cmm
Marketplace
Seminal
Suzi
The GS750 spearheaded an
amazing family of four-strokesfrom Suzuki–but what is its
standing in themarketplace?WORDS:PAUL JAYSON, PIP HIGHAM
PICS:MORTONS ARCHIVE, PIP HIGHAML
aunched at the endof1976, in
the US, whilethe UK was
wonderingwhy th at summerhad
been so hot (hindsight isawonderf ul
thing), the GS750markedahistoric
turn forSuzuki.
Prior to its launch,Suzuk ihad nearl ybankrupted
itselfwith th eRotary-enginedRE5 and had offered a
great stable of two-strokes from50cc to 750cc.The
UK Suzuki sales brochure had the two-stroke sniffers
in astate of constantarousalwit hthe AP50,
GT125,GT250, GT380, GT550and GT750.There
was notafour-stroke tobe found in the world of
Suzuki andthey had to put somereal effort into
their new direction oflarge capacity four-strokes.
They wanted to sell lots of motorcyclesand they
planned on creating the fastest andbesthandling
750cc machine available.
Suzuki hadinvestedalot of time,money,and trial
and error in racingand hadlearnedabit about
chassis developmentand designingbrakes that
actually worked. Theirfour-stroke motorhad been
designed asashort -stroke, high-revving 748cc
lump, which created heat dispersal problems. But
Suzuki overcame such problems and also used their
racing know-how tomake achassi sthat actually
could cope withtheir 63bhp, three-quarter litre,
which offered great handling. The first ye ar of
production onlyhad asingle front disc and spoked
wheels.Late rversions came withtwin front discs,
which meantthey stopped very wellindeed. They
also came with mag wheels, whichIpersonally don’t
like as much as the spoked items, butyoucan’t
have it all and it’sjust down to personal taste.
The GS750 was launchedint he US in October
1976 andthePressreceivedit very warmly.One
motorcycle magazine evenpitche ditagainst a
Kawasaki KZ1000 andthe little Suzuki punched
well above itsweightand earnedplaudits for being a
great all-round motorcycle, which translated into
customers. Honda lostalot of CB750 sales to the
new GS750and its reputation grewfrom there.
With horizontallysplitcrankcasesand hefty
crankshaftsthat went on to power drag racers,dueto their indestructability,and agearbox that just
would notbreak. In fact, legend hasit that John
BrittenusedSuzuki gearbox componentsinh is
1000ccV-twins,because they wereknowntobe
so wellover-engineered.
The GS750 announced the arrival of Suzuki as
one ofthebig four Japanesemotorcycle
producers. Thencame theGS1000 andwith it
came PopsYoshimura and more racing success.
Suzuki hadmade some great movesbetween
1975 and the early 1980s, which translated into
racing success, motorcyclesales and therespect
of thebuyingpublic. The company was very
vulnerable,but the choice tobuil dareliable
four-stroke,large capacity motorcycle paid off.
Theirdedication andcommitment tocreate the
fastest and best handling750ccmachine bore
fruit andplaced them inagreat position to
attract theright people towork with them at the
right time. Suzuki’spositio nint he world
motorcyclemarket wasprecariousbefore the GS
and this machine was the catalystrequired for
the change that transformedthem intoserious
players. They wanted tosell lot sofmotorcycles
and theGS madethat happen for them.
The wheelbase is long, liketheGS1000, so you
have todropyour shoulder togetitt ogoround
corners. It’shigh-revvingand the torqueproduced
is smooth.It’sagreat bike andyoucould
commute all day long on thisbiketoday .Bymodern
standards, the saddle is large and comfortable,so
you could happily ride across continents on it.The
motorpulls well and starts to really spinataroundBuyNow
8 / classic motorcyclemechanics