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Hi , welcome to my website. If you navigated here by mistake whilst trying to find marital aids, look no further, this bike makes the ladies go weak at the knees (vibration is a bu**er with these old 2-strokes).

If you haven't navigated here by mistake, you're either interested in motorcycles or don't get out much. Either way, I like you already and am prepared to patronise you if it means more hits on my site.

Before we start, I think a little explanation is in order.

I've never restored anything before. The restoration of my cycle and subsequently this web-site chronicling it came about to satisfy a growing need for a mid-life crisis. I have friends who constantly rattle on about these crises and I think I've been more than patient. I promised myself that when it came, I'd make sure it got my full attention. Not for me the sportier new car, sportier new girl-friend etc. these were (and I flatter myself here) too easy to attain. No, what was needed was a full-on solution. A motorcycle... Preferably loud, fast and capable of stimulating my dormant adrenaline glands and inciting my down-trodden libido to riot.

The solution came about by accident. I was at a Farm sale (admiring agricultural machinery and pondering why anyone would want to plough things all day and then eat rough hewn bread without washing first) when I spied a cycle-shaped canvas in the corner of one of the barns. A quick peek confirmed that providence had indeed taken a hand. Underneath was a rusty, broken down frame straining to hold aloft what looked a bit like a giant GT185 engine (a motorcycle I had admired as a surly youth). A quick recce on the old net convinced me that I had found a Suzuki GT500 even though some things didn't add up. I returned rather smartish and £200 and a pig secured the motorbike from a chap who obviously couldn't believe his luck and needed the space for another ploughing thing type thing.

As it turned out, what I had actually brought was a 1972 Suzuki T500J with matching frame and engine numbers. The motorcycling equivalent of flared trousers and wide lapels. The bike had been stripped down, re-fitted with a GT500 tank (presumably to increase its range), drilled hubs (presumably to increase the brake cooling) and just about every cosmetic and mechanical part from a range of '70s motorcycles (presumably as the previous owner was a thief of some renown). After speaking with many veteran T500 owners who warned about the high cost of restoration, scarcity of parts, lack of financial return and the risk of rashes from oil and degreasers, I wisely decided to go ahead anyway. Best thing I ever did.

Now after eighteen months of sweat, more money than I dare tell the wife, a healthy rating on Evilbay and a growing reputation as a recluse to defend, its finally finished. Restored as closely as I can determine from the magazine pictures and articles I found on the net. Doubtless I've got some things wrong and those more informed than I in these things will point out parts that don't look right. That is fair enough, but there comes a time when you just gotta stop....and ride the damn thing.

Feel free to email me -I cant promise to respond as I only check for mail infrequently
Enjoy.............

Mark Fortune..............June 2005

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