Knocked for six by new bike
I read with interest your recent article ‘Six of the Best’ which mentioned the Suzuki T20 Super 6.
When they came out in 1966, I had been riding for about a year and was running a Triumph Tiger Cub. This was a great little bike and I did many happy miles on it. It was pretty reliable and never left me stranded anywhere. Most problems were electrical with flat batteries or broken wires and were fixed at the roadside.
I had customised it in the usual way by dumping the side panels and changing the deeply valanced mudguards for alloy ones. I also bought a one-piece seat, rear mudguard and number plate from ValeOnslow and fitted that. A reverse megaphone style silencer completed the job.
In 1967 I thought about getting a Super 6, but second-hand ones were few and far between. I'd had my yearly increment on my wages as an apprentice and, after talking to my parents, decided to see if I could afford a new one. My father and I went to ValeOnslow on the Stratford Road in Birmingham and discussed it with Peter Vale-Onslow. The outcome was me collecting a brand-new black Super 6 (JOP176E) the following week.
I was over the moon; it looked and sounded great and I was the envy of all my mates. Even keeping the revs down, it went like a scalded cat (well, it felt like it after the Tiger Cub!). I went out for a long ride on Sunday but when I got back it was smoking a lot from the one silencer. I thought nothing much of it but it got worse, so I returned it to the dealer. They kept it there and, on the Monday, sent it to the Suzuki importer up the road (they were in Golden Hillock Road, Birmingham, almost opposite the BSA factory). There they found the centre crankshaft oil seal on one side was faulty and leaking into the crankcase. This bearing was lubricated by the gearbox oil, so I had been burning this! It was replaced and an uprated gearbox fitted at the same time.
All went well for a few weeks, then it started to get hard to get it into fifth gear. When it finally went in, it would often jump out. I took it back and another new gearbox was fitted. Even after this, the gear change was never good. You had to take care to ensure a good change and it would occasionally jump out of gear.
On the way to college a few weeks later, it cut on to one cylinder. When the spark plug was removed, there was no side electrode! I fitted a new plug and carried on. This happened three or four more times over the next week, so back it went to the dealer. They traced it to the points moving on the one cylinder and altering the timing. Also, they changed the Posilube oil pump as the one side wasn’t pumping properly.
A few weeks later it started partially seizing on one cylinder (the same one that had been consuming plugs). It had a habit of doing this just as you throttled back on entering a corner. Luckily, I always rode with two fingers around the clutch lever and always managed to pull it in before it locked the back wheel. By the time you had stopped, it had freed up again. Back to the dealer, the problem was the pump on the one cylinder losing prime and pumping air. Another new pump and bike returned. It ran well for a few weeks then started having the same problems. I took it back and it was sent back to the importer. They had it for over a week and returned it to me. Again, it ran okay for a few weeks, then lost the prime again.
I'd had enough; After about six months it had spent nearly as much time being repaired as I had riding it. I couldn’t trust it, so I decided to trade it in for a Triumph T100. This was in September, so I had to wait until the next March to get a 1968 model. In the meantime, I bought a 1956 B31 and used this through the winter. The T100 was completely reliable.
When the Suzuki was working right (which wasn’t often) it was a lovely bike to ride and look at. Smooth, fast with fairly good handling and good brakes, but a bit thirsty. A big problem was the lack of grip in the wet from the Japanese tyres, this was made worse by the twin leading shoe front brake which could easily lock the wheel in the wet. It only fetched me off once, but I had several close calls. I agree with the tester about the starting, it was very rarely first kick, even when warm. The left side kickstart didn’t help, even if you stood on the left and used your right foot. It was streets ahead of the contemporary British bikes in looks, finish and performance. Perhaps I just got a bad one.
Peter Cranmer, Halesowen