Suzuki engineering, and memories
 

Okay, so my very first bike was this keen lil Suzuki JR50. You know, one of those yellow 50cc dirtbikes, single-speed automatic, drum front and rear. It's this cute little thing (yeah, I know guys aren't supposed to say cute, but this lil scoot is cute as hell) that my Pop bought for me new in 1977. Here I am, 5 years old and proud as all get out of my newly acquired ability to ride a two-wheeled bicycle, and my Pop brings home this motorcycle.

It was the coolest thing I'd ever seen.

Shiny yellow paint, glossy black seat, big knobby tires. It looked bad as hell. What can I say? I was 5 years old and the idea that a motorcycle could be made for me was the coolest. My Mom about had a fit both from the cost ($400 brand new, I think) and the fact that my Pop is gonna just turn me loose on it. Neither one of us even heard her.

That very night I had on this shiny sparkle blue open-faced helmet (you know the one), and was ripping that lil Suze up and down the neighborhood streets. I don't think I have ever been the target of so much jealous envy in my life. EVERY damn kid on that street wanted to be me.

Well, sad to say, the bike was only rated for 65lbs due to its' clutch, and I rapidly outgrew it. Right about a year later, I was too big for it. I'd only wrecked it once when I was, you guessed it, showing off, and it was a light spill doing no damage to it. We popped it in storage without doing a thing to it, and I figured I'd never see it again.

Fast foward to a few weeks ago. We'd pulled it out of storage a while back figuring I could eventually get it running for when my two kids are old enough to ride it (daughter is 3, son is 20 months). Nothing was done about it because I just had a billion other things to do. I decided to move it to my place to free up space in my Pop's garage. A little while ago, I decided to start playing with. None of us have anything better to do on a Friday night than play with mini-dirtbikes, right?

Pulled the carbs, checked the bowl (didn't need cleaning!), everything else looked good there. Checked all the connection, everything looked good there. Thought about pulling the plug, checking the seals, etc and decided, screw it. Put in some oil and some gas and gave her a few kicks.

She started up!

Got to love a bike that has been sitting ignored for literally 25 years that starts up without a hitch. Suzuki has some damned good engineers, and my kids have a cool lil JR50 that their Poppa used to ride.

I can't wait to put 'em on it =)

Excellent news man, sounds like it was good for you to relive the memories! Hope your kids have fun on the thing.

Ive been in a base suzuki awd suv that was not too big. The car offroaded well and had no problems. Also my mechanic says they are the easiest cars to work on. Im sure bikes are the same.

Awesome, man. Get them some good safety equipment when they're ready, teach them well, and let them have at it.

that is some seriously good reliability there. Have fun with that thing.

though i have to say if i ever meet anyone who worked on the GSX-R 600 im gonna kill them. Just a personal dislike of how they have the crank angle sensor UNDERNEATH the starter clutch so it cant be reached easily. At least honda has them out on top of the starter clutch.

I wonder how it compares to hondas and hayabusas in terms of relaibilty?

Weeeell, the Suze I'm referring to is, oh, 26 years old. I can't say a thing about Suzukis since then. I'm a Honda guy as far as my personal bikes go. Like 'em. Like e'm a lot.