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I am happy with how it has turned out so far. But my desire to make more changes is still there and there will be a big change sooner or later.
BHPian Abhijyth.KA recently shared this with others who are interested.
Time to update the thread as it’s been a while!
One of the reasons I got the matching tank cover made with the seat is that I felt there was something “missing” about the aesthetic. Yes, it was those stickers on the tank and side panels that are a style disaster combined with the dirty coffee seats. I knew all that, but I kept them anyway. That is, until now.
I got to work right away. I sat down one evening with my blowdryer in hand and slowly removed the stickers. It’s a straightforward job, but it can take some time if your stickers are very old and worn out. Just put the dryer on high heat, point it at the corner, hold it, then slowly remove the sticker, heating the sticker every time it starts to become aggressive. And this was the result.
The bare tank moves better with the classic look I’m going for. It had kept the side panels removed for a while as the seat bushings had disappeared into thin air and the seat caused damage to the panels.
This is how I have ridden my bike for a while since then. Including during my trip to Pondicherry with my friend. (I already opened the thread, but I’ll update some details about that soon. Now let’s look at some of the beauty things I’ve done since then.)
After that, I thought it was time for a change. So I went and bought myself a rubber band kit that comes in a neat little package and got to work with it. Bratty Biker’s YouTube video was similarly very helpful, so I thought it deserved a mention!
But I thought, why not go all the way and do a little cleaning? That’s what I did. The seat is removed (Very easy process. Two bolts at the back and they slide easily after loosening it from the space on the chassis in the front near the tank).
After that, I removed the tank again. Again, it’s very simple. First disassemble it by removing the fuel pipe that connects the petcock of the fuel tank to the fuel filter, then undo the two bolts behind the tank to the seat, and it will be right up. It is held in place and covered by two rubber wheels on the sides of the chassis. The same wheels should be used to hold the wires as well.
After removing the seat and tank, here’s what we’re left with:
I gave the main, “rolling chassis with engine and gear” a good wipe down with a cloth. Do the same for the tank. I decided to remove the tank cover, just to satisfy my desire for a cosmetic change. Safely stored for future use (Especially when travelling).
You can also notice in the pic that the side box is missing the nice rear display. Unfortunately it seems to have gone down without me noticing during the ride. That’s a bad point for box quality for sure. And I don’t think it’s possible to get a display on your own. So I’m going to use the technique here and I’ll do an update on that later.
I went back to the chair. Replaced all rubber parts with new ones. Also the front part that holds the slot tab and the back part that holds the bracket used to bolt the seat has rubber underneath and requires two bolts to be removed before the rubber can be put back on.
Seat before changing the rubber. Note that the two front bushes are completely missing. This causes the seat to sag and move, breaking the ABS plastic panels in the process. This is a common problem and can be fixed by gluing the rubber bushings with feviquik, so that they do not fall off and wear out.
The old AX 100 was less affected by this issue because it had metal panels. I think that is the “price” to reduce costs in the case of the Max 100. On other Suzukis such as the Samurai, Shogun, and Shaolin, the issue is compounded because the tail panels now come into the picture. That is why we find many surviving examples of these bikes with broken and misaligned tail panels. It’s a sad sight, as I personally feel that the design is retro 90s and looks great in good shape. It also applies to the Supra, and it’s more of an issue because a good one-piece tail panel is hard to come by and most of the time, needs to be fabricated to fit the rest.
Next, comes the wiring. Remember how I said the two rubber wheels that hold the tank in place should also grip and align the wires? Apparently not in the case of my bike. The wiring is a big problem as you can see in the picture and it was impossible for me to move them, risking causing any issues with it, so I decided to leave it as it is now, and deal with it. when i finally get around to doing a full restore.
I put the tank in the back without the tank cover, connected the fuel lines, then put the seat in the back. It’s going to look great.
The next step was the side panels. I had kept them for a while, so I took them, and did the jugaad job of getting them back. When the side panels are in perfect alignment, they just snap into place with a single bolt. The same applies to the AX 100 and Supra. Samurai, Shogun, and Shaolin had a different style of side panel and used a more convenient key lock on the panels.
On my side panels, they broke in several sections, so I sealed the cracks with glue, made a hole in the inner fold, and used wire to hold it in place, in addition to the bolts. To many, all of this will seem unnecessary, but there is a reason for that.
I know they are cheap and easy to find, but the old ones can still be used until I go for a full upgrade like I said. I plan to do some interesting things and side panels in the future. They are holding up very well for now and will be used until then.
Finally, I removed the café racer cross from the lamp. I got bored of it and decided now that the bike looks better and better, let’s improve the content and make it easier to look at. And this was the result of all this:
I am happy with how it has turned out so far. But my desire to make more changes is still there and there will be big changes sooner or later, so stay tuned!
Read BHPian comments for more information and knowledge.
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