Some background

Who knows how long this blog will exist for! I don't have the foggiest idea.

The Kettle in question is a Suzuki GT750A. First registered in April 1977. 

Some background. Sit down. This might ramble on.

I bought it in 1984 from the bike shop in Hanwell near Brentford in West London. It came with some paperwork that showed it had had some engine work done. Allegedly the crankshaft oil seals had been replaced etc.

I had other bikes as well. For a while  around this time I had a "Plain Jane" GL1000, and a  GSX1000SZ Katana.

So it was a complete surprise when riding home from work a couple of years later that the crankshaft oil seals went phut

By then we were moving from Weybridge in Surrey to Newington in Kent. I obtained an exchange crank from Robinson's then in Broadstairs.

A local guy in Gillingham was recommended to handle the engine rebuild. 

At this stage the cylinder barrel to use in the rebuild was one that I had bought off a fellow member of the SOC committee, Dave G. 

As I had had Craven Panniers on my GS1000G I wanted to use them on the GT as well.

Getting them on the GS1000 required a ride down to the Forest of Dean where they seem to have relocated from West London. The existing rack was mated to some pannier rails and the hooks fitted to hang the panniers on. What makes my Comets a little different was the QD kit on the back.

By the time I wanted them on the Kettle,  GS was long gone. But I had kept the panniers. 

I had some original exhausts but they were in poor condition. I bought some Swarbrick expansion chambers and these proved a bastard to set up. And kept cracking. The stingers falling off and constantly needing re-brazing.

Red tank and Swarbrick exhausts

Also at this point a few changes were made. A spare tank was painted in Ford XR3 orange red, another mistake! I still have the red painted fuel flap. I might put it on for a laugh. 

The pipes were later traded to Dave G in exchange for standard exhausts. These are still in use now. They are a little tatty but I don't have the budget to replace them.

The GS rack was very rusty and went to the tip. Sadly I didn't keep the pannier rails and the QD plates... 

Until around five years ago it had been used regularly as a second bike except for a couple of years when it was my only bike.

In the summer of 1992 I rode to Wisbech in Cambridgeshire to have a trailer hitch fitted.

In hindsight I should maybe have bought a cheap four-stroke and left the Kettle tucked up in the garage with electricity and a trickle charger!

I should also have fitted a new rack to at least use the Givi topbox. 

Between us we had two large Givi topboxes and shared a pair of the smaller Givis we used as panniers. 

I had been made redundant in late 1991. In early 1992 I sold my Suzuki Cavalcade and after attending the 1992 Czech Invader Rally I had to sell the DR800SL.

In between selling the other bikes I did a CTEFLA course and with IBM DOS mainframe computer jobs rarer than hen's teeth, I was looking at a new career as an English teacher.

Once qualified my partner, Audrey, and I went to Brno in our Fiat Panda over the Easter holidays. The lady in the British Council office was pretty encouraging at me finding a teaching job in a school. Post Velvet Revolution, English was becoming more popular.

I applied for jobs all over Europe. I did a two week course for French kids in Bletchley to get an idea of the task to come.

In mid July 1992 with the trailer loaded with books at the front and clothes at the back and Swagman panniers fitted we set off across Europe.

Accompanied by Audrey on her own bike, a 1988 Yamaha XJ900F, we set off for Zastávka u Brna and my home for the next year or so. She had the full Givi set fitted. 

I had a job at the Gymnázium T G Masaryka (http://www.zastavka.cz/skolstvi/gymnazium-t-g-masaryka.html) to teach English within a team of four. The three others were locals, Helena, Eva and Hana. 

Oddly when I was over in May on the DR I couldn't find the school. No Google Maps back then!!!

The route was to the Dover/Calais ferry and then via Liège where we stayed in a budget hotel alongside the motorway, Rotenburg an der Fulda, where we stayed in the youth hostel above the fire station, Bad Schandau on the Elbe River in a faded old hotel and finally to Zastávka.

Rotenburg Youth Hostel

It was going to be about around 850 miles. Once used to the trailer it was easy to forget it was there. When I had ridden over two months before on the DR I had used the same sort of A4 route via Dresden and had done it in one hit.... 

There was a problem though....

I had lights, a requirement for bikes in Europe, or indicators, not both. With the trailer electrics unplugged there was no problem. 

With the trailer connected there were two extra rear lights and two extra indicators. It seemed the extra load wasn't being covered by the bike's charging system. 

In daylight I had to disconnect the trailer. No one seemed to notice. Audrey followed behind in any case. 

Until school start time and my flat being available we stayed in the "youth house" before  final few days in Slovakia and Austria. Audrey and I parted company near Vienna. I rode north to Czech and work. And she rode solo back to Bedfordshire. 

Winter comes earlier than in UK and so by October it was stashed away in a colleague's garage. To keep the battery alive my Czech buddy Ivan bought me a trickle charger. I still have it somewhere. A shame my garage of the last 18 years has no power... 

I made a few trips to Austria to buy English newspapers and with no trailer all was mostly fine. 

The battery never seemed at full power. When friends Tony and Heather Young and their twins Helen and David came to visit for a week, we had one trip down to a Suzuki dealers near Wolkersdorf to buy a new Varta battery. It was a little pricey and came dry with acid in small tubes. One for each cell. Tony sorted that for me. 

Amazingly, the dealer us still there,  Zweirad Hubeny.

With winter approaching I had one last long weekend to Vienna's Schwechat Airport to collect Audrey for a half term visit. She flew in with Lauda Air. 

After I took her back the bike went back into the garage and on the trickle charger. 

On charge in the garage.

It wasn't until February and late as it was before we got out again. This time it started easily and smoked out the neighbourhood. 

I took in Brno Lake. It was frozen over. 

Frozen!!!

Once it was in regular use I found the battery still not 100% charging on the move. I checked the connectors under the left side panel and found one of the "male" pins in the regulator / rectifier connector was bent and not engaging in the "female" side of the block. Carefully straightened out and refitted. Problem over. Until 1999!

What amazes me nowadays is that I never really contemplated the bike failing me and breaking down. 

During the rest of 1993 until I left for home in late July I travelled all over Czech and into Austria at weekends. 

To České Budějovice and České Krumlov. Quite often to Austria either through Mikulov or Znojmo. 

Also a longer trip along the Danube from Vienna to Melk. I did this one twice. Solo and once with Audrey. 

Melk Jugendherberge.

And the big one to the Wasserbüffel Club Treffen at Schloss Moosham. See separate post. 

NB: In all the pix above the bike is fitted with a base colour silver tank with no pinstriping. The Maui blue tank was tucked away safely in the garage at home. With a magnetic tank bag I didn't want it scratched or chipped.