Yellow hasbeenaSuzuki colour forsome
time,tank looksgood.Magnesiumcastingsare used for allof
theenginein1972, earlier modelshad
aluminiumcrankcasesand magnesium
side cases. Note titanium boltsand
aluminiumcase screws.allthe bearings andacoupleofgears in the
five-speed box. “The rest of it,asinthe crank,
thebig endand thepistonand bore,werein
good condition,” he says.Lessgood wasthe
fuel tank whichhad several splits in thepaper
thin alloy, luckily repairingsuchthings isn’t
aproblem to alad whomadeasimilar tank
from scratchfor another bike.
Speaking of paperthin,aswellasthe
frametubingbeingthin gauge, thehandle
bars arealsoextremely thin too. Luckily
they’rebent up from alengthofchrome
molybdenumtube, so resilient to thestresses
andstrains of aGPseasonotherwise they’d
nothavesurvived.Itwould be nice to think
there’sacupboardinthe Suzuki race shop
withafew spares tucked awayjustincase
Also of extremelythinggauge isthe exhaust
system anditisaworkofart loopingdown
under theengine, slipping sensuouslyup
behind theframe tubesand ending in a
smalldiameter pipe about mid-shock level.Fabricated in acornerofthe race shop maybe?
No,likeall Suzuki factoryMXteam exhausts
of theperioditwas madeby an elderlycouple
in their house.Luckily forClive this pipe was
salvageable andpretty much undamaged
considering whereitisinrelation to stonesand
whatever beingthrownupfrom thetrack.
With thetwo team bikestocompare,it
waseasyenough to spot some differences
betweenthe 1972 bike andits earlier relative.
The1970version had valancedrims on the
wheelsbut by 1972 thesewereunvalanced
whichoffersanimmediateweightsaving
andthe added bonusthatitismuch harder
formud to builduponthe wheels which
wouldalter thebalance andadd to tiringthe
riderout.
On thesubjectofthe wheels, whichhave
magnesiumhubsand brakeplates,and
bearings only justbig enoughfor thejob,all
thespacersare aluminiumbut thedistance
piecesare machined from engineeringplastic.Suzuki wereactuallyone of thepioneersof
plastic componentsontheir team bikesand
from componentsasbasicasmudguards
theJapanesefactory added notonlywheel
spacersbut fuel cap, numberplates andon
this bike,alarge volume air box.
Theminimalistic themecontinues
throughoutthe RN as weight andmasswas
removedfrom as many componentsas
possible,forksliders thinned andwaisted,
spindles hollowed,aluminiumcasescrews,
titaniumenginebolts andsoitgoeson.
Even thesuspension boltsgot attentionand
instead of ahexagon head as anormalbolt
wouldhave, therewas simply ashoulder to
stop theboltpulling through theframe anda
circlip on theother endtostopitgoingback
theother way. Thosebolts whichhad to have
ahexagon head andanut werehollowedout
to ease fractionsofagramoff them andnot
athreadlonger than they neededto be.This
is only what thescene expected of courseForfactorymachines,Suzukiuseda
relativelysimpleletteringsystemto
distinguishtheir variouscapacities.For125s
it wasRA, whereasthe 250sgot RH, while
the openclassbikes like370 featuredhere
are designatedRN. The productionbikes
suchas the TM and RM serieswere only
distinguishedby the capacity...ergo there
were RM125s,RM250sand so on.What’sin theletters?
SSSSSuuuuuzzzzzuuuuukkkkkiiiii
RN 3703388
034 Suzuki_044.indd 38 01/08/201712:40:25