear and ideally find a new gear shaft for it before it does major damage, or locks your rear wheel at near 100 mph right in front of a semi like mine did, then I pushed it all the way home (19 miles from where mine went boom) in mid summer central Australian 115 degree heat that day! I'm stubborn lol. I really did love that bike, even more than the poser machine Suzuki GT 550 triple they made at the same time with it's fancy ram air cooling, disk brake front and FOUR exhaust ends for 3 cylinders. This 500 twin was quicker and better in every way than that thing.
picked up 1975 Yamaha RD350 and have been working on it last two years. It is alot of work things you can... do compression test see where your at. pressure test engine (seals etc) rebuild fuel petcok change all rubber lines check oil injection rebuild carbs. I cleaned carbs several times still had issue then i got gallon of carb cleaner soaked for 24 hrs and that did the trick. I also purchased Vape power dyna mo Ignition eliminated points.And the li st go's on good luck sweet bike
The red stripe on the tyres is an original feature you don't often see on restored bikes. These things could develop lots more power with a port job and expansion chambers.
I just bought a GT 550 in need of several parts, I bought it for a good price but finding parts is challenging. I love Suzuki 3 strokes from the 70’s and I am doing a resto mod on this bike. It’s a complete frame off with new forks and brakes front and rear with a box swing arm and keeping keeping the spokes look with new rims. It won’t be cheap but it will be a fun bike.
Heck yeah dude! That guys voice sounded like he could be your brother. I was like who’s talking right now for a sec? Lol You got a great deal! Cool to see you grow and expand to street-able vehicles
Borrowed one of these from a friend and rode it through the Adirondack Mountains. It ate up the road like nobodies business...very strong bike and a ton of fun!
I had a GT380 triple back in the 70's it was a great bike. Just a couple of suggestions for your 500. If the tires are the original and they seem to be I would change them to something decent for road use. I think I had Bridgestone's fitted as standard and they were lethal in the wet. It felt like the compound had nylon in it. they would last forever but you wouldn't. As I noticed in the remarks, fitting the correct air box instead of the KN type air filters will reduce the air flow a bit and cause the mixture to be a bit richer. Fitting the KN's makes it look and sound good but as you have discovered you will need to re-jet the carbs for it to run correctly. Great to see that your model was fitted with twin leading shoe brakes on the front. They may not be as good as discs in the dry but they are a lot more consistent than a wet stainless steel disc. I had to ride my GT380 with the handbrake slightly depressed just to keep the disc clear or water thus giving me a bit of a chance to stop. The other thing with your twin leading shoe is that it is cable operated, thus low tech and easy to maintain and service. Not sure what it would be like trying to source seals for the disc brake master cylinder and caliper And for the life of me how could someone refit the gear leaver and the brake on the same side!!!
Yeah the japanese companys had not worked out the tyre compound mix in the arly seventys .i had an RD 350 that had the same problem with the tires .put a set of avons on problem solved .i think those early japanese tires probably caused quite a few deaths .
I'm glad the guy decided to sell. This 52 year old bike in good condition is cool. I've never seen a kick start on the left side before. So I was 5 when this bike was released.
Worth mentioning that the GT500 uses 97.5 main jets. For mine, the original airbox and the standard jets have been the best options. Mine had needle and needle jet wear that didn't help the midrange though yours is lower mileage so will be less likely to suffer that. I would still suspect the crank seals as the inner ones can't be replaced without splitting the crank and that might have been more of an investment than the previous owner was prepared to make. I though that any 50 year old seal is likely to be shot. I have some Suzuki service bulletins that I could send, though you probably already have them by now
We always converted these to capacitor discharge ignition system using the original points as a trigger for the thyristor, and incorporating an electronic dwell extender. The fuel economy improved a LOT--as did the performance. New plug and coil leads might also be a good idea.
Incredible find at a great price. Nice! I think you've hit the nail on the head with it being lien. Keep in mind even without those k&n filters it would be jetted too lien for it being below freezing. Keep up the good work!
Did you know where the Suzukiguys had the twostroke expierence & Development from? There whas a refugee from east Germany whas leaving over skandinavia after an race and move to japan ...
@@GpunktHartman Yeah, l saw that video also. The German guy was escaping after they built the wall (Iron curtain) and he was a racer and developer for a German motorcycle company. Escaped to Japan with all the blueprints and sold out to Suzuki.
Tip. The T500R run on 2 stroke oil and standard plugs will fur up rapidly around town. I had permission from Suzuki GB to run mine on 4 stroke oil and hot plugs which solved the problem. 0-60 4.5 seconds. 110mph not flat out. handled well. My personal favourite looking back
Cool bike! Sorry if I missed it but did you try moving the throttle slide pin up a notch or two (moving the retaining clip down on the pin to raise the pin out of the main jet). That would improve the low-mid throttle response if the jets are too small.
exactly where i was going, look to see which slot the clip is in, most will be 3rd from bottom out of 5, 2nd from top. which gives you a lot of adjustment towards richer. he's partially right in knowing the pod filters are leaning it out, but he wasn't anywhere near fully into the main jet. plus the 30 degree weather has a ton to do with jetting, dense cold air requiring more fuel. i'd start with basics, a leakdown test, block the intake and exhaust then check for air leaks, hold pressure or vacuum for a reasonable time. mechanical before final tuning. i was guessing a 38-42 pilot, as 30 sounded small too.
Thank you for making this video. I have the same model except mine is a '72. It hasn't run in years. I've been too afraid to work on it, but your video has given me the confidence to figure out what to do now.
one of my first bikes was a 1969 Suzuki T-350. I believe the kick starter was on the right and the gearshift was on the left. Fun bike with the 2-stroke putting out enough power to get me in trouble. Love the sound of your 500. Nothing like a 2-stroke.
Nope... the T350 315cc suzuki little brother DID have the kick starter on the left.... but as these were two stroke twins with low compression (6.6:1 I reckon) after the first bit of getting used to, it was never a problem kicking on the left.
I think you will find the diaphragm device on the petcock is actually a shut off. Fuel can only flow while the engine is running. The prime position on the petcock bypasses that to all for starting with no vacuum present. This prevents flooding while parked. Nice bike, good luck with it. Should be fun.
What a deal joe the gt 500 is a great bike can’t wait until you get into that love these bikes and they fetch big money over here in Scotland but what a deal man that 500 is in mint condition for its age awesome stuff mate take care and all the best 🔧🔧🔧👌👍❤️
A T500 nicely set up with a GT500 disc brake front end always seemed a good combo to me, the T500 would run to 105 - 110mph but the GT500 was detuned & would barely hit 95mph, so the better brake with the peppier motor should be a nice mix.....oh & there's a massive racing scene for the T500, they can be tuned for way way more power quite safely.
I had the drum braked version and for normal riding I was always quite impressed with how well that drum brake worked. Admittedly I wasn't racing it and coming into hard braking corner after corner and building a lot of heat but, it's a decent diameter drum with plenty of cooling fins. Like I said though, I wasn't racing it in competition, just having a short blast when I felt like. I never tweaked mine at all but do know how quick they can be if worked properly. Suzuki built a good and solid bike with these, just a minor flaw in the gearbox design ended mine for me.
never heard this, in this part of the globe (europe) this was not the case , my first bike was a gt500, and it was just as fast as a t500 (about 180km/h on the clock) as it had the same engine, but the gt500 had also electronic ignition beside the better brake.
@@gixxerman0016 I can't say for absolute certainty since it was about 30 to 35 years ago I hat my T500 but, I'd have been REALLY disappointed in any 500cc 2 stroke that couldn't fairly easily do over 100 mph. I don't remember EVER being disappointed in mine, at least not till the gearbox blew up. This was in Australia BTW in case they tuned them differently for different regulations and such. I had a 3 cylinder 550 GT at some point before owning it and I'm sure the T500 was quicker, faster, as good if not better handling and less prone to seizing up when ridden really hard for too long, like the 550GT tended to do on one of my favorite runs.
@@lorditsprobingtime6668 I agree - & it was quite a surprise at the time. I don't think it was ever explained (other than a general inference that the 500 was the older, practical, cheaper, ride to work bike & the 550 was the more sporty, fancy, real 'GT' bike). I owned both & preferred the 550s' feeling of greater size & planted weight (although I agree that the 500 was the better & much more naturally handling bike, the 550 needed taking by the scruff of the neck & pushing about in a way bikes just don't anymore). Still, what an era, such great bikes. I have a GT750 I'm restoring but I'd love to have the 500 (& 550) again.
I have a '71 T500R like this but in candy lavender and a '75 T500M which is the last T500 model. In '76 came the GT500 which didn't have points but an electronic ignition and a single disc brake up front. The 71 R is easy recognisable by the flattened headlight bottom, all other models have a round headlight. Also the gauges are the correct ones, earlier and later models are slightly different. Unlike the later models these carbs are internally vented which meant they leaked into the crackcase when a float problem occured, this is probably what caused the runaway at the previous owner. To resolve this issue there are crankcase drain screws right underneath the crankshaft. Later models(as of '73 I think) have external vented carbs and therefor it doesn't have the drain screws anymore. Check your oil lines for "zebra Stripes" I thought to see a few in one shot. These are caused by faulty check valves inside the banjos at the cilinder side and be careful with those oil lines because these are not available anymore and expensive at the secondhand market if you can find them in the first place. Another thing is that the fifth gear fails after some time due to oil starvation as the gearbox couldn't carry enough oil, get the "oil dam" mod done after which the gearbox can hold the proper amount of oil as was standard as of '73. Oh and of course the shift leaver should be on the left side, no clue why somebody would want to change it.
All good info... and the reason for changing sides of the gear lever? Worn splines on the selector shaft on the left side... when these become too worn, you have to split the cases and replace the selector shaft... or... flip the gear lever over to the other side. Dual side selector shaft was to cater for early british market... where gear and brake were arse about. While you could flip the gear lever over to the right side with some useability, the brake lever couldn't be used upside down on the left... which leaves both on the same (right) side. How do I know? I had to do it myself long ago in hard times.
I also have that bogging issue when I run pod filter. Carbs need to be jetted to accommodate those as well. I think that plus the air leak will cause the running issue.
With the floats in place, just hold carburetor upside down and simply "blow" through gas line. No need to use fuel. Unnecessary to manually hold down the needle, the weight of the float is all that's needed to hold air(in place of fuel)from passing. Why you don't use this method to check needle and seat condition after so many years of wrenching is incomprehensible. But please continue.😉
I thought the same thing. I actually prefer just the weight of the float... that's all it should take. With "extra" pressure, you could still have a problem and not detect it, especially with a rubber tipped needle. (I know this one wasn't rubber) Not in a bad way... Maybe it's a millennial thing? 🤷🏻♂️ Maybe he doesn't know that trick? 🤷🏻♂️
Good on ya mate, I rode British bikes back in the 70’s but my brother was into Honda 4’s, namely the K1, K2 and K3’s , usually with Yoshimura kits installed and duplex chain set ups.
A friend of mine had one of these in the '70's, and I drove it a couple of times. Was a real nice bike. Surprisingly torquey for a 2-stroke. Smooth running. Lightweight and handled really well.
Man I love your channel not only for video quality and you knowledge but the fact your able to find these machines so often, here in Canada everything is over priced or impossible to find. What goes for $500 in the states goes for 2k here
The vacuum line is an automatic fuel tap shutoff and not a pump, back in the day it was always recommended to shut off the fuel when not riding and Suzuki made their fuel taps like that vs the 3 other japanese manufacturers Also the bleed screew ont the oil pump is reverse thread. Also the shifter is reversible the shaft extends both sides. Worked in a motorcycle shop from 1972 to 1975 a lot's of nice memories watching you fixing this bike in this video
I was wondering why the shifter and the rear brake pedal were on the same side
That shifter is driving me crazy. The location of the brake pedal should have indicated it wasn't positioned correctly - and I'd be suspicious of anyone claiming to "rebuild" the mechanicals of the bike who couldn't see that. I'd go through the rest of that bad boy with a _very_ fine-toothed comb after hearing that.
Really miss my GT. Always started first or second kick, didn't blow any smoke, and surprisingly comfortable to ride - but a little loud if you wanted to go on a long trip. My only real gripe was the solid-mounted footpegs which could pick the rear wheel off the ground on tight corners as they weren't hinged to fold up (which was a little unnerving halfway around a hairpin.) 👍
@@aussiebloke609 The gear lever would have been deliberately fitted to the right side after wear on the selector shaft splines on the left side got worn, making shifting unworkable from the left side. (These had a selector shaft that went right through the cases, and was splined on both sides to cater for the late 1960s UK market, as british bikes back then were ALL arse about, brake lever on the left and gear lever on the right. - how do I know? I had one (well...many) but one that the splines on the left were too worn and I swapped sides before a better fix.
Someone had a bit of rat-like cunning to do that, rather than having no idea. Not a fastidious mechanic though... hence missing one of the muffler mount bolts on the right muffler.
Solid mount footpegs ...not folding up? Gawd!! Someone (hopefully not you) fitted the footpegs the wrong way around. They are the same throughout the cobra/T500/GT500 range... if you look at 2:17 you can see that there is a bolt head ....this is what holds the footpeg itself in the footpeg metal mount bracket. The inner end of the footpeg has a 45 degree cutout, allowing it to fold back if mounted correctly. If mounted the other way around, it can't fold back.... and things get nasty if you scrape hard.
You were blessed having a GT500... fancy having a front brake that worked! The drum brakes on the cobra/t500s were universally crap... they could hold the front wheel enough to do burnouts by holding the front brake and dropping the clutch (thanks to the long wheelbase) but they could not lock up the front wheel on a bitumen road. I would probably have had a few less bent forks if I'd had a front brake.
They made a little bit more noise with "street legal" expansion chambers fitted.
All the best
@@annpeerkat2020 @Ann Peerkat I should have specified - my GT was the 500's baby cousin, the GT250. Same layout, and virtually the same slyling, only on a slightly smaller scale. Definitely had solid footpegs on that puppy, and they were a little unnerving in the tight and twisties. Dropped the bike once and had to beat one down with a brick on the side of the road so the rear brake would release and let me get home. Still handled decently for that vintage, and more than enough stopping power with a single front disc.
I see what you mean about the splined shaft being useful to change sides when one end wears out, but...when he pushes on the brake pedal @ 13:36 it hits the shifter, which strikes me as rather awkward. If he can do that by hand, either the brake doesn't depress enough to even work, or it's going to downshift automatically when you want to brake. Useful if you're just babying it home and don't use the rear brake, but I wouldn't want to ride like that on a regular basis. Hmm...maybe call that a "feature", instead of a problem? 🤔
It is actually a pump, pull off the fuel hose when it is running and you can see the fuel pumping out.The diaphragm pulsates, creating the pumping action. Most all Jap bikes (except Honda) had these by the late 70's. Pro motorcycle mechanic of 35 years and remember the two stroke road bike era.
Over 50 years ago, I rode a T500 as a daily commuter- 50-60 miles a day. On weekends, I was the mechanic for the same bike on race day when it performed surprisingly well against more powerful, race-prepared machines. (We ran it in stock form, minus the kickstand and some other bits.) I still consider it one of the most reliable, tractable and pleasant machines I've ridden over the decades. I could easily do 115 mph on it, as indicated by the rev-counter, and as calculated using the factory charted graph-line for speed and RPM in 5th gear. It was light, nimble and behaved - either heeled over in corners or negotiating crowded streets. It had bags of torque and pullled effortlessly in any situation.
When Suzuki went on a hiatus from racing, some privateers modified and altered T500's for a couple of seasons to compete all over Europe. These machines acquited themselves well against factory prepared thoroughbred racers. Above everything else, that stands out in testimoney to the overall design of the motor and transmission.
I'd have one today - with expansion pipes, disk brakes, rear-sets, Kevlar fenders, a fork brace, progressive springs and clip-on bars - a great "café racer".
AMEN to all that. This bike/model is a timeless Japanese classic. Just about the perfect motorcycle.
Thank you for this great reminiscence which I only just read and loved. I had a GT500 in 1975 which is the disk brake fitted version of the T500. I had it ported and put expansions on, GRP front mudguard, clip-ons, rear-sets, Koni shocks, decent tyres and I built my own seat and tail piece like the racers of the time, Roberts and Sheene, and painted it and the mudguard and alloy tank yellow with black stripes like a wasp. It turned it into a cool looking beast - not too much faster top end, especially as I added a couple of teeth to the rear sprocket, but it got to 120 faster than just about anything, and handled too without any steering damper, not like an H1 haha. Loud too!
Well, that's a machine I'd envy - TODAY!@@tobythehairlessdog8876
Очень интересно прочитать Ваши воспоминания. 👍
thats funny, I had an RD400 at the same time as my T500, and I remember the T500 as being heavy, poor handling, and not well behaved, with not much torque because of the piston port intake, funny how two people can have opposite opinions, haha!
I was Parts Manager in a Suzuki Shop back in 1973 & 1974 and I've ridden/raced the T500 Suzuki for 50 years. I currently have a 1968 T 500 (Racer), 1972 T 500 (Street Bike) and a 1976 GT500 (Parts Bike with Title). The Pre-73 T500 had a problem with the tranny oil building up in the clutch chamber and "Starving" the 5th Gear of oil. There is a Transmission Dam Fix available on-line. That being said, I ran my 1968 T500 to California and back, from Minnesota, in 1973, plus many more long trips, running 1 -1/2 Quarts of oil in the Tranny instead of the 1-1/4 recommended. I had no Problems with the tranny! I rebuilt the 1972 T500, including new crank seals, about 20 years ago and have been running 1-1/2 Quarts of oil in the Tranny without any problems. I didn't install the Tranny Dam fix at the rebuild. The Service Manager at the shop I worked in said if you run 1-1/2 Quarts of oil in the Tranny you might get slight pitting of 5th gear on a high milage T500, but you won't "Burn Up" 5th Gear! That being said, if you open the cases to inspect the Tranny and replace the Crank Seals, I highly recommend installing the Tranny Dam at that time. Incidentally, I modified my 1968 T 500 to the 1970 TR 500 Factory Road Racing Spec. (including handmade Expansion Chambers) in 1975 and I have been Drag Racing the TR 500 ever since! The Engine cases have never been split since 1973 and the Crank Seals are still good! I took a Bike Eliminator Trophy at the local 1/4 mile Drag Strip just this past summer. Finally, if you can find a set of 1973 TM 250 (Motocross) Carbs, they will be compatible with your Pod Filters with no more than a Main Jet or Needle Height change. These 32mm Carbs ran good on a 1971 T500 I owned back in the day, just as they came New out of the box!
Regards,
Motorbike Mike
GT was a 550. I had a ‘75 that I put together from two bikes.
Be still my pounding heart! I was 16 years old and working in a Suzuki shop when these came out. First ride on one left me weak in the knees. I'd never experienced that kind of power before. Later, we did some porting on one, took a millimeter off the heads and fitted a set of chambers -- man, that thing went like stink. One of them was also raced in AMA professional dirt track at Ascot Park and elsewhere. John Sperry was the rider, and the bike was tuned by a Suzuki employee from the local distributer. The bike was very fast, but in spite of not quite having the grunt of the 750 twins, John rode it to some good results.
I rode a Trackmaster Suzuki twin as a first-year pro (X-6 Hustler engine with Grant barrels and pipes) that was very, very fast. So many good memories..... And I still dream of finding a 500 Titan.
Got mine at 15 for $40 and a CB radio, riding Harley’s now, but wouldn’t mind having another!
Great memories.
Had a friend in high school that had one of these. Rode and ran like a dream. Never failed him.
Can’t say the same for my Triumph 650.
Lucas Electric, the Prince of Darkness.
Wow! Lot of comments here. For my 2 cents I'll say put regular gas in it before you reject. Premix will make it run lean as it thickens the fuel. I have one of these too. I swapped H1 forks with a double disk brake. It's slightly better. If you want it to handle better get a T350 swingarm it'll bolt right on and shorten the wheelbase a couple inches. These (and the GR750's) were touring two strokes if that makes any sense... The crank weighs a ton and so does the frame! Don't pull the injector and just run premix whatever you do. It injects oil directly on the crank bearings, premix won't reach unless you drill passages in the case. Have fun keep the shiny side up!
Oh and these are significantly more valuable stock. If you want to go wild modding it out, do it to the pink one!
Had a 76 GT 500 TITON in the mid 80's I road to work about 40 miles one way. All on I-25 New Mexico middle rio grande. Popped a hole in the second cylinder at 110 mph, bike slowed to 40 mph yet I made it home. Carol from southwest cycles helped me rebuild her. Crazy thing we never checked what size pistons to order. Turned out my bike had been bored once before and the pistons were the same size. He in turn removed a set of cylinders of a bike he had that was stock, bored those cylinders to fot the new pistons and traded me cylinders!! I kept my job, cuz I could get to it!! Thank you Carol and Theresa at Southwest cycles in the five point area of Alb NM. Your tops in my book! Thanks for the memories, great video!!!!!
I absolutely love old air cooled two strokes probably my favorite power plant.
Spark, Compression, and Fuel!! Gotta love a 2Stoke!!!
All kidding aside, you are a must watch channel for me. I’m learning a lot and I’m almost 70! Ten thousand thumbs up. Thanks for your hard work.
Cool find. I have a 73 T500 I restored with Pod filters. Took me 15 attempts of changing the jets to get it tuned in. Stock for my year is Main 97.5, pilot 30 and sp4 middle notch for needle jet. I had to go up to 117.5 Main, 35 pilot and Sp4 5th notch. I also replaced the oil injectors with new ones from a source in the UK that still makes them. I also replaced the injection oil pipes with tygon tubing that i solvent welded together using the correct dimensions for the both the inner small diameter pipes and the oil injectors connectors by choosing two tygon pieces with the correct inner diameter and outer diameters. I then used two rc engine fuel connectors that went from a single to two. Worked a treat! And as folks mentioned, the gear shift can be installed on the left as well as the right. Another fickle thing with these bikes is that when the battery runs low it will only start on one cylinder due to a bad electrical design. During tuning, my bike ran away because it was so lean..scary stuff! Great find.
You've got me scratching my head about the runaway because of lean... sure you didn't have a carby slide in backwards, which meant they could only seat half way down the chamber instead of being fully down?
After seeing everything you did at just 26 minutes in. I will venture to say i would have pulled it split the cases and not trusted another thing on it until i had the dial bore gauges and mics out. Youve got a killer score there!
I will never understand TH-cam’s algorithm I have been subscribed for over a year, and clicked for new notifications. I haven’t gotten notified of any new vids for six months, and this one year old popped up. I am however glad that it did. I like being able to binge watch all the videos of the repairs at one time
That was some deal, I had the very same bike also a 71 but was in rougher shape. Had 12,000 miles on it. It run well though and was a great bike to ride. Sold it four years ago for €2,500. When the advert went up the phone literally rang of the hook. Happy 2023
Imagine what he will get for this when it’s finished then!?
How many top ends in 12k ?
@@dietznutz1 1
@@dietznutz1 I bought it with 7,500 done. One owner from new. I did a top end rebuild when I got it. Never was touched before that. There seriously well built like a lot of things them days. I regret parting with it to be honest
Somebody else mentioned the words "time capsule"...so true. For me, the sounds, struggles and seeing you out tearing around on icy roads brought me back to 1979 trying to get my 74 DT100 going. I was 14, it was my first bike and I had no idea what I was doing, but I got it going over the winter, dragged it outside and bombed around the half-frozen dirt roads of rural New Brunswick with my new found spirit. Thanks for bringing back the wonderful memories and for saving another old bike.
I’m 15 min into this video and I am really impressed with the courteous approach of of both the seller and the buyer. I have no idea what the market value of the bike, but these two guys are priceless. Nobody trying to screw the other guy. Unheard of….so many people think they have to “win”. The seller knew he wanted to clean out the garage, and the buyer was just looking a fairly reasonable purchase. Absolutely stunning. You both could give lessons. Thank you!
The best deals are always when both parties think are content.
I personally think it's because they're both from Wisconsin. I live in Indiana and drive a truck for a living and would visit Wisconsin often. Wisconsin people for the most part are awfully nice people. No one's perfect but they have this funny and yet polite Mid-Western way of speaking and behaving. I'd love to live there if it wasn't for the 2 seasons they have. Winter and Construction.
The T500 was always a $500 bike. That’s what I paid for my ‘71 in ‘743 When I sold )it a couple of years later, guess what, I got $500 for it.
Summer 1977 I purchased my first bike a 1969 Suzuki T 500.
Rode the heck out of that bike, desert heat, high mt passes, freeway stop and crawl..nothing fazed that tough as nails bike.
Note the left side kick start lever.
Im so fortunate to have owned such a great machine at 18 yrs old.
There's a vacuum gauge you can put on each of the carburetors venturi opening and adjust the slide so they both have the approximate same air flow. Worked really well on the old 2 and 3 cylinder carburetor snowmobiles. Love the videos!
It's called Synchronizing the Carburetors.
@@leebenson4874 Absolutely!
There is a way to make a home made one with clear tube and water
@@smoothlover073 Can you make a video of that! Brings back memories from 30 years ago. We had a plastic device with a gauge and a small ball. Had to figure out if we were going to use the carb with the least flow or average flow to match the others to it. Good times.
I have mercury carb synchronizer gauge. Works similar to a vacuum gauge type synchronizer.
The early T500"s had a shifter shaft that went all the way through the gearbox so you could fit the gear lever on either side.
You'd be better off fitting the original air box if there's one in the parts bike, they never ran well with pod filters.
I wish I could switch my kick-start on my YZ to the left as I'm left footed, feels so awkward on the right for me.
Velocity stacks did a bit for ambience and power on my various ones... not so good for cylinder wear though.
Thru shifter shaft...nodsnods... a hangover from the earlier cobra, made to also suit the earlier uk market where brake and gear lever were arse about.
We had the same with RD250's (air cooled). Standard airbox all the way. K&N's were a let down.
Standard airbox! We NEVER got those pod filters to work well. Go back to stock all the way, and they run sweet. (I was a Suzuki dealer 70-77.)
Agree about the standard airbox. Sounds a lot nicer as well
You sir are living my dream, just wheeling and dealing all sorts of power sports goods. Especially working on them. The sheer enjoyment must be blissful!!!!
My dad had a early '70s I believe it was a 73 GS500 two-stroke..OMG what a great motorcycle... Summer of 1978 I dumped my Honda hawk 400 in the rain being so slippery.. while it was being repaired I got to drive my dad's Suzuki GS500 two-stroke..WOW what a fantastic bike I took it down our local Beach where all the kids used to hang out.. all my friends were like wow where do you get that motorcycle.... Eventually in the early 1980s my dad sold it and bought a Suzuki 750 -4 .. but sort of regretted it he missed his GS500...
In the UK that complete bike would sell for £3500 - £4500 easily, I sold one in bits with a broken gearbox for £3500. Parts are seriously expensive, a petrol tap £205, oil pipes and crank outer bearings are hard to get and there is a gearbox mod that's highly recommended.
Had a 72 T500. It would haul! What a deal you got!
Although I was never a fan of these Suzukis, its a nice find. The good thing about them is that Suzuki had the CCI (Crank Case Injection) which injected 2-stroke oil directly to the crank bearings making the bottom-end and crank seals last longer. The down side is that they feel like a tank compared to Yamaha RD series. On these older 2-strokes, they often run much better with the factory air box than with the K&N filters. Old gas can dry out in the float bowl into a very thin lacquer that’ll hold the float to the bottom of the bowl. The first thing you do with an overflowing carb leaking gas is tap on the float bowl with the handle of a screwdriver which is enough to to get the dried up fuel film to let loose. Don’t expect it to pull hard under 3200 rpm.
I though more an oil tanker on a single test ride :) Got the RD350
@@haroldland4620 T500's last 25,000+ miles. RD's are toast at 10,000 miles
@@DennisMerwood-xk8wp oil haze behind all good
@@haroldland4620 Use modern synthetic 2-stroke oil Harold. No smoke!😀
starving for GO JUICE!!!!! i guarantee you get the fuel issue straight that baby will scream! ive owned and worked on many old 2 strokes--they are either spot on or usually way to lean! you have brought back tons of memories working on them in my youth! keep saving the old bikes! they are worth it!
Love the blue and white paint scheme. Visually ties the lineage to more current Suzuki models. I'm old enough to remember when seeing a T500 next to me at a stoplight was a pretty common occurrence. Those days are long gone now. Good to see you taking on this project. Best of luck with it!
I am 68 now, and I still smell this bike !! It was my first one....... Driving a Nimbus 1950 nowadays, no hurry anymore .......
Here in the UK that lot would be worth at least £5,000 so you got a great deal.
Your not wrong there , 500 2stokes go for sill money here
the Same in the Netherland, this is crazy cheap
@@robhayter484 ant believe the price he got them for unbelievable same with quads over there dirt cheep
@@RUKI2909 I know it’s just crazy cheap, easily sell that for 4 grand in the uk right now ,
I’m currently looking for a husqvarna tx 125 enduro but people got them up for silly money atm
Aye me too here in austraila that would be heaps here!
Great video ! I owned a1970 Yamaha R5 350cc 2-stroker, the most fun bike I've ever owned ! Always wanted to ride one of these big Suzuki Titans, but never got the chance. Also very fond of the Kawasaki triples, and would love to find one that could be restored. Thanks for the great blast of the past !
72 R-5, got 1, and some H-1's, etc. I wouldn't vouch for the brakes
Always a good day when you upload 2vintage It always brightens up my day 👍
It's a Titan 500. Had one back in 1973. Only thing faster in the quarter mile at the time was a Kawakaki Triple 750. How do I know? I rode one of those a bunch too. Also got to ride a Laverda 750 4 stroke. Not quite as quick but definitely the fastest 4 stroke I ever rode.The T 500 was awesome and this brings back a bunch of memories. When the Honda 4 cly 750 came out a neighbor had one. Kept bugging me to race and when we he gave up after about an 1/8 th of a mile, and I had my buddy on the back! Thanks for the good memories.
The Suzukis were good bikes. A guy in town bought one of the first water cooled shaft drive Suzukis. But for sheer speed one of my friends had a '70 Kawasaki 500 triple. After a while no one would race him because he smoked them so bad. He always claimed the hard part was keeping the front end on the ground. He would lay on the tank, crack her open and shift with the kill switch.
I had a T500 back in the late 70's, ended up stripping it down to the last nut and bolt, had the frame repainted and started to re build the bike from there. Rebuilt the gearbox, gas flowed the heads and added a two into one expansion chamber exhaust system. The project took much longer than I thought. Finished the bike and took it over to the Isle of man for the TT races, great great memories, loved the bike. I don't think it handled as well as the T350 or the T250 I owned the T250 and rode my friends T350 both awesome bikes for the day. Much faster than the new GT250's of the day.
That gas flowing the heads has me scratching my head... given that being 2 stroke they were just a little squish chamber. They did respond well to trimming 20 or 40 thou off the head, and/or using a thin piece of paper instead of the aluminium head gasket.
@@annpeerkat2020 maybe the wrong term but yes we skimmed the head gasket area and also polished the exhaust ports to a mirror finish also thinning that dividing wall to a knife edge and polishing that too. It was said to improve gas flow and improve performance
You got a very underrated bike at a good price.
I owned a 1972 T500. Road it in New England then took a 4000 trip across the country. It always started and never broke down. I regret selling it.
Enjoy my friend, enjoy!!
It's almost like walking out of a time capsule here, 11:00 into the video really looking at all the original parts, it's SO well preserved.. I hope she runs great once you get all the quirks figured out. I'm only 11 minutes in so I'm sure we'll get to see her run, what an amazing 2 stroke twin 500 from the 70s!! Wow..
They're an awesome bike, my brother had one, just had a problem with the front brake staying on 😆
Love these bikes owned Six types of Yamaha 450 and suk 500 wish i still had them. Worked on them my self crazy fun to ride beat Four stoked bikes all the time off the line
Just last week I was cleaning out one of my shops and in the far corner I came across a 1972 Suzuki RV 90 CCI that I completely forgot about. It's dusty but looks close to new. It's been back in that isolated corner for over 35 years. I remember riding around on it and it ran out of gas. Pushed it into the corner to ride another day... Things got stored in front of it and it was forgotten until last week.
You've no idea how lucky you are over there in the USA. Here in the UK a gt500 in that condition would cost thousands £.
always a good day when 2vintage uploads
Facts
Yes sir
Facts
Guys stealing my lines
I bought a new one in 1971. Called the Titan 500. 110 top speed. It was the biggest cc for the money at the time and cheaper than the 4 strokes
I think I would check the crank seals as well.
I've seen toasted ones in the late 80's. And in the early 80's Suzuki had problems with early PE's coz they were stingy lubricating the magneto side seal.
You did very well on this deal. I've got a '76 GT500, and despite having sat for a couple years, it ran great the day I bought it, so I rode it home 125 miles, and it was a great ride. It cruises very well and the riding position didn't beat me up. These bikes were originally marketed as touring bikes. Imagine that, a two stroke 500 sold as a 'touring' bike. But, the gearing is so tall that it really does run smooth and low at highway speed, and this twin doesn't have the center cylinder overheating issue that some of the triples were having. The Titan is one of the great street two strokes of all time, and you got a good one. I hope you can get her cleaned and spruced up and take it to some shows, and enjoy some highway miles on it.
FWIW...Man, did I love my '76 GT 500A in Maui Blue...great bike! I found that by changing the front sprocket down 1 tooth [I think it was to 14 teeth] my acceleration AND fuel economy improved about 10%...whereas logic would say they should've gone the other way...Lucky you...wish I still had it...but bought new...I'm likely too old to ride these days anyways...
Had a friend who had a zuki 500. I had a 400 3cyl 2 stroke Kawi. It was pretty even when we raced. Sweet bike, my friend and I traded. Hard to get used to right foot shifting. I figured it out after a minute. Was so good to be taken for a ride with you. Thanks. Btw, I drove my 400 to college every day thru the winter in St Cloud Mn 74-76. I was young. Didn't care. Walking was not an option.
And the not quicker kwaka used about twice as much fuel..... A bit better on fuel than its ancestor 350 triple, but not much
I had a t250 hustler version of these. It was a quick fun bike. I wish I had another one. You got a great deal.
What a bargain that Suzuki was,I restore bikes in the UK,I've been after one of those for years after rebuilding a Suzuki GT750 and a RD350lc..nice Job.. Ozzy.👍
There’s a few on Facebook market
tHE RD 350 was a YamahaI think another really quick bike
I had one of these back in '86 drove that 20 miles each way to work LOVED it!!!!
My Brother and I had the 250 and 500s as teenagers in the late 70s. They were super cheep bikes used. They were actually good fun bikes to ride. We had t250 gt250 t500 and gt750 over. The years they all ran and provided hours of entertainment for us in the 70s the GT750 did bite me and high sided me and broke my femur in 82 when I had mixed up ambitions with my capabilities 😀.
Hey Joe just put 6 inches of gas line on the carb after you clean it and with the bowl off hold the float in and fill the line with carb cleaner and let it flow thru and try sealing it to check if its seated, always good to check before installing it on the bike, cheers from Ontario Canada
This brings back memories. In the early 80's, I had 3 T-500s, a 1971, a 73, and a 76. I really liked the 76, as it had a larger tank, and more importantly, a front disc brake. I miss that 2 stroke sound, and would love to find another one, just to play with.
I'm envious of your experience having a GT... though it probably would have felt bloody strange to have a front brake!
@@annpeerkat2020 Don't be too envious of the GT's disc brake. I too had one of these, complete with a sticker on the fork leg saying the brake wouldn't work in the rain - and they weren't kidding. Great engine though, albeit a little breathless at the top end, but fantastic low-down torque. Mine did about 50,000 miles before being taken out by a car turning into a side road.
Had a 76, it ran great, I loved that bike!
Had a 76 too, brend new red , the most change with front disc was electronic ignition. Very good bike✌
Wasn’t the “76” a GT?
Wow. Its been 30+ years since I've seen a Suzuki 509. My childhood neighbor has one. In fact. I believe it is still sitting under his house here in Australia. I still remember the sound of it as his son used to ride it and rev it up for me when I was little and watched him ride it around the back yard. My sister had a bike that was the same color as it with a whit seat. It looks kinda like a dragster bike but isn't. My mum still has it in the garage. Good memories 😎👍
Guy said he big bored it so jetting maybe .... awesome find and great vid .... that bike'll be a screamer fer shur... sweet!
A bit of misdescription I think... if I recall correctly they had 2 oversizes to cater for cylinder wear, but not "big bore" like increasing capacity to any measurable significance.
heres a trick that I did when i was younger, I had a suzuki 500gt titan (same bike) those rubber carb boots do eventually crack suck air, and idle rough, they also suck air where the boot mate with the engine, those rubber boots were very hard to find so we had to get creative with the old ones, we used 5200 silicone to seal the cracks make sure to get the silicone good in all the cracks, inside and out, make a cork or paper gasket to mount the carb boot to the engine, if you use any air cleaner other than the stock one you wont get full power from this engine. be careful with the plugs, using the wrong plug in this engine will burn A hole in the pistons. I highly recommend using only NGK plugs for this bike When she running good, this bike is a ridiculously powerful bike, this bike can be nasty, the thing is a Beast! Man i do miss this bike. lots of luck with it!
I had a T500 K from new and did a lot of miles on it. Note- The gearbox has two drain plugs and if you have an overfull gearbox oil will feed up the tacho cable on a trip and spray oil on your tank. Mine had really soft front fork springs that needed attention, like replacement or a preload spacer. The k Model has a longer carby to cylinder mount and makes the engine perform better at low and mid rev range. I never rode your type, just what I've been told. There great old bikes , enjoy.
Another former owner here who misses his badly. They were a well designed (mostly), safe, forgiving and quick bike. I wish they still made them, I wish all the old simple 2 strokes would come back but, especially these. I had the 3 cylinder GT 550 too before I got one of these and THIS was a better and quicker bike than that show pony.
@@lorditsprobingtime6668 Oh the memories. I used to own a race prepped Kawasaki KH400 triple. Learned so much on that bike at an early age that has helped me always. I swear that frame had a hinge in it. Rocket in a straight line though.
Scratching my head about the two gearbox drain plugs... but the front brakes and forks were never wonderful. Yep, longer intake manifolds dropped power from 47 to 44hp... reduced intake noise a fraction, and fractionally better lower rev torque. Worth it? no way.
@@auralumin I never rode either the 4 or the 500 triples Kwakas but I did get to ride the big brother, the 750 triple, both in stock config (bonkers) and then a month or so later, again except now bored, ported and expansion chambers fitted, possibly bigger carbies, I just can't remember for sure. What I do know is it was both the most exciting thing I'd ridden till then (only beaten by a 200kg 165 hp BMW insanity monster fairly recently but, that Kwaka was even more insane. Kind of good to know they stuck with a super light rubber band frame right down to the small ones too lol.
BTW, I never rode the 400 but did have a mate with one and that little thing WAS quick too!
@@annpeerkat2020 Damn! I didn't know about the 2 gearbox drain thing, that would mean 2 separate fillers too and I definitely don't remember that. Mine blew 5th gear on me eventually and now I'm wondering if it could have been my fault for not keeping enough oil in one but, I stripped the engine in the bike down, found the tooth missing off 5th gear and all the other teeth worn almost away, then stripped down the spare engine that I'd got with the bike only to find 5th gear in it in almost as bad condition. Admittedly that was about 30 years ago but surely I wouldn't forget something like that. Discovering that would probably have answered why 5th blew and would have well and truly stuck in my memory.
BTW, agreed on not reducing power, stuff that idea! I've got the workshop manual still, not here with me unfortunately but I do remember in the specs showing something just under 50 hp and that seems so weird. I know these were pretty quick bikes and I've since owned one that likely weighed less but had 165 hp and yeah, it's quicker from speed and much faster but, those T 500s were still quick and a pretty stable platform. I think they did a pretty good job when they designed these, all except some cooling or too small and weak 5th gear. The bike was at least third hand by the time it wound up in my hands and I can't remember how many but, had done quite a few miles but, the bores were still almost like new, cross hatching marks from the final factory honing still clear to see. That engine itself could have gone a LOT longer.
A 500 Titan! I had one in '77. Bike would lay a strip 50' long but you couldn't get that front wheel off the ground with a clutch pop. That one looks just like I remember it. Kick on the left shift on the right. Great find!
Me too lmao
Nice... you may want to consider to find a stock airbox for it.. it was coming up on pipe a little, then you'd shift.. but not a ideal day to be trying out a 2 stroke vintage.. becareful on that one. It'll get away from ya real quick & hurt ya... Great find.. I had a beautiful 1 of those back in the day, they'll get up & go.. good luck & be safe, looking forward to the update...
Me too! I loved everything about mine except that crazy wrong sided kick start. And yep, they do get moving pretty good. The thing that surprised me most was how much pull they had from even pretty low revs once tuned and running perfect. Mine ended up having 5th gear lose a tooth and lock my rear up at near 100 mph, right in front of the semi I'd just overtaken. That was rather exciting and meant I had to spear it offroad into the scrub at that speed but, somehow even then I didn't drop it. Very forgiving bike and if that hadn't happened I'd probably still be riding it today. I had a spare engine but when I stripped it down to go right through and rebuild anything needing it, it had exactly the same problem almost ready to happen so a design flaw there. A great bike though except for a couple of weird things and 1 design flaw a really good and pretty quick old 2 stroke twin. I do really miss mine.
Stock bike with a standing 1/4 of 14.28 and about 100mph if you fart... not what I found to be "get away from ya real quick" once I'd ridden one for a few months. If you aren't accustomed to something with a modicum of power I agree, but that's more about the rider than the bike.
My ultimate version with various engine workings and chambers ran standing 1/4 best of 12.97 seconds, with about 120mph top speed. Fast, but like stock, everything was quite predictable... nothing like the yam rd350s or kwaka 500s of the day. That was get away real quick material.... no power then zap when they hit the powerband.
@@lorditsprobingtime6668 Wincing @ the lockup in front of a truck. 5th gear was an ongoing problem with the 1200cc gearbox oil capacity. Mr suzuki knew all about it, and finally got round to sorting it on the 1975 GT500s, doing a cheap bit of crankcase trickery to increase gearbox oil capacity to 1400ml. Problem solved, after selling thousands of replacement gears and countershafts!
Kick starting... well.. compared to 4 stroke big singles and twins they were a pussy. I was fine with the left side kick start...quite a novel feature when folks tried starting it without your permission.
@@annpeerkat2020 Ahh thanks! That all happened over 30 years ago and no internet and way out in a tiny country town too so information like that wasn't easy to find. I kept it for several years, bought other bikes and kept hoping I'd find parts somewhere, I just didn't know where to look, or about any types of mods to cure the problem. I didn't even know for sure till your post here that it was a common problem.
Oil would have been all around in a spray in the gearbox, if increasing the oil capacity/ raising the oil level suggests the main issue was it getting too hot and softening, does that sound right?
I'm glad you liked the kickstart, I hated the thing. I don't know if this is common with them but mine could kick back, not like an old 450 BSA single a mate had that would throw a kid like I was at the time across the room, more like someone swung a light ball peen hammer really hard and fast against the bottom of your foot. I had BOTH feet bruised in the finish and it was getting to be a "I have to go somewhere but, to do that PLEASE start first kick WITHOUT smashing the bottom of my foot again" type situation. I did have a Hilux 2 WD ute but MUCH preferred riding so kept punishing myself. It was good comedy watching someone else try to work it out, even throw them the keys and maybe bet a beer on whether they could fire it up in 1 kick lol.
In stock config they weren't an insanity machine but, they were reasonably quick, stable and surprisingly forgiving. Many times I should have come off but, somehow that bike always stayed upright, it's one of the very few bikes this particular silly b stard never dropped.
I would love to ride a race setup one, I can imagine a VERY big difference if done right.
Of the quick ones you mentioned, I did have an RD TWO fifty. I swapped a fish tank for it completely stripped down and in boxes. He'd had the cylinders bored and new oversize pistons and rings so it was just a matter of putting it all together. Not having pulled it apart made that challenging but, I had no leftover spacers, nuts or anything left over so that's always a good sign. That little thing was surprisingly zippy! The RD 350s were a legendary fun machine, till I got that I didn't even know they had a smaller but still pretty lively little brother. A mate here still has one that was apparently running when he stuck it in his shed years ago. He offered it to me but after a crash that I wasn't expected to survive a few years ago I do still ride but I can't make it far and am pretty useless so, rebuilding, or at least, going right through an old rusting bike isn't something that excites me anymore.
0:45 Good luck finding an air filter element for it. If you are lucky and find one somewhere in the world you’ll need a second mortgage to pay for it.
The sound brings back good memories of my Suzuki X7 Lovely 2 stroke sound
Absolutely marvellous find in beautiful condition for the year I had one of these bikes in the in the early 90s good bike the run well and have decent power you should be able to get the dent out the petrol tank you should do full restoration on it as it will clean up to emaculate condition nice find I've only watched first 20 minutes and had to leave a comment buying the other parts bikes for the price was a bonus happy new year Joe & jade & vinny & other dogs may 2023 be a prosperous year may it bring you all the success in everything you do in 2023
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When I was 16 I bought a Kawasaki 2 stroke KH 500 , that was an awesome bike that I never should have sold , I won a lot of races and had a lot of fun on that bike
Dude when those pop up down south they are always $1500 for roached out rats nests..Great deal! As always great work, keep up the 2 wheel vids!
Always a great mechanic with patience that trouble shoots and resolves any issue. Good job.!!
I used to have one of those in the seventies in UK and eventually destroyed it as one did in ones youth. I subsequently bought a GT750 triple many years later but I never forgot that five hundred. Very very simple bikes and very strong; there's not a lot of moving parts on a 2 stroke. Suzuki should have stuck with them for longer. Price seems incredibly reasonable. Crankshaft seals were the biggest issue as they drained the gearbox oil and caused them to smoke.
I had 2 triples but once you had a twin. I didn't like 3 cylinders yhey were not a stable moter kawasaki.tried but all them were a flop poor hsndelin frame issue on and on yhey should of made the h1 in a twin then all there issues would be gone
Not mine ever no.leakes .mine never sat ever.. greatest bike Suzuki ever made yhe only thing thst would cause crank seals to Leake is if the bike sat for years not running or driveing this does a huge amount of damage to all the seals when they sit all seals dry up and crack
Congrats, I also went from a T500 to a GT 750.
I don't know why more people didn't get 2 stroke bike's back in the day! They have awesome power with a smaller displacement engine! Good find for sure!
I love two strokes, but the smoke gives me sinus. On a road bike expensive two stroke oil adds up in costs. Until the Yamaha LC, the technology never advanced. 1960's basic designs were being sold in the late '70's.
Used to own a T500K from 1973. Took well to being ported, because it's really a basic 2 stroke with no fancy electronics. Would pull 8000 in top gear ! Easy to maintain, chewed plugs a bit requires new ones every 3500 to 4000 km. Love to have another one but my current bike has almost another 100 hp over an original T500. Described as a cutlery drawer in motion with all the clatter.
I used to delight in letting my very ported titan wring out to the tacho needle to the flasher light when "dragging" something slower... just running alongside watching their aghast expression before changing up. At that stage of evolution it would have had about 20thou off the heads, but no chambers.
Sitting idling, if you had play in the clutch basket they could alarm onlookers a bit!
@@annpeerkat2020 Mine would run the speedometer around to point back at you, needed a slight slope to do it. Had terrible fuel consumption after porting. Had to sell it when I got married, miss the beast despite terrible brakes and mediocre corners. Riding BM now! Done over 500,000 km on 3 of them. Suzuki wouldn't have lasted anywhere near.
By the way if you want it to run good for no cost and keep it stock which is what that bike is all about use the stock intake setup. Ditch the pods and re-connect the airbox and buy a new OEM air filter and adjust your main jet from there if needed. If you ride such a bike often the airbox is better overall that's why they make it.
2V, the carbs are probably lean because of the non-stock less restrictive air filters sans filter box. When I changed to a White Bros exhaust on my 500 cc Yamaha 4 stroke I had to go way richer on the low and high speed jets. But in the end it was much faster than stock and sounded better. It doesn't take much on these older Asian bikes to improve performance happy motoring and have a very Happy New Year!
Bingo
That brings back memories, my Dad bought me a 1971 Trai hopper on my twelve Birthday and I was hooked on anything 2 stroke.
Nice! I have one too👍👍 the shop manual for these can be found online it's actually very usefull. I'd say you propably should do a full teardown of the engine with all the problems it seems to have. And this model year has the problem of too small oil capacity in the transmission they wear out look for '' Suzuki t500 oil level modification''
The tranny problem was the oil flowed away from 5th gear in 73 they put a dam to retain oil on the 5th gear..also I think they did increase the oil supply
@@johnleidle9910 Yeah from 1.2l to 1.4l
My recommendation would be to find a stock airbox cheap online and return it to mostly stock and it will run really sweet. I like returning these old bikes to close to baseline so you can use factory specs to tune them and can usually find factory specs if you dig a little bit. Great little bike and great content!
I'm kind of jealous.😂 Congratulations!👊🏼
Major "steal"! Dude didn't know what he had. Nice find.👍🏼
Straight up, this bike should have sold for $3,000 +/-. Restored, $6,000 plus depending on how far you go. Just freakin' gorgeous.❤
I think you added some extra zeros into those numbers 🤣🤣
It’s all staged
@@benny8300 you talking about 2vintage videos?
@@ML-Auto Corrected.👍🏼
@@leewaken5059 I agree their fake
Dad had a T350, he used to hang with Yamaha 175 Enduros on dirt roads while camping in the desert. Fond memories of afternoon joyrides before he got home when I was about 14. Yup, Dads was a smoker too! Blue/white trails out the back!
You can get that gas tank dent out with a motorcycle inner tube, cut the tube in half then fold over each cut off end. Use two zip ties on each folded cut end, position the tube in the tank against the dent and position the air valve at the filler cap hole and start inflating the inner tube until the dent pops out perfectly leaving the nice original paint intact! A little heat directed at the dent from a hair dryer will also help out the process.
Strong magnet and pinball works good sometimes.
I was road racing outside of Aspen Colorado in 1974 and there was this one guy who road a T500 which was a pretty slow bike compared to everything that was on the track. By the 2nd or 3rd lap he passed everyone and won going away every race I saw. He was so darn smooth he seldom slowed down. I think his name was Rusty, so Rusty if you are still out there you were one smooth dude.
Congrats! What a deal. Been wanting one of these bikes for a while.
Me too
I had one about 35 years ago. It was the only bike out of about 40 over the years to wind up blowing up on me. Not the engine, the gearbox, 5th gear seems to be poorly under engineered in some way, possibly not enough oil or oil flow cooling it.
I've missed it ever since though, they are a great bike. They weren't as quick as the Kawaskai 3 cylinder 500 and 750 triples (and I have ridden their 750 bored, ported, expansion chambers fitted ready for the racetrack, one word, INSANE!!!!) but these were very quick but with surprising torque down low for a 2 stroke too. I absolutely loved mine and wish I still had it. They ARE quick but very rideable and forgiving. Grab one if you can find one but, remember about that 5th gear and ideally find a new gear shaft for it before it does major damage, or locks your rear wheel at near 100 mph right in front of a semi like mine did, then I pushed it all the way home (19 miles from where mine went boom) in mid summer central Australian 115 degree heat that day! I'm stubborn lol.
I really did love that bike, even more than the poser machine Suzuki GT 550 triple they made at the same time with it's fancy ram air cooling, disk brake front and FOUR exhaust ends for 3 cylinders. This 500 twin was quicker and better in every way than that thing.
picked up 1975 Yamaha RD350 and have been working on it last two years. It is alot of work things you can... do compression test see where your at. pressure test engine (seals etc) rebuild fuel petcok change all rubber lines check oil injection rebuild carbs. I cleaned carbs several times still had issue then i got gallon of carb cleaner soaked for 24 hrs and that did the trick. I also purchased Vape power dyna mo Ignition eliminated points.And the li st go's on good luck sweet bike
The red stripe on the tyres is an original feature you don't often see on restored bikes.
These things could develop lots more power with a port job and expansion chambers.
To noisy.
I just bought a GT 550 in need of several parts, I bought it for a good price but finding parts is challenging. I love Suzuki 3 strokes from the 70’s and I am doing a resto mod on this bike. It’s a complete frame off with new forks and brakes front and rear with a box swing arm and keeping keeping the spokes look with new rims. It won’t be cheap but it will be a fun bike.
Heck yeah dude! That guys voice sounded like he could be your brother. I was like who’s talking right now for a sec? Lol
You got a great deal! Cool to see you grow and expand to street-able vehicles
It’s alive!
Borrowed one of these from a friend and rode it through the Adirondack Mountains. It ate up the road like nobodies business...very strong bike and a ton of fun!
I had a GT380 triple back in the 70's it was a great bike. Just a couple of suggestions for your 500. If the tires are the original and they seem to be I would change them to something decent for road use. I think I had Bridgestone's fitted as standard and they were lethal in the wet. It felt like the compound had nylon in it. they would last forever but you wouldn't.
As I noticed in the remarks, fitting the correct air box instead of the KN type air filters will reduce the air flow a bit and cause the mixture to be a bit richer. Fitting the KN's makes it look and sound good but as you have discovered you will need to re-jet the carbs for it to run correctly.
Great to see that your model was fitted with twin leading shoe brakes on the front. They may not be as good as discs in the dry but they are a lot more consistent than a wet stainless steel disc. I had to ride my GT380 with the handbrake slightly depressed just to keep the disc clear or water thus giving me a bit of a chance to stop. The other thing with your twin leading shoe is that it is cable operated, thus low tech and easy to maintain and service. Not sure what it would be like trying to source seals for the disc brake master cylinder and caliper
And for the life of me how could someone refit the gear leaver and the brake on the same side!!!
Yeah the japanese companys had not worked out the tyre compound mix in the arly seventys .i had an RD 350 that had the same problem with the tires .put a set of avons on problem solved .i think those early japanese tires probably caused quite a few deaths .
Suzuki are actually pretty darn good for classic parts.Even for racing bikes.Maybe get in touch with Suzuki UK!!
I'm glad the guy decided to sell. This 52 year old bike in good condition is cool. I've never seen a kick start on the left side before. So I was 5 when this bike was released.
Worth mentioning that the GT500 uses 97.5 main jets. For mine, the original airbox and the standard jets have been the best options. Mine had needle and needle jet wear that didn't help the midrange though yours is lower mileage so will be less likely to suffer that. I would still suspect the crank seals as the inner ones can't be replaced without splitting the crank and that might have been more of an investment than the previous owner was prepared to make. I though that any 50 year old seal is likely to be shot. I have some Suzuki service bulletins that I could send, though you probably already have them by now
Yep. Crank seals.. They can suck air too.
We always converted these to capacitor discharge ignition system using the original points as a trigger for the thyristor, and incorporating an electronic dwell extender. The fuel economy improved a LOT--as did the performance. New plug and coil leads might also be a good idea.
Incredible find at a great price. Nice! I think you've hit the nail on the head with it being lien. Keep in mind even without those k&n filters it would be jetted too lien for it being below freezing. Keep up the good work!
Did you know where the Suzukiguys had the twostroke expierence & Development from? There whas a refugee from east Germany whas leaving over skandinavia after an race and move to japan ...
@@GpunktHartman Yeah, l saw that video also. The German guy was escaping after they built the wall (Iron curtain) and he was a racer and developer for a German motorcycle company. Escaped to Japan with all the blueprints and sold out to Suzuki.
Not only could the shifter be installed on either side, the mirror can be rotated to face backwards! Great find, that's gonna be a fun ride.
Tip. The T500R run on 2 stroke oil and standard plugs will fur up rapidly around town. I had permission from Suzuki GB to run mine on 4 stroke oil and hot plugs which solved the problem. 0-60 4.5 seconds. 110mph not flat out. handled well. My personal favourite looking back
Very nice find and work.
There was no way that guy had the experience to finish tuning that bike.
Glad he made you a deal and it is back on the road.
Cool bike! Sorry if I missed it but did you try moving the throttle slide pin up a notch or two (moving the retaining clip down on the pin to raise the pin out of the main jet). That would improve the low-mid throttle response if the jets are too small.
exactly where i was going, look to see which slot the clip is in, most will be 3rd from bottom out of 5, 2nd from top. which gives you a lot of adjustment towards richer. he's partially right in knowing the pod filters are leaning it out, but he wasn't anywhere near fully into the main jet. plus the 30 degree weather has a ton to do with jetting, dense cold air requiring more fuel.
i'd start with basics, a leakdown test, block the intake and exhaust then check for air leaks, hold pressure or vacuum for a reasonable time. mechanical before final tuning. i was guessing a 38-42 pilot, as 30 sounded small too.
Thank you for making this video. I have the same model except mine is a '72. It hasn't run in years. I've been too afraid to work on it, but your video has given me the confidence to figure out what to do now.
one of my first bikes was a 1969 Suzuki T-350. I believe the kick starter was on the right and the gearshift was on the left. Fun bike with the 2-stroke putting out enough power to get me in trouble. Love the sound of your 500. Nothing like a 2-stroke.
Nope... the T350 315cc suzuki little brother DID have the kick starter on the left.... but as these were two stroke twins with low compression (6.6:1 I reckon) after the first bit of getting used to, it was never a problem kicking on the left.
For some reason I thought the 350 was new in 1970 didn't know this
I think you will find the diaphragm device on the petcock is actually a shut off. Fuel can only flow while the engine is running. The prime position on the petcock bypasses that to all for starting with no vacuum present. This prevents flooding while parked. Nice bike, good luck with it. Should be fun.
Well said.
What a deal joe the gt 500 is a great bike can’t wait until you get into that love these bikes and they fetch big money over here in Scotland but what a deal man that 500 is in mint condition for its age awesome stuff mate take care and all the best 🔧🔧🔧👌👍❤️
Lots of fun these bikes !!!! I had a 250 X6 hustler AND a 250 X6 scrambler!!!! Scrambler was original, got it for 100 dollars 😁😁😁😁🏍🏍🏍🍺
A T500 nicely set up with a GT500 disc brake front end always seemed a good combo to me, the T500 would run to 105 - 110mph but the GT500 was detuned & would barely hit 95mph, so the better brake with the peppier motor should be a nice mix.....oh & there's a massive racing scene for the T500, they can be tuned for way way more power quite safely.
I had the drum braked version and for normal riding I was always quite impressed with how well that drum brake worked. Admittedly I wasn't racing it and coming into hard braking corner after corner and building a lot of heat but, it's a decent diameter drum with plenty of cooling fins. Like I said though, I wasn't racing it in competition, just having a short blast when I felt like.
I never tweaked mine at all but do know how quick they can be if worked properly. Suzuki built a good and solid bike with these, just a minor flaw in the gearbox design ended mine for me.
never heard this, in this part of the globe (europe) this was not the case , my first bike was a gt500, and it was just as fast as a t500 (about 180km/h on the clock) as it had the same engine, but the gt500 had also electronic ignition beside the better brake.
@@MrRikko951 none of the UK bike magazines got much above 95mph out of the GT500 when it was produced (in any model year Suzuki UK supplied them).
@@gixxerman0016 I can't say for absolute certainty since it was about 30 to 35 years ago I hat my T500 but, I'd have been REALLY disappointed in any 500cc 2 stroke that couldn't fairly easily do over 100 mph. I don't remember EVER being disappointed in mine, at least not till the gearbox blew up. This was in Australia BTW in case they tuned them differently for different regulations and such. I had a 3 cylinder 550 GT at some point before owning it and I'm sure the T500 was quicker, faster, as good if not better handling and less prone to seizing up when ridden really hard for too long, like the 550GT tended to do on one of my favorite runs.
@@lorditsprobingtime6668 I agree - & it was quite a surprise at the time.
I don't think it was ever explained (other than a general inference that the 500 was the older, practical, cheaper, ride to work bike & the 550 was the more sporty, fancy, real 'GT' bike).
I owned both & preferred the 550s' feeling of greater size & planted weight (although I agree that the 500 was the better & much more naturally handling bike, the 550 needed taking by the scruff of the neck & pushing about in a way bikes just don't anymore).
Still, what an era, such great bikes.
I have a GT750 I'm restoring but I'd love to have the 500 (& 550) again.
I have a '71 T500R like this but in candy lavender and a '75 T500M which is the last T500 model. In '76 came the GT500 which didn't have points but an electronic ignition and a single disc brake up front. The 71 R is easy recognisable by the flattened headlight bottom, all other models have a round headlight. Also the gauges are the correct ones, earlier and later models are slightly different. Unlike the later models these carbs are internally vented which meant they leaked into the crackcase when a float problem occured, this is probably what caused the runaway at the previous owner. To resolve this issue there are crankcase drain screws right underneath the crankshaft. Later models(as of '73 I think) have external vented carbs and therefor it doesn't have the drain screws anymore. Check your oil lines for "zebra Stripes" I thought to see a few in one shot. These are caused by faulty check valves inside the banjos at the cilinder side and be careful with those oil lines because these are not available anymore and expensive at the secondhand market if you can find them in the first place. Another thing is that the fifth gear fails after some time due to oil starvation as the gearbox couldn't carry enough oil, get the "oil dam" mod done after which the gearbox can hold the proper amount of oil as was standard as of '73. Oh and of course the shift leaver should be on the left side, no clue why somebody would want to change it.
All good info... and the reason for changing sides of the gear lever? Worn splines on the selector shaft on the left side... when these become too worn, you have to split the cases and replace the selector shaft... or... flip the gear lever over to the other side. Dual side selector shaft was to cater for early british market... where gear and brake were arse about.
While you could flip the gear lever over to the right side with some useability, the brake lever couldn't be used upside down on the left... which leaves both on the same (right) side. How do I know? I had to do it myself long ago in hard times.
You stole that bike.
I also have that bogging issue when I run pod filter. Carbs need to be jetted to accommodate those as well. I think that plus the air leak will cause the running issue.
@@loganboyer8816 I would try to find an air box for it!
He was actually given it 😂. Nice bike. My brother had a H1 500 n I did get to ride it when I was older. Rush to ride 2 stroke !
A friend of mine, in the service had one. I had a 500 triple with expansion chamber s. We had a lot of fun.
Omg what a steal
loved my GT500 & that noise - never forget the rattle and growl of that bike
With the floats in place, just hold carburetor upside down and simply "blow" through gas line. No need to use fuel. Unnecessary to
manually hold down the needle, the weight of the float is all that's needed to hold air(in place of fuel)from passing. Why you don't use
this method to check needle and seat condition after so many years of wrenching is incomprehensible. But please continue.😉
I thought the same thing. I actually prefer just the weight of the float... that's all it should take. With "extra" pressure, you could still have a problem and not detect it, especially with a rubber tipped needle. (I know this one wasn't rubber)
Not in a bad way... Maybe it's a millennial thing? 🤷🏻♂️ Maybe he doesn't know that trick? 🤷🏻♂️
Good on ya mate, I rode British bikes back in the 70’s but my brother was into Honda 4’s, namely the K1, K2 and K3’s , usually with Yoshimura kits installed and duplex chain set ups.
Excellent vídeo 👍👈
A friend of mine had one of these in the '70's, and I drove it a couple of times. Was a real nice bike. Surprisingly torquey for a 2-stroke. Smooth running. Lightweight and handled really well.
Keep that above 4000rpm. It's not a 4 stroke.
Man I love your channel not only for video quality and you knowledge but the fact your able to find these machines so often, here in Canada everything is over priced or impossible to find. What goes for $500 in the states goes for 2k here
Am in Nova Scotia and just started rebuilding my old Gt 5oo. Your right parts are scarce for these here as well.