That's as Old as a TS185 gets!
1971 Model,,,the 1st year it was introduced
Suzuki made a Huge number of those bikes(where they all went,,beats me),
But they were great bikes in their day,,,fast,reliable,good handling.
It was a Different world back then,,,,TS's weren't "motocross bikes",,,they were "Enduros".
What was was called "Trail Bike" just a few years before .
They were tons of fun in the woods,,anywhere off-road,,,and surprisingly good "street bikes".
All 175~200cc class bikes were extra cool becuase most were like Overpowered 125's.
They came to be considered "oddballs",,,an in-between size bike,,,,and people eventually came to "skip" directlty from 100~125's to 250's or larger.
That foolish stunt of consumer mkt demand lasted almost 2 generations,,,,look around today and in recent years almost all the mfgrs have gone Back "Big 125's/Little 250's" with their 150~180~200~225~230cc size bikes.
To me that confirms what a great niche the 175class bikes were all along.
And in it's day,,the TS185 was 'bout good as any of it's competition.
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The Serial Number is actually written as
TS185-18079
TS=Model Family/Style
185=engine size
The -18079,,,,was an actual count of the bikes' sequence off the assembly line.
The very 1st one was TS185-10001
2nd one was -10002,,,and so on
Yours is #8,079th
The 1st year of production is known to be '71.
The Seriall Portion of the ID number began with 1xxxx.
So we KNOW that any 5 Digit Serial Number beginning with 1 ,,,Must be a 1st Year model,,,1971
The 2nd Year,,,began with a 2,
# 24292 actually
Suzuki runs their numbers until next Year Model begins.
Starting from the beginning,,,at 10001 in '71.
The LAST 1971 would have been #24291,
Then the Next bike was a "72,,# 24292
The '72 Numbers rose as bikes were produced,,
until the 1st '73 was #52592
1st '74 was # 84xxx
And so on and so on.
They had several changes in the serial number
'77 changed to TS1852-
and started back again from -10001
The "2" added to "TS185" is what distinguishes Pre/Post '77 models
And its how we know your TS185-1xxxx is a '71
and Not a TS1852-1xxxx '77
TS1852-ran till '81 when Suzuki adopted an OPTIONAL Version of the ISO'79~'80 VIN Number Standards,,,,
and everything was encoded in a "17 character" VIN number TYPE of format.
It was less than 17 numbers though
'81's began with VIN # JS1SG11A B xxxxxx
Their Engine numbers maintained the Old style "TS1852-"
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Many of the parts among All TS125's and TS185's are interchangeable---but Not All.
The bikes went thru some updates/variations,,,,extensive enough to become an actual "New Model Type"
'71,'72,'73 are "all the same",,,Model Code 290
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You can contact any Suzuki Dealer and they should be able to confirm that Yours is a 1971----1st Year of TS185's.