1978 1/2 Suzuki RM-250C2
When I was a kid, a friend had one of these (he was the first of us youngsters to get a 250, we were all still riding 125's and smaller). I rode it once and was astounded! I Had to have one. The Power! The incredible power! Not to mention the plush-ness of the Fox Airshox! WOW!
Fast forward 20 years. I started thinking about restoring a 250, so I’d have something else to race other than my 465. 1980 YZ-250G’s are pretty scarce, and I couldn’t find one I could afford. Then one day at Woodland, in between motos, I realized two things. One, was that I really liked the early, non-F.I.M. sidepanels on mid-seventies bikes, and Two, that there just weren’t enough Suzuki RM’s on the field. The RM’s were the perennial favorite at the end of the 70’s. Everybody I knew had one, or wanted one. Except that one dumb guy on the Elsinore…but he didn’t count. I figured if I could find a ’78 RM it might be just the ticket.
I found one on eBay in a bunch of boxes. I got it for $350 and started bolting things together. Despite most of the bike being there, I still had to hunt for a number of pieces which eventually made this $350 bike an over $1500 bike! I ended up replacing the stock front forks with some 11.9" travel '80 RM-250 forks, which cost me about $450 after the machine shop finished raping me over the triple clamps. I wouldn't do that again I think, but I put some 17.5" Fox airs on the back and it was tall, but plush.
The sad thing is, that I sold it to another vintage racer who was a bit shorter than me, and the first thing he did was pull the suspension and set about returning it to the stock form. Can't blame him, but WHEW! This was an expensive experiment...He recently sent me a pic of the bike after he finished his restoration. Scroll down and check it out. He really did a good job, and has been winning races on it, so that makes it even better!
Here it is 2-13-2004, with almost all the bugs worked out. It's fast, and the suspension is sweet
After these pictures were taken I added some repro SUZUKI decals to the tank, but their adhesive quality appears to be about that of the stock units, so I wouldn't count on them lasting too long.
This bike was pretty fast. I gave it a fresh bore and it’s only on the 2nd oversize.
The bike had a black powder-coated frame, 1980 RM-250T front forks, triples, bars, wheel, fender and NOS number plate (ie: the whole front end, mated with a custom steering shaft), a straight non-dinged-up pipe, 17 1/2 “ Fox Airshox, a Vintage Suzuki seat cover. I never quite finished it, but I learned a lot about bike resurrection from this project.
Here it is after Jeff finished it:
Nice huh? Obviously his eye for detail, and patience are clearly superior to
mine. Congrats Jeff! Job well done.