RISING SUNS
Your article on the vintage Kawasaki 250 in RC206 brought back many memories. I owned for some time a 1966 250cc Suzuki X6 Hustler, a quite similar bike. It would wheelie without much effort in first and second gears (it had six), and loved to rev.
Styling cues were similar to the Kawasaki: tacho and speedo in a shared binnacle on the headlight nacelle; tall, rounded tank with rubber knee pads; side tank for oil injection with sight glass, 2Is front brake. The rear shocks, front fender, seat, and downpipes on your feature bike could have been transplanted from my Suzuki, although my fender was painted grey enamel. The Suzuki was piston ported with twin carbs in the traditional location.
I purchased mine in the early 1970s, sight unseen for $20 from a university classmate; the ignition system had ceased to function and he couldn't figure out how to fix it. (Location of sale: a tavern.) The bike had an early (weak) version of coil ignition and tended to foul plugs readily, especially in traffic. To this day I goose the throttle on my manual transmission diesel Jetta before taking off from a stoplight, a leftover from my Suzuki riding days.
I used to ride the Hustler regularly some 40 miles on an expressway leading into Montreal. The routine speed was 70 80mph and I never had any trouble keeping up with traffic. The bike was severely under tyred from the factory: they were narrow and hard, making for an exciting ride if curves were involved.
My Suzuki did not have turn signals, they were not required in Canada in 1966. I owned a 305 Honda Dream of the same vintage which did have turn signals (and an electric start!), but it was definitely an anomaly. Daylight headlight on laws for motorcycles came into force in Quebec in the 1970s, and although my bike was exempt due to age I was stopped several times and had to explain to police why my headlight was not on the charging system was not sufficient for this use. I eventually sold the Hustler to be used for vintage racing, they were much in demand for that purpose.
Timothy Jones