Thanks to a friend looking to clean out their garage, there are a couple of new motorcycles here at Rusty Heaps HQ–both need some work but are interesting bikes which will be amusing to try and coax back into life, hopefully on the “cheap”.

(Picture at top shows the back of the uhaul when mr. pup and I got home from a long day fetching these guys. I opted for the small cube truck instead of a pickup without looking inside at what the tie-down situation inside the van was. I would not do it this way again, I’m pretty embarrassed by how slap-dash the rigging turned out to be. Ah well, who will ever know?)

First Japanese machines in the shoppe in a fair while

On the left is a 1979 Suzuki GS550N. I thought 1978 was last year of wire wheels…but I know next to nothing about the history of these machines. Plan is to get it running and clean it up a bit, though it’s in generally OK condition. There are some broken lenses and at least a carb issue, plus it needs a battery.

It’s an air-cooled 550cc inline-four. I’ve never owned what some call a “standard Japanese motorcycle”, and honestly am looking forward to poking around on it. Long term? Who knows. The GS seems to be the basis for a lot of pretty neat looking “cafe racers” and maybe I’ll get a wild hair to try my hand at one.

On the right is a 2001 Yamaha R6 which has been set up as a race bike. My goal here is to get it running and then probably find it a new home, since racing is not my gig. It would be a lot of trouble turning it back into a street bike, and I don’t fit too well on 600cc-class sportbikes in any case.

Fairings for the R6

Anyway, I now have plenty to do, seeing as I also want to get the BSA back into regular use and it needs the tank and carb cleaned out, plus possibly a “thorspark” conversion to try and solve the poor starting issue once and for all.

I’m sure I’ll have another post soonish once I get a chance to poke and prod at these guys.