PROJECT BIKES
Gary’s new TS250, Old Farmer Chris’s old man’s Zephyr 11, Bruce’s TZ250, Alan’s knackered Fazer 600, MG’s KH1F in action
Gary Hurd 1977 Suzuki TS 250
Ex-PB feature bike comes full circle, to Big G’s garage for a very reverent restoration
The arrival of this TS250 is a blessed relief to all those around me, because I’ll stop banging on about getting one. And it’s also exciting, because it’s one of few air-cooledTS mud-pluggers with any kind of history. If you don’t have an encyclopaedic memory of old Performance Bikes features, let me bring you up to speed.
In 1987, art editor Peter Comely and features editor Rupert Paul went head-to-head in a budget build-off, aiming to extract more speed and handling from manky old 250s. Rupert chose a Z250, dressed it in a GPZ600 fairing and spent ages messing around with the engine, only to end up running it near standard – and not going much faster.
Peter, and this – my – TS250 got more heavily involved in getting it to handle better. It got RD350F2 forks in stock yokes, 18-inch Akront alloy wheels front and rear, and a Davida Moto monoshock conversion (from the days when they were an engineering company, not just a piss-pot lid brand). Derek Huxley built a hydroformed expansion chamber and a lot of time was spent messing around with the motor, but it ended up being no faster than stock either, and slower than the Z250, so it lost the battle.
Now, 35 years later, it’s won the war. For a start, it’s still here. Reader AlexTulloch came forward on our Facebook group to say his mate bought the Z250 from Rupe, passing it around their circle for a little while before it got broken for parts.
It’s also much cooler – then and now. Don’t forget that supermoto wasn’t then an established ‘thing’, and Peter’s creation predated theTDR250. and any other production motard. Though the flimsy alloy bolts used everywhere aren’t so cool, especially the ones in the handlebar clamps.
They do show how little it has been messed with, at least. Apart from the last ten years in forme
