Flogged it Friday! Suzuki GSX-R600 SRAD carbs.
‘It’ll need the carbs cleaning…’
This is fast becoming one of those over used expressions within the world of advertising an old motorbike for sale.
Modern fuel, and bikes that are not properly stored for long lengths of time, will end up with this cliché line appearing in any attempt to take it to market. Prices for old sets of carbs can sometimes be the deciding factor between an old bike getting a new lease of life or ending up on the scrap heap.
It’s not just the devil that is ‘supply and demand’ at work here, but also the cost of buying new internals for any carbs that need servicing. I recently bought a FZR1000 EXUP, the seller had spent over £250 on new parts to rebuild the bank of Mikuni carbies! Thankfully, he knew what he was doing so at least his labour was free.
‘Where do broken carbs go?’
I have lost count of the times that I went to throw away this set of manky GSX-R600 carbs, but my DNA kept stopping me from actually sending them to the scrap metal bin.
If you have tinkered with a typical Japanese multi, you know just how compact a set of carbs are. If you try working on them without removing them from the bike it will usually end in tears. Bits will be lost, or things like the plastic carb tops can easily get broken and yes, I speak from experience. So, I decided to raid this set for parts!
‘Did you sell any parts then?’
Yes! First to get snapped up was the 4 diaphragms for £25. Next up was the fragile plastic carb tops and four of those netted me another £25. Then, a mixed bag of ‘stuff’ from them made another £25! I had expected the main carb bare bodies to have sold first, yet they are still homeless. If they hang around too long I’ll dismantle the rail into individual bodies.
If they sell I should recoup £100, not a bad return on something that I was considering chucking away.
These small bikes are demanding big prices!
Article provided by Scottie Redmond
