Frequently Asked Questions |
2) Where can I get spares that are no longer obtainable new?
There are many ways to pick up 'unobtainable' second hard parts, but you need to be persistent. Simply hoping that parts will 'turn-up' is not enough. So what do you do?
- I have many contacts and can get hold of a lot of New Old Stock. Mail me and ask.
- Send me an Email. I have most of a rolling chassis for sale (in bits), and a FEW engine parts.
- Check the noticeboard on my site regularly and put up an advert of your own. Be specific though - 'I want some T20 bits' does not get as many replies as 'Does anyone have an oil tank for sale?'. Say where abouts in the world you are as well. I have picked up many parts from my noticeboard, so try it!
- Join the VJMC. Their quarterly magazine is full of adverts and many T20s and T20 parts crop up in every issue.
- Buy the Classic Bike type magazines monthly (or read them in your newsagents!) Put an ad in the 'autojumble' sections.
- Go to autojumbles specialising in Vintage Japanese bikes. The October 'Classic Mechanics' show in Stafford, England is the biggest and best in the UK
- Check out the links on my site, or other sites on the 'net. Put free ads online and check sites regularly for those T20 bits.
3) What is the year of production of my bike?
This is hard to answer accurately as I can't get hold of any decent records. The importer of these bikes into the UK in the Sixties told me that there weren't any records! Also, different countries had different numbers, so dating a bike accurately is not easy. However, Martin Crooks sent me all the records that he had kept about the bikes his father had sold at their shop. These are reproduced, with the kind permision of Martin, on the 'Frame Nos' page elsewhere on this site. The earliest T20 that I have come across was Frame number 10006, a race bike first used in 1965. Use the table on my site to get a rough idea of when your bike was produced. I will add more to this section when I get more information.
There were changes made to the T20 as the production run went on, and these can be helpful in dating your bike. You can find these on Roy Fosslie's site, along with model specs for different countries.
4) How much is my bike worth?
The golden rule of any valuation is that a bike is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it! Spending £5000 pounds restoring your bike does NOT make it worth £5000. It is also impossible from over here in the UK to know what the classic bike market is like in all of the countries of the world. Another problem is words like 'good condition'. This is a subjective statement and means different things to different people. However, I can give you a rough idea of values over here in the UK.
Absolutely immaculate concours bike - £2500 upwards. Road legal running bike - £800 upwards. Rusty wreck - £150 upwards. If you disagree with these valuations, or want to add values from your country, drop me an Email.
5) Have you got a wiring diagram for a T20?
Yes. This can be found by clicking here. It is a big picture, so may take a while to download.
6) Where can I get a manual from?
There are two different manuals listed on my site although these are out of print. You will also need a parts book (which contains pictures and part numbers of every single component on the bike). Another useful extra is the original Suzuki Workshop Manual as supplied to the dealers that sold the bikes. So where do you get these from you ask? Well the answer is ME! I am trying to pick up as many of these manuals as I can to help you all out. I generally have one or two second hand ones in stock - Email me for more details.
Other than that Email book shops and specialist suppliers and follow the advice given to question number 2) above.
7) Where can I get more information about the T20 and other early Suzuki models?
The best source of information about these old bikes is from the excellent book 'Suzuki Two-Strokes' by Roy Bacon. Details of this are given in my book section, and you can now buy it online from my site!
8) I love your site, what software did you use to write it?
The most popular way to do your own website these days appears to be with a 'web design software package' such as 'Dreamweaver' or 'Frontpage'. However I do all of mine in basic HTML coding typed into a text editor; my preferred one being 'Textpad'- (shareware, downloadable from www.textpad.com). I taught myself HTML using a book I bought - 'Teach yourself HTML' (you can now buy this book (and many others) from the book section of my site) and then as my site and personal interest developed I used other HTML and JAVASCRIPT books to improve my knowledge. If you are technically minded, learn HTML, if you want to build a site quickly and easily, buy a program to do it for you. (Alternatively, help sponsor my T20 Classic Racer project by paying me to build a site for you.) However, web site content is the key to a good site - nobody can write that for you!