Monday, March 25, 2013

The Mystery of the Low Pipe Stinger

The Suzuki Stinger was produced in two sizes, we got the 125s on this continent and they kept the 90cc version (named the Wolf) for the home market and possibly other markets. The two bikes shared the same zippy scrambler styling and it appeared they shared the same two tank styles and they came in 3 colours. Ok, for a low-selling short-production motorcycle like that, that's all there was to know, right?
 Until the internet. One day back in probably the late 90s, a used bike website in NZ showed a picture of a T90 Wolf for sale, old style tank... and low pipes??!


A quick check with my Suzuki friends all came back, "No such thing!" Must be a homemade bodge-job, maybe Yamaha Twinjet pipes... I saved the image and waited.
Some years later- back in the heyday of Ebay, a listing from somewhere in Scandinavia advertised what they said were Stinger mufflers. 

Once again a check with friends produced the opinion, not stock, they never came like that. Nothing in the parts book either. More online research- remember, this was still back in the somewhat early days of the internet- produced nothing.
 Then in 2008 once again on ebay, someone was selling some older French newspaper-format magazines- and there was the low pipe Stinger. Unfortunately it was a general small-displacement Suzuki article with no mention of the rarity of the pipes at all.

 So. It appears that there really was a low pipe version of the Stinger (or Wolf).
 But at this point it's like the Yeti or Loch Ness Monster- some tantalizing evidence, some blurry pictures...but someone better produce the actual critter!
2019 update (found online...)

9 comments:

Unknown said...

I owned a brand new low pipe Suzuki T90 wolf in gold colour in New Zealand.Rode it to school for 3 years.

Mister G said...

Do you have pictures? I'll add them to the post!

Peter said...

I am restoring one now very rare in Aus but they were quite common in NZ in the 70s
From what I can gather same as a stinger except 90cc bore and low pipes and wolf decal on tank

Dances With Poultry said...

I have low pipe and high pipes for my Stinger and my Wolf. I have 2 T125s and a T90. I've seen low pipe versions of both here in New Zealand.

Mister G said...

Thanks for the reply. These must have been New Zealand-only bikes.Can you send pictures?

Anonymous said...

The low pipe version T90 & T125 was available in Japan, NZ & Europe. All the low pipe ones I know [ I have a late '71 T90] are late '71 & those sold into 1972 but production ended late '71. They were either running out of high pipes or were trying to make them look contemporary as the scrambler look was out of fashion by early '70's.
So not so rare, except maybe for the European assembled ones which can have a bigger headlamp, lower handle bar plus chrome air box.
Cheers
Tom in New Zealand.

Mister G said...

Can you send some pictures?

Howard Suzuki said...

I own a genuine UK Import T90 with the low swept pipes as well as several T125's. I also know of genuine 125cc low pipes, so can confirm they did exist here in the UK. I'm currently restoring my T90 to concours condition. Happy to post any pics anyone might want if I can help (and if I can figure out how to upload them...)

Best Regards,

Howard

UNITED KINGDOM

Mister G said...

Thanks for your comments. Love to get info on these lovely bikes. You can send pictures to me at gerald@vanwyngaarden.ca
Thanks!