I know what you mean about goverment jobs. In a matter off 2 days, on breaks I would make up a set of forward controls for my Triumph or any other bike. When I got out of the service I was 20. I kept putting in ap's to GM, but they were only hiring minorities and woman. My sister came back to Michigan from out of state and hired right in. It took me 7 years to get hired,at 27years old. I did learn a lot working at machine shops, tool and die shops, and welding shops, before I got into GM. When I got in the first thing I did was put in for skilled trades. Took all the tests and passed. One problem. All the minorities and woman got points ADDED to their scores, which meant they went to trade school before I could. GEE aint that fair. To make a long story short, I never got into the trades for the 20 years I worked for GM. Just worked on the line. When I finally got  to work on the machine floor, I quit drinking and got my first blood clot of the ten to follow over 3 years. The doc's had to turn me into a "bleeder" with all the meds, and GM said "sorry we have no job for you in your condition" SEE YA. Had to sell the family farm, all but my house and 6.66 acres. What I now call my own private he!!. Worked from the time I was 10 to get that farm. Gone!! one year after I inherited it.I planned on having the checks for the last 10 years at GM to myself, without sharing them with freind of the court. No such luck, six months is all I managed before GM threw me out. Had to sell everything to save the family house. What were you saying about the "fickle finger of fate" Greg?? I had a religeous lady ask me at GM why I never smiled. Itold her that if she had walked in my shoes for 30 years she would know."Nothing can be that bad" she said. I wrote out a list of what had went wrong in the last 3 months, divorce, mother, neighbor, and 4 close friends dying plus everything else. When she read it she just handed it back and said she would pray for my strength. I told her to multiply that three months by ten and you have my 30 years on this earth. Now I'm 56 and nothing has changed. All my aunts, uncles, sister, the whole family has the same luck. I sure wish I knew which one of my ancesters ticked off the gods and started this thing, I'd dig the idiot up and slap the crap out of him. Well I guess my Favorite aunt won't have to worry about her luck anymore, I just got the call that she passed away at noon yesterday. Got to go.

Sorry to hear it hutch. Peace and strength during this time.

What about the picture of the ST 400 that is mentioned in the Marketplace?  It's listed on eBay.  It says it is a 1999, and it is also chain drive....

I just tried something. Since these bikes seem to only exist in England, I went to the biggest parts stocking dealer for Suzuki there.It's called REDCAR MOTORCYCLES. located in the Midlands. They are suppose to be able to get hard to find parts for ANY Suzuki. I filled out a request form and told them what I need, right down  to the thickness and OD dimensions. I made sure I told them that it was the outermost spacer that goes against the sprocket and that it was splined for the trans shaft. They are suppose to e-mail me back. I will let you know what happens.

Savage_Greg wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:03:

I just thought of one more thing I could do if it comes down to it, and it would be stronger than the stack of tab washers. Guess what the thickness of a front sprocket with the splines is? You guessed it 10mm. All I have to do is cut one down to 40mm OD and I have a spacer. Just have to order another front sprocket for $15. I hope I can get the OEM spacer from UK, but the cut down sprocket sounds like the next best idea.It will probably cost more to ship the part from UK than it would to buy a new sprocket after I cut down the first one for a spacer. I'll find out when(and if) they e-mail me back from England.

smokin_blue wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:03:


Blue I can assure you that the spacer is needed.
as said before have tried this on the 650 motor with a straight edge across the 2 sprockets and they dont run true, I will try this again tomorrow as I'm waiting for bearings for the wheel, and get some pic's.

Hutch redcar m/cycles are good I get a lot of my stuff from there, got a slide &diaphram from them when I 1st got this 400 and they do list the model as does nightingales in Rugby they are on ebay.uk

allan.

Hutch wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:03:


What would happens if you made it a dual sprocket..like some of those old old bikes were?

You could put a thin spacer between the 2 sprockets for chain clearance, and then you'd just have to worry with changing the rear sprocket, OR you could mount 2 sprockets on the rear.  Make it a quick change setup.

Crazy thought, but it is a thought