1974 Suzuki Other

GT75052274

Clear

We found this Water Buffalo on a trip through Iowa a few years back. We bought it from the original owner who's name was Joe. Joe lived in Jesup, Iowa his entire life. Jesup is a small Iowa farm community in North Iowa. In the Spring of 1975 Joe bought this Suzuki 2 cycle water cooled anomaly off the showroom floor of Wright Suzuki in Waterloo Iowa. He was soon known by his friends and neighbors as Smokey Joe because of the smokey oil trail the bike left behind every time Joe rode the bike through the community. (Keep in mind that this is a oil injected 2 cycle motor and if it didn't smoke, it wasn't working properly.) He road it back and forth from his job at the Waterloo John Deere plant for seven years. In 1982 Joe put it in his garage, drained the gas, sprayed it with WD-40, and covered it up and there it sat until I found it in 2012. He told his son to list it on Craigslist cause he was tired of Smokey taking up room in the Garage. So 30 years after Joe stopped riding it, I bought it. The bike sat in our garage for another 8 months until one day I said to my son Jerod. "Lets get this beast running again." So we proceeded to tear it down to the frame and engine. We then rebuilt the entire front and rear brake system with new OEM parts, then we replaced the tires with period correct Dunlops. then we cleaned and de-rusted the tank and resealed it.We then removed the tank and side covers and shipped them to KNK cycles, to be re-painted the factory correct flaked candy blue paint. They specialize in painting these tanks to match factory colors and quality check them out CLICK HERE ) We then removed and rebuilt the carbs, and had the seat professionally recovered with a period correct seat cover. We replaced the regulator and rectifier and petcock, with NOS parts , we replaced the right housing switch and ignition switch, replaced the taillight with NOS, flushed the radiator, changed the oil, replaced the plugs, replaced drive chain, replaced battery with new one and then cleaned and detailed the bike. We then primed the carbs, hit the starter button and she started right up. After fine tuning the carbs she ran at a steady 1,100 rpms. The only problem we had was on the maiden voyage, the speedo got to 20 miles an hour and froze, and there it sits today still at 20mph and frozen. the new owner will need to replace the speedometer. But the mileage on the odometer is original to when it was last run in 1982. It just must have froze up from all those years of sitting, but everything else works, horn, starter, lights, tach etc etc. You can see more detailed photos of the bike and see it starting, running and riding on our Photobucket site. CLICK HERE The chrome is all original and in decent shape. Overall the bike is in extremely clean condition. It's not a show bike but it could be with a little work and investment. Bottom line it looks very nice and starts, runs and shifts great. I would call it a daily rider that is a hard to find Vintage Japanese Collectable. Show it or ride it. Bet you will be proud of it, she's a beauty. It comes with the original title from 1975 signed and undated by Joe, original tool kit and the original receipt and paperwork from the dealer when Joe bought it in 1975. We are proud to offer this bike to the highest bidder without reserve starting at $1.00. You won't find a more original example anywhere. Check out my feedback, all the photos and video and bid with confidence. I wish I could afford to keep her...someone is going to end up with quite a prize with this one.