Rant: Basic motorcycle parts not available? Why?!

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SlowJoe
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Rant: Basic motorcycle parts not available? Why?!

Post by SlowJoe »

Kind of a rant,

I'm making use of a Suzuki auto scooter, not super common but there's plenty around still so it's not like an obscure thing like a Lambretta or Supercharged Peugeot or something. For the life of me (both in Kampot and Phnom Penh...I can't find ANYWHERE that sells the parts I need in this country.

Now I don't mean I want it running like it's brand new, but just, useable... Good power, okay fuel economy, and not a death trap...so I want it to go when I twist the throttle, stop when I press the brake, and have wheels that are mostly round. That's all.

***

So to start with, I got it for super cheap and it barely ran (and had no front brakes, or lights, or anything, but it was a start).

I'm a small engine tech back home, so I figure I can handle the rebore (basic engine work) and go from there. Unfortunately it turns out the cylinder is a plated cylinder, so just my luck, I need to drop the cash to get it sleeved and a new piston/rings fitted. Had to be done, I was burning 1 litre of oil per tank. Wasn't cheap, but I was pleasantly surprised at the work the machine shop did. Very well done.

New piston fitted, power is back but fuel economy and throttle response are wonky (they were before, but the engine was so tired I was thinking it was compression related)

So first thing, carburetor had a big tear on the slide rubber which I had originally missed. Very common (I'm a small power equipment motor guy, I see this all the time on engines I work on), so I go to every store in town looking for a slide. No one sells the slide... This is like a basic maintenance item on any CV carb back "home" for me. Nothing here, no one has it. It's like going to a hardware store and no one sells light bulbs, it's so bizarre.

My only option is to buy a whole new carburetor. So I stick it in and immediately notice it idles great and has good response down low now, but it has much less power up top.

Check the main jet, it's many sizes too small. Try to swap main jet from original carb in...doesn't fit.

Go back to stores searching for appropriate jet. No have. No one sells different jet sizes... JETS! These are like, carbs 101 for any freaking Tom Dick and Harry out there!

Of course the slide in the new carb doesn't fit the old carb because the new carb is not exactly the same Mikuni as the original, and without jets available, I have no way to match the fueling to the motor I have...

Whatever, I figure I can get by on 1/2 throttle and a top speed of 45 kph for now, as long as throttle response is consistent and fuel economy is okay, which it seems to be.

***

So my rear wheel is missing 6 or 7 spokes. No big deal, I'm not a wheel guy but spoked wheels are everywhere here. So I start looking for a tire shop and...of course you guessed it, no one sells spokes for a Suzuki auto. 16 inch wheel spokes are nowhere to be found in this country. Have 14 or 17, but not 16.

Seriously though, why is this? Do mechanics not know what jets or slide valves are? That's basic level stuff I thought, or am I just missing something?

And wheels...I mean, just wheels. Spokes are super cheap, and Suzuki scooters are somewhat common right? Can there really be no one around that sells spokes for a 16 inch rim? I have literally gone to every motorcycle shop I could find and no one has anything. Not even an alloy of a different diameter that fits either...I thought kids changed rims all the time on their bikes because "boy racer"?

Sorry, but I never thought it would be so hard to get an old fairly common bike running here...but I've been mistaken so far, and it makes no sense whatsoever to me.

Rant over for now...

Joe
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Re: Rant: Basic motorcycle parts not available? Why?!

Post by Freightdog »

If you’re looking for spokes for a Suzuki, and they don’t really know what a Suzuki is, is that not going to overcomplicate the issue?

Wheel. Needs spokes.
Jets. Get ‘em posted in? I’d beinterested if Mikuni is/isn’t a generic carburettor available here, as was fitted to a great many Japanese bikes that I tinkered with back in the day. An online visit to their spares an servicing Luke mayb elicit details of a useful dealer, here.

It’s my experience here that most general maintenance is done by tinkerers of varying ability, rather than anyone trained formally. Hom mech, but without a Haynes manual due to the literacy thing?

We have a problem with our AC. It has no gas because it has a leak. Oh! No ga’. Bong/Bo Refills, and it works for a day. No, says I, with what little patience I can still muster. It has a leak, hence no ga’.

Now have. No problem.

So… we have a problem with our AC. The maintenance efforts on such kit in Cambodia alone for one week have probably cancelled out all emissions control efforts on such gases. Tell Greta Funbags to concentrate on worldwide basic education if she wants to have an impact on our impact on the planet.

There’s little diagnostic ability, because there’s little reasoning done. It’s a skill that requires some honing, and many people are content to follow the loudest instructions, as quickly as possible, and let someone else figure it out.

If it’s this problem, change that module/lump/expensive shiny thing. Fixed. Next.
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Re: Rant: Basic motorcycle parts not available? Why?!

Post by Username Taken »

Maybe @AE86 might know.
SlowJoe
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Re: Rant: Basic motorcycle parts not available? Why?!

Post by SlowJoe »

Freightdog wrote: Mon Jun 27, 2022 11:29 am Jets. Get ‘em posted in? I’d beinterested if Mikuni is/isn’t a generic carburettor available here, as was fitted to a great many Japanese bikes that I tinkered with back in the day. An online visit to their spares an servicing Luke mayb elicit details of a useful dealer, here.
I think the problem is that the "Mikuni" I bought is a knockoff, and so "real" Mikuni parts don't fit it. The new slide in the knockoff doesn't fit the old housing (even though they look almost identical).

So the same problem is going to be for the jets, the old jets in the original carb are a different thread than the new one, so who knows what the actual carb I have actually is?

I'm just surprised that carb rebuild kits don't exist here, it's kind of a given everywhere else in the world, at least I would have thought...

And the spokes...that's the one that surprises me the most. Do people not need wheels here or something? Suzukis aren't that uncommon, at least I thought they weren't.

Anyway, if anyone has a Suzuki auto scooter and you don't need your rear wheel, hit me up! :)
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Re: Rant: Basic motorcycle parts not available? Why?!

Post by truffledog »

Funny story to read. Will never buy a Suzuki scooter.
work is for people who cant find truffles
SlowJoe
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Re: Rant: Basic motorcycle parts not available? Why?!

Post by SlowJoe »

EDIT: Engine making a ton of noise and smoking already again...

Just frustrated the top end has to come off already...I don't know what's going on but I swear nothing is going right...
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Re: Rant: Basic motorcycle parts not available? Why?!

Post by AndyKK »

SlowJoe wrote: Mon Jun 27, 2022 4:15 pm EDIT: Engine making a ton of noise and smoking already again...

Just frustrated the top end has to come off already...I don't know what's going on but I swear nothing is going right...
I feel for you Joe, and answer to your question, very few know due to being shown by someone who even may be doing things wrong. Another thing I found they don't like to change and do anything in a different way. I found that helping them, standing over them to oversee the job may give you peace of mind.
I went to the Honda main dealers the other day to see if they would change the fork seals on my Honda msx, no they don't do such work.
Always "hope" but never "expect".
SlowJoe
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Re: Rant: Basic motorcycle parts not available? Why?!

Post by SlowJoe »

AndyKK wrote: Mon Jun 27, 2022 4:46 pm I feel for you Joe, and answer to your question, very few know due to being shown by someone who even may be doing things wrong. Another thing I found they don't like to change and do anything in a different way. I found that helping them, standing over them to oversee the job may give you peace of mind.
^^^I wish I wasn't a small engine guy, and I wish I hadn't built hundreds of top ends before correctly, because then it'd make more sense to me what the hell is going on.

It's not just me too,was talking to my neighbour who has a Honda Phantom, starter was making the typical "click" but not engaging problem. Took it to a mechanic, bad brushes. Replaced the brushes, next day bike wont start again. Pulled the starter motor apart and the new brushes already disintegrated...

I swear, the lack of understanding and basic mechanical knowledge or know how is just mindblowing. I keep thinking "No, it can't be that bad, they can't be this incompetent..." but they just are.
SlowJoe
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Re: Rant: Basic motorcycle parts not available? Why?!

Post by SlowJoe »

SOLVED...

Machinist skimmed the cylinder when he sleeved it, but didn't put on a thicker headgasket or cut the piston to compensate, so the piston started touching the head once carbon built up... I would have done the typical clearancing but I didn't have plasticine or a plastigauge to do it with and figured the machinist would have known better...

I feel like I need to be a damn brain surgeon to keep things in good running order here...geez...

***

Also managed to find an old same model Suzuki sitting at a guy's place in pieces where I got a few rusty spokes for free. Took me an hour to get them off, but hey...free is free. Even got a free bit of rim tape out of it too.
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Re: Rant: Basic motorcycle parts not available? Why?!

Post by Freightdog »

While I was no bloody good at staying upright for sufficient periods of time doing motocross, I did become a dab hand at engine and gearbox builds, and our bikes were in pretty fine fettle.

It’s actually not that difficult. Even nikasil bores, if treated with some care*, can be run for a long time before a full cylinder swap is needed. Early ‘80s, Kawasaki we’re bringing in nikasil, but we stuck with older Suzukis for the simplicity. It would normally take a short day to strip down and rebuild for a cracked ring. Only complete destruction of a piston or rod bearing was likely to take out a cylinder. But these were two strokes.

Ah, the smell of castrol-r in the mornings.


*in a country where maintenance is a foreign word
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