TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS
The talented Peter Gaunt was one of the first riders to spot the potential of the little
Bearcat. He was a trials rider with James, but as the AMC empire began to disintegrate so the competition shop at James was axed. However James had been importing small Suzukis from 1963 to 1965 and Gaunt saw the possibilities of the tiny but powerful lightweights. With much modification he reduced the weight to a minimum. By boring out the cylinder and using a T10 250cc twin piston he upped the swept volume from the standard 118cc to 124cc.
In 1967 Gaunt won the SSDT 150 cup and a special firstclass award. In 1968 he helped Martin Lampkin to a fourth place in the SSDT using the dual range gearbox engine. With the popularity of the buzzy two-strokes in the smaller class, by 1969 Alta in Wales had begun to build trials bikes around the 120 engine and dual range gearbox. Later a monocoque alloy framed trials model was made, but the engine location was vulnerable to damage. the gearbox output shaft. The tyres were like riding on skates, they were that hard, and so I stopped riding the bike. The fork seals were shot and needed replacing, but generally the bike was in reasonable condition.
It made sense to rectify some of these issues while the machine needed to be partly dismantled for shipping. The gearbox output seal had chewed out badly due to some haybaling cord wrapped around the distance sleeve. That seal was replaced and the distance sleeve polished to remove the groove from the previous seal and corrosion. The seal had to be replaced prior to cleaning to prevent water ingress into the engine. The leaking oil had caused a huge mess around the tail end, which took a fair bit of cleaning later.
The wiring loom looked like it had never been touched as the original factory clips were all still in place, and the instrument cluster and headlight were in very good condition. The fuel tank paint was in reasonable condition, so I gave it a cut and polish. It’s still not
perfect, but neither is the bike. I did notice some bubbling around the seam on the left side of the tank and there was a small amount of internal rust. The tank was filled with vinegar for a couple of weeks, drained, washed out with sugar soap and water. It was then dried out and an ethanol-resistant tank sealer applied inside. A surprising amount of rust that came out of a tank that I initially thought wasn’t too bad.
The forks looked like they had the original oil in them, so I decided to dismantle them completely and clean them out. The fork bottoms had ingrained dirt, so I decided to clean and polish these before assembly. The fork stanchions were rusted into the yokes and were a challenge to remove. They were also pitted around the seal surface area. I tried a trick a mate of mine uses on one of the fork legs. That is to polish the rust off, then paint it in cold galvanising paint, then polish it smooth in the lathe after the paint has dried – hoping it fills the pits in. Did it work? Rick says it seems to be fine!
The rear shocks were also disassembled to clean off the rust and dirt. I contemplated painting the springs but my role was really to prep the bike for shipment, not restore it.
The wheels had to come off to access the forks. Talking to Rick, it made sense to change the tyres while it was disassembled. I’m lucky, I can access tyres, sprockets and chains at a discount due to the trade relationships I have. For instance, my local bike shop had the sprockets on the shelf. They’d been in stock there for a while and so they were happy to move them on at a cheaper price. The removal of the wheels also allowed access to the oil-soaked and dirtencrusted dirt frame. Joel helped move the bike and then a lot of scrubbing with degreasers was undertaken to get everything clean.
Another issue was the choke lever mount. Originally these were mounted onto the clutch lever assembly. If this gets broken, it’s often replaced with a generic lever assembly, but this has nowhere to mount the choke lever. I made another mount for the choke lever out of some aluminium bar stock.
The front fork seals and dust covers arrived, so it was time to assemble the front end. The front and rear sprockets were changed out and a new chain installed. This then allowed the outer cover that houses the Hi/lo mechanism to be installed. These have small thrust bearings and washers stacked either side of the change lever. Last of all, the crash bar was removed and the rust cleaned off.
The bike was now ready to be crated up for shipping. Enter a small virus issue…
BACK IN BLIGHTY
Bones had a super crate made up and loaded the bike – partly dismantled – into it. Along with various documents the bike was shipped out from Melbourne on its
three month voyage to the UK. I checked the progress of the ship and waited for news of its arrival, which was likely to be Southampton or Felixstowe. Either would mean a long trip to pick up the crate. Eventually I got notification that Bones’ efforts had borne fruit and that the crate was in a warehouse in Felixstowe.
Various bits of paperwork needed to be completed and moneys paid and once that was done I got the crate delivered to my workplace in Devon. By the end of July 2020, delivery was accomplished. The crate was strapped to my trailer and I headed home. Fortunately I had a suitable machine to offload the crate from the trailer – which was fairly substantial at over 200kg – and then the next task was to get into it… A couple of hours later I uncovered the contents and there she was, gleaming in the summer evening. Bones had definitely delivered.
I reassembled the TC100 and pumped up the tyres, refilled gearbox and fork oils, refilled the 2-stroke oil reservoir, poured some petrol into the tank and turned on the tap. The petrol leaked out as fast as I had put it in, as the fuel tap gasket was dried out. Having sorted that, the fuel now wouldn’t flow into the carburettor, so clearly it needed a bit of encouragement.
On the TC, the carb does its thing on the right-hand side of the engine and feeds an air / fuel mix through a disc valve arrangement directly into the crankcase. The fuel (contained in a meagre 1.7 gallon fuel tank) is unsullied with oil as the 2-stroke oil is injected into the engine by a Mikuni pump – the Suzuki CCI system – with a tank that is accessible from under the hinged seat. The offside side cover features an indicating window that shows when the 1.1 litre oil tank is nearly empty. On the instrument pod there are three indicator lights and a 100mph speedo (fairly optimistic, no?), and an ignition key. With a new 6V battery in place under the seat and fuel finally flowing to the right places I turned the key, closed the choke a tad and prodded the folding kickstart. The engine flicked into life with very little effort and revved readily and easily.
There’s a two plug head – I guess if one plug oils up and you’re 50 miles from the farm, rounding up sheep, then changing plugs might be an unwelcome distraction. Pop the cap off, swear in an Aussie way ’cos it’s hot, and prod it onto the other plug. Fire up and ride away. Other Aussie / sheeprounding features include the single seat, a large rear rack, plastic replacement clutch, brake levers which are proudly embossed ‘Made in Australia’ and, most importantly,
there’s that extra gear lever. On the nearside above the gearbox, there’s a heel lever that engages low and high ratios in the box, allowing the whole plot to trickle along following ruminants of all shapes and sizes.
The gearbox arrangement is neutral, then first to fourth. I’m used to neutral being between first and second on virtually every bike I’ve ever had. Having neutral at the very bottom of the pedal travel has caught me out a number of times, despite the idiot light clearly telling me ‘you are in neutral’. Despite the user error, it snicks into first very easily. It needs revs to get going, but second, third and fourth come along in quick succession. 40 soon shows on the speedo and so far I’ve seen over 50 with still more to come. The skinny drum brakes scrub the speed off nicely – no dramas – as you drop down through the gearbox. The whole bike is as light as a feather at just 93kg.
It was soon time to try it out with a friend riding something faintly comparable; a GPO 175 Bantam. I realised the Suzi needed to be kept on the boil all the time so it could keep up. At speeds over 40 the Bantam had the torque to continue uphill whereas the Suzi couldn’t cope. During the run the Suzi got a bit hot and bothered in the heat. Eventually a misfire occurred and then it soon became a dead engine. Under the shelter of some trees we had a break and, once it had cooled down, off it went again. Now that’s either going to be duff condenser or a fuel lock, but the fuel thing was working perfectly well. So the condenser it had to be.
The condenser is buried in the generator with a mechanical fixing bracket and soldered wiring connection. I found a genuine replacement in Indonesia and once it arrived I removed the rotor and
fitted the new condenser. It works
perfectly and I’ve done warm and I’ve done cold and wet runs up to 100 miles with no issues at all.
The Suzi’s engine smokes a bit excessively so I’ve adjusted the oil pump setting, but the positive side to that is that I’m not volunteered to lead the rides out. Happy days! I renewed the head gasket as it was just starting to leak and a new small end Torrington bearing is due to be done soon. New spares are generally easy to come by from Csmnl in Holland, though most secondhand stuff is available from the States. Either way of course, now it means import duty and freight costs have to be added.
I also rebuilt the lighting switch as the switchblocks (the plastic bits holding the springs and brass wipers) had their spigots (to mount the thumb sliders) broken off. I tried buying new replacements, but sadly they weren’t correct in shape or size, and a Chinese replica had internals that fitted nothing else in this world, so repairs to the originals were the only option. With a due amount of thought and care this eventually proved successful, drilling and gluing Tufnol pegs, and now the switch works fine.
The switch allows the head and tail lights to come on, being directly lit from the generator, while the brake light is fed from the battery, along with the horn. If I refitted indicators they too would be fed via the battery. It all works on the original wiring and the battery charges up, so I’m pleased that all seems to be working as it should. The 6V headlamp is a bit feeble, though it doesn’t take too many revs to get it to full lumens.
However, being Ac-direct the prospect of an LED replacement is not quite so easy.
The TC begs to be ridden off-road and despite its small size it can tackle pretty rough terrain, and particularly green lanes. The 19” front wheel hampers it slightly in the rough stuff, but the dual gearbox allows slow and deliberate traction up some quite steep routes. It wasn’t too happy on the famous Simms Hill in Devon on a damp autumn day with heaps of leaf mould. Try as I did I couldn’t get up the steep slabs on road pressures as it kept losing grip. In a perverse way it was just too good. Without rim locks those skinny, allterrain tyres need a reasonable pressure to stop the tyre from slipping and tearing the tube, but it sailed up Tipley Hill, which is less steep but still quite challenging.
On the road it zips along with four speeds, keeping up with town traffic quite easily, though its small physical size means other road users aren’t quite so aware of you. Hills need to be approached with a bit of forethought (and changing down in plenty of time) to keep the speed up, but the gearbox is smooth and the ratios well placed. Typically, as the revs rise the blue smoke levels rise too. While that’s a characteristic of the two-strokes from that era, it’s not necessarily welcome today. Occasionally I bung a capful of Castrol R equivalent in the fuel tank and that helps to make the smoke a bit less unwelcome to some people!
The TC is definitely a machine with a purpose and of its time. It takes the concept of the 1960s BSA Bantam Trail / Bushman and develops it to be even more practical and easy to use. Even so, in time the TC was completely overhauled by the even more practical quad bike; incidentally, also initially developed by Suzuki!