The South Dakota Craigslist GTO has arrived!

[Tom Meadows]

The good news is the 1971 South Dakota Craigslist bike arrived today as you can see in the images.  All in all a very good buy as I bought it principally because it had the correct pipes on it, and what looked to be a decent recovered seat.  Between it and the other GTO I bought out of Colorado last  month I now have enough parts to put together a pretty decent bike.

The bad news is that for reasons totally unknown to me, the bike was shipped with loose exhaust pipes, which wouldn't have been a problem except for the shipper used ty-downs to hold the pipes on  the bike, which destroyed the upholstery on a fairly clean seat that I had hoped to use for a  bit. That and the left header and retaining nut fell off somewhere on the road trip.

The true humor is that I had hoped for tools in the tool kit, which didn't happen, and I REALLY wanted one with an ignition key which didn't happen either. So what's the funny bit here? The ignition in the this blue bike uses key number 101 which is unavailable, and is the exact same key number as my red bike. So now I have two GTO's without keys, both needing the exact same key.

 P.S.  There is key number 102 on e-bay right now, so close and yet so far away...

All of this is normal in the restoration world and I am really very happy to have these bikes and I am looking forward to having a GTO on the road in about three weeks. Probably.

[moonpup]

Hi Tom... got any updates for us on your "Grabber Blue" GTO? 

[rwgibbon]

Please post updates as you do the restoration.

Enjoy the adventure.

Randy

[OldSwartout]

The ignition in the this blue bike uses key number 101 which is unavailable, and is the exact same key number as my red bike. So now I have two GTO's without keys, both needing the exact same key.

If you can find a blank key, my 350 uses a 101 key. Occasionally, I have seen blanks on ebay, but none recently. Check with Richard to see if he has any blanks. With a blank, mine could be duplicated. I looked at the local Ace Hardware, we couldn't find any blanks that would work.  Interestingly, they had blank listings for the Homer, Sport 50 and 60, but none of the larger BS bikes.

[Tom Meadows]

Karl, 

That is good news indeed! I'll try to find a blank through Richard as all other sources have failed. I'll be in touch.

Thanks,

Tom

[OldSwartout]

To aid in your search, here are some photos.  You can probably modify a hardware store blank.  When I looked at the local Ace Hardware, there were some that looked close, but the problem seemed to be the width of the groove.

A locksmith may have a wider selection of blanks than a hardware store.

[OldSwartout]

What's strange is that Service Letter 0014 shows the 175/200/350 keys being in the range of 721-734 and does not even show any 100 series keys for anything.  It was issued in 1969, my 350 was one of the earlier ones built in 1967, long before that service letter.

[moonpup]

Karl, I believe the replacement switches that were stocked in the parts dept. had the 100 series keys, I guess to separate them from the ones that came on the bikes from Japan.

All the nos switches that I've run across came with the 100's.

It looks like this switch just listed on eBay might have a 101 key....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BRIDGESTONE-NOS-MAIN-SWITCH-ASSEMBLY-175-200-8601-8000-OM12-/361451994676?hash=item542837be34:g:N54AAOSwk1JWdFoL

[slawsonb]

I think my GTR had an original 102 key...'67 build like Karl's.
...bert

[OldSwartout]

Karl, I believe the replacement switches that were stocked in the parts dept. had the 100 series keys, I guess to separate them from the ones that came on the bikes from Japan.

That would explain the 100 series missing from the service letter.

I don't remember ever replacing mine, but then there are a lot of things I did in the last 50 years I don't remember, so I probably did.  

[slawsonb]

To add even more uncertainty to this discussion. Moonpup has advised me that mine could have been replaced therefore the 100 series key. Truthfully, I do not know if the previous owner replaced the key/switch. So, not sure my previous post added anything to the quest for truth.
...bert

[moonpup]

My “theory” for 100 vs. 700 series switches/keys comes mainly from personal observation. I’ve bought approximately 10 nos switches for both 350’s & 175’s and all were 100 series keyed. At the same time, I’ve bought 4 complete 350’s and all of those were 700 series.

Perhaps Bridgestone needing replacement switches for both the 350’s & 175’s (very similar switch btw, just different number of wires) thought that instead of having to provide 13 or more different number combinations to match the originals, felt it would be easier and obviously less costly to maybe cut that number in half and go with just a handful of a newly numbered series that didn't match any other existing series, say 101 –107 (?) to keep in stock for use as replacements.

[Tom Meadows]

Special thanks to Moonpup and Karl for the research!

I just bought the 200 ignition switch off ebay so now I have two #101 keys and three ignition switch bodies to work with. My two GTO's were made in December of 1970 and March of 1971 and both had 101 keys.

I'll continue to work on sourcing blanks and when the 200 switch arrives I'll see if the connections are the same on the back for the 350 switches.

Thanks again,


Tom

[Bridgestoneboy]

What is so special about the keys? I know in the past I had sold a Bridgestone that was beyond restoration and all I kept getting asked was if I had the keys. Are they hard to find?

[moonpup]

Short answer... Depends on what # you need.

Certain numbers are currently hard to find, while others are getting there.

[Jeff Bar]

richard has most keys jeff bar