Project '81 TS100. Or where did my youth go?

[bondbmw]

Here's a few pics of a 1981 TS100 that I acquired not so long back. Not the most glamourous project in the world I'll admit but my first ever bike back in dear 'ol blighty was a Suzuki GP100 some 20 years ago and you can't get those over here so I figured that this would be close enough .... and be a bit ADV'y. Plus, I'd been wanting to mess with an 80's bike and I place the blame solely with Practical Sportsbike Magazine and Classic Motorcycle Mechanics!!

A buddy of mine was clearing garage space and wanted to get shot of the TS. He was going to donate it or scrap it ... so I made him donate it to me. It had holed a piston a number of years back and he'd had the barrel honed and bought the piston and rings and that was about it. A few beers later and it followed me home and I got to work ....







My original plan was just to make it nice and get it running to mess about with. I was going to clean all the stuff myself and spray it up. Then I remembered I live in a rented condo and the laundry was in the garage too .... and I was still smarting from the dressing down the wife gave me when I was caught showering grinding dust into some fresh laundry ... so I decided to get the big stuff powder coated. While that was away getting done I found some completely pitt free forks on Ebay ... well ... be silly not too. After all the bike was free ... right?




And when it gets back things start to take shape.




And then I get carried away and start fitting stuff to see what it looks like. You can always tell one of my projects because some things get done under the "meh, I'll do it properly again later" heading ...





Normally at this stage I would have stood back, cracked open a beer, sparked up a cigarette and enjoyed that nice moment when a project starts to take shape. But then I remembered I'd given up smoking so I had a couple of beers and called it a day.

Next, I gave the wheels a bit of a spruce with some of that polishing wadding stuff and was surprised how well they came up. The spokes still look horrid but they're sound. Besides ... I'm getting close to rolling chassis time ....

On goes the back ...



And on goes the front



It looks like a bike!!!!! Now time for the engine. As I didn't really want to get into it I swished out the crankcase with a 2 stroke fuel mix and made sure it was all clean. I fitted the piston, rings with all new gudgeon pins and little end bearings, oiled the bore a bit and put it back together with new gaskets. No pics of the engine 'build' ... I got a bit carried away and forgot. I did get all technical and make a small jig to hold the motor while I sprayed it instead of my usual method of balancing stuff on jackstands....






Now ... where shall I put the motor .... I know ....



Chuck on the wiring loom ... oil tank .... and the gas tank (to see how it looks of course ...)




It's starting to look a bit nicer than I thought it was .... so I get a few more bits coated. Maybe I should rename this thread "Bondy takes a bike apart, gets a bunch of shit powder coated and bolts it back together again"..




Now it starts to go together properly. Some parts sourced from bike bandit, ebay and web searches and the like. I actually found the looking for parts bit quite enjoyable. Finding part numbers and google searching on them seems to the way to go. I took the carb apart but the air screws were all stripped out so an ebay search kicked up a pattern knock off model that seems to do the trick.

Battery box ...



Airfilter housing in and messing with the oil pump (That's the old carb in the pic... don't let its external appearance fool you!)



Exhaust on ... that's a BBQ coating on it which hasn't worked out to well ... but it's OK for now. The seat took a while to figure out and the bike didn't come with one. I eventually found one online in a breakers with a good foam and had the cover made up in marine grade vinyl ($80).





Chain on .. new carb ...



Managed to find a pair of OEM rear indicators to replace the smashed up originals ..



And some new side panels. The Suzuki part numbers don't come painted anymore so paint is next on the list and it's where the project stands right now. Oh ... it cost a BUNCH in back fee's to register (more than I care to admit) but it's a blast to ride around. I do my local errands on it and someone always has something to say. Sure, it just about squeaks 60 mph but it puts a 100mph smile on my face ... and that's rather the point isn't it??

I'll post final ones when she's all the same color. Cheers!

[bobfab]

Nice, im glad to see that im not the only one to bring home a basketcase once in a while!

Looks great!

[ramblerdrver]

Nice looking bike...and nice looking MGA!

[Shocktower]

Very nice bike, but you have gotta love California, for their late fee's, your paying for the weather

[bondbmw]

Yeah ... the sunshine tax get's ya!

[whitham_wannabe]

Wait a minute ... isn't that my urban camo bar pad in some of those pictures? You know, the one you were supposed to mail to me about a year ago?!!

[Ron Bullard]

Bitchin!

[bondbmw]

A bit later on but ....

Finally got the paint sorted and some Hagon shocks on... apart from the tyres and tubes still on the shelf I think this'll do for now :)

[Hellracer.nl]

Looks very nice! Almost like a new one, good job!

[408Fairmont]

That bike looks awesome, good job. Makes me want to ride my enduro even more lol.

[vtwin]

Nice job! I'd expect that anyway from a MGA owner though.

[dsilver1007]

60mph with 100mph smile..bikes like that tend to have that effect