The T20: My fixer-upper and Side Project

While my dad and Preston work on getting our DRs ready for our transcontinental ride I have picked up a side project to keep me busy and further my knowledge in bike mechanics and maintenance.

The 1968 T20 Hustler the day we picked it up from a crack head in Wasilla (not too bad for $175)

My dad is obsessed with craigslist and as a unique ability to find amazing deals on broken vehicles. Even from 3500 miles away he was able to find an ad listing the bike seen above. There was no picture, and the seller had listed the bike as a T50 (which wasn't a thing in 1968 or ever). He suggested that I go check out the bike originally listed as $275, because it could be a great find. I contacted the seller and he told me it was his son bike originally. When he moved to California the bike was just put into his shed as a complete running bike until three years ago. According to the seller the shed was broken into and a kid was chased away after stealing several parts off of the bike. He believed he was going for the carburetors to sell to a pawn shop. I decided the bike was worth going to check out, and worse case we would have wasted two hours driving out to Wasilla to look at a piece of junk. So the next day I took a ride out to see the T20 with my coworker and good friend Bryan. As we were getting close to the address provided Bryan asked if "I was driving him out into the middle of nowhere to murder him". We then pulled up to the sellers dilapidated trailer, which appeared to be falling apart. I honestly don't know how some people survive the winters up here in their rundown trailers and cabins.

The 247cc Suzuki T20, know as the T20 Hustler in America was the first bike with a separate oil tank to automatically supply the bike with fresh two stroke oil. It was also the first mass production bikes with a 6 speed transmission. This kept the T20 rider from having to premix two-stroke oil and gasoline, as well allowed the smaller two stroke bike to easily keep up with its bigger competitors.

After our inspection the bike seemed to be in pretty good shape considering the condition of the property and the shed it was supposedly kept in. It was missing a few parts: a gas cap, Air filter box ($400+ on Ebay :/), battery, oil tank, side cover, and tail light. But overall the bones of the bike seemed to be in pretty condition with minimal rust and the chrome parts were very clean. We had previously done some research on Ebay and found that worse case scenario we could sell the headlight and virtually make our money back on the project, and luckily the missing parts were some of the cheapest available on Ebay. Because we could not even try to start it due to missing parts and we had no idea what the inside of the transmission would look like, it was 100% a gamble. So we offered the guy $150 cash to take it off of his hands thinking he would counter with $250, however he said how about $175. We both looked at each other and immediately accepted his offer. The best and funniest part of the trip was due to bikes in the 60's being smaller than their modern counterparts we were able to easily pick it up and put it in the trunk of my car with the back seats folded down. A feat the would be impossible with a modern bike's weigh and size. That night we were able to completely strip the bike and peek at the transmission to see if it was going to be a complicated project or a quick fix pending finding the few missing parts. Lucky we cracked the case and everything transmission wise looks like near pristine condition.

What it should look like when it is done.

The goal of the rebuild it to make it look as nice as possible with spending as little money as possible. So most of the work will be cleaning the inside of the engine and polishing the cases and chrome parts. From there it should just be a little bit of paint, as well as new rings and pistons to get the bike looking pretty close (about 90%) to original condition. I will post an update of the restoration after some progress is made.

Here is an Example of what the bike should look like after the restoration is complete.

We will see though, projects always end up costing more than expected when they involve an engine. Hopefully we can return it to running condition and clean it up for around $500.