Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

G.T550 Suzuki: A Very Civilized Machine Th e Suzuki 55 0 handles w ith a lighter feel than it looks; proved stone reliable , very "c1ean" and troublef ree. St y ling was busy for local tastes. by John Huerter O ne of the b igges t c h un k s of th e American automobile marke t in rec cnt yea rs has been w hat th e ad guys like to c all "p e rso nal" c ars. This is a veh icl e that is kind o f spor ty , has reasonable per for m ance , i.e., mo re than mos t owners c an usc anvhow , and is ver y comfortable. I t 's th e' kind o f c a r that is mo re than trans portation but makes no inr o ads a t all on personal c o m f o rt while a d d -o n goodies lik e handling packa ges an d wa ln u t veneer dash boards ar e d e rigeur. Th e y are just on the "sporty " side o f p lus h. You ca n probably thi nk of a h a lf d o zen fo ur -w heelers like that. N ow the J apan es e some tim e s have a little tr ouble c ap tur ing e xact ly what th e Am erican bu y in g public reall y wants, wi th some pre tt y bi z arre result s from Ori ental int erpr etati ons of Y ank ee tas te -, Remember th e H on d a D re am ? Stic k -on fake lo uvers on side co vers arc ano the r example . H o weve r, some body a t S u zu ki took a co nside re d lo ok at wh at Am eri cans h ave reall y been int o with th eir m achine ry lately , sa wall the fa ke sports cars an d Saturday n igh t racers an d b y Ne d dy Dign o , Ame ric a , you h ave the GT 550. It's a' trip le, it has raci e r styl in g th an th e 5 0 0 Titan th a t h as been Suzuki ' s midwei h t main s tay , and it has a nice b ig' disc brak e up front. It is also th e m o st civilized motor cycle for s treet ridin g tha i has come our way in quite a while. It is like th o se " p erson al" c ars: no hassle . e ffo rtless performan ce, and more po wer th an m ost owners c an reason ab ly usc. Ev erything o n it works an d ev eryth ing an in creasingly demanding bike-buying pu bli c h as come to expe ct is o n it. Th e e lectri c starter is go od for one jab , as is the kick starter when the littl e e nrich ening lever is s\\'ung to the . Le ngt h Width Heigh t Wheel Base . ... .. Ground Clearance . Weight .. . . .. . • .. Engine Type . •. . . almost open position. When the motor has warm e d its innards. one jab wi th ou t th e lev er will do. Which b ri ngs out one of the ne atest things about the GT 55 0. Yo u c a n actually re ach a ll the handlebar ins trum entation. buttons , switch es , etc. w ith out taking your hands off th e gri ps eve n with sm all to m iddlin g size han ds . T h e collectio n o f stuff is less c on fus ing th an o n a lot of similarly e qu ip p e d sco o ters and it doesn 't tak e lon g to get accustomed to new and un usu al things like turn signals th at work. a kill switch S UZU KI S PEC S 86.4" 32 .1 " _ ..........•. . . . ... . . . • ... . .. . . . .. .. ... . . ... 45 .7" . . ... . •.. ... .... ... ... . .... . . .. ... , 57.7 " .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . .. . . .. .• . . .. ...• . . . . . .•.• . . . . 5 .7 " . . .... . . . . .. . .. . .•. • ..• • • _ .. . . . . .•.. .... • . . • • 475 lb . . . . .. . . .. ....... . . . . . .. . ..•.. . . .. . . • .. ..... .• z -stroke a ir cooled 3 cylinder Bore & Stroke . • . ... . . . . .... ...... . . •. . ......... . . . .... . . .2.40" x 2.44 " D isplacement . . . . . . . .. . .. . .. . . . . . . .. . . . . .. ... . . .. ... . . . . . ..... . • 543cc Compression Rat io . . •..... . • . . ... .. . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... . . .. . .. . . • . . 6 .1 : 1 Carbureto r .. .. . . . .. • . ... .. .. •. ...... .. ...... .. ... . . .Three 28mm Mik u ni Horsepo we r (claim ed ) .. . .. ... . . . . • .. .. •.. ..... ..... . ... ., . 50hp/6500 rp m Tran smissron . .. . .. . . . • . . . . . .... . . ... . • . . . . . .. . . . ..S·speed , constant mesh Tire: F ro nt . . . . . • . . . . . .• • • • . . . . . . .. . . . .. .. . . . . .• ... . . . . . . 3.25x 19 4PR Ti re : Rear . .. . .. . .. . . .• . . . . . . . . .. . .• . . . . .• • . . . . .. . . .. . . . . 4 .00 x 18 4PR Colors ... . • .. . . .. .. . • . . . •. .. ..... . . . .... •. .. .... .....G re en , Blue , Gold F ue l Capacity _. • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 .0 ga ls. O il Capacity .. .. ... ..... . . •. •.... .. . • • .. . .. .. . . • . _ . . .•... ... . . 2 .7 t s. : ...... ' -! _ .. A street/road machi ne tha t combines polish with perfo rmance. and an audible b orn . Tach and sp e ed o are in good positi on s and easy to refe r to nigb t or d ay . Th e y b rack et th e e asy to rea ch ign it ion key . T h e seat is comforta b le a n d lon g enough t o stay th a t , .. ay wh en yo u're r pac king d o uble . It c u sh io ns the o ld gluteus ma ximus mu scl e s wi th o ut be ing obvious abou t it. Peg. se a t and h an dl eb a r s seemed to fi t abou t everybody w h o tried sitt ing o n the Su zu k] , \~i th sizes ran gin g from 5 ' 7" to 6· ~ " . Th ere w ere no re al irrita nts to rider com fo rt and co nve nienc e o n this bi ke : no pe sky kic kst artc rs che w ing a h o le in y our ca lf or that so rt of thin g.. T o c ap o ff all these wonder ful c re a tu re com fo rt s provided by the GT 55 0 o r , more accurately , basi c {O them all is a fantastically smooth engi ne . No vibr ation , no dead spots w hen accelera ting o ut an d no su rges . The first reaction of tho se who rode it, even around th e b lo c k, w as in ev itabl y , " I t sure is smoo th ." T he b ehavior o f th e th ree cy lin d e rs an d th e sus pe nsio n com b ine d to provide a very un -jer ky, un -bumpy rid e . Y ou just di al on th e throttle , snic k ing up through th e five gea rs in a c o n tinuing smoot h su rge right 0 11 out to th e to p e nd. wh er e it do esn 't wa nt to go any mo re. Th e triple , ju st did not wan t to wind o ut at high revs and seeme d m o st at h om e he tw e en 35 and 550 () R I' ~1. Ma xi m u m to rque is so me wh ere ' v·ay down in the rev ran ge (relatively) for a su p posed h igh speed stree t b ik e. I t w o uld b ar ely tu m an honest I 0 0 ~IPH an d any th ing ab ove 8~ you h ad to reach for , b ut it w a s rig ht quick u p to that speed in an unhurried, smooth . get- there-w ith-a -v... h oosh-ra therthan-a-racket w ay . Frankly , it had a nea t feeling of controlla ble p ower. T he trick thin g abou t the S uzuki 55 0 tri ple. sin ce e ve rybo d y has to h a ve distin ctive goodie o r else they'd all be be VC TY same -looking, is something called ram a ir ind uction. Wh at this ramming th ing is, is a squared-off shrou d o ve r the cy linder heads t ha t co nducts air thro ug h several doze n li lli e tapering passages an d o u t th e back. Y amaha a nd Suzuki have this same goodie p n thei r roa d race rs. an d it kin d of m a kes sense if you have a slippery fa iring on you r b ike an d th e re isn ' t to o m u ch d irect airfl ow to th e e ng ine in the first place. T he Suzuki GT 55 0 ran plenty cool e n o ugh ... as d o m os t Orein ta l m u lti s on the street"'th is year. Th e engine was n o t so smo oth dec eleratin g as it was c ru ism g or acc lc rat in g, howev er. It produced the same light sh ud d e r and balkin g as it w inds b ack d own to idle as did the i 50 water -c ooled S u zuki. N othing th at will th row you o ver the b ars, but notic eabl e . T he fro n t brake is an e xce llent grabber. l' 0 screwi n g ar ound, good fee l right to lo c k-up and s trictl y a tw o -fin ger o pe rat io n. I roni calJ y this same acco m p lished bike sr oppe r w as th e o nly ite m tha t d et racted fro m the GT 55 0's refined im a ge. II squeake d li ke a cas trate d mouse . \Vhen it wa s cold; wh en it wa s hot: wh eri put o n lightly: \.. · hen t he su cker was whire-k un ckle-squeezed, it squeaked. People in cars d id no ticed that you were stopping, howeve r. They all turned around to see what the noise was . It sure got the 5 0 0 or so pounds slo we d down nicely, though: something the rear b rake was not up to at all. The ba ck drum was weaker, with a mushier feel that we 'd like to expect on a bike with the weight , p rice an d im age. of th e 5 5 0. Des pite th e wei gh t an d b ulk. it feels light in operation aod handles like a 350 aro u n d to wn. (We ll. almos t) . C lutc h is ligh t, m aking in- town gear changes easy. Y o u d o n' t get an ach ing: arm after a ha lf-h o u r of ci ty traffic and you d o n "t miss gears. Sh ifting, with or without th e clut c h, (yo u kn ow h ow it is wh en you 've be en riding mo rocrossers a lo t) was positive wit h a giant shudder wh en kic king it in to first from ne utr al. Shi fting without th e clutch d id make the bike tw itch like somethin g w as fle xi ng, Our guess w as th e sw ing arm. Use the c1u tch and v ou don't notice i t so mu ch ex cept the big c h u n k into first at a stoplight. Overall handling w as very pre dictab le with some w obbl e wh en co rnering a t h igh s pee d s ; b oth on an d off fr eeway -type su rfaces . I t didn't get ou t o f hand Or feel particularly sc ary , so y ou just w o b b le through the high speed co m ers. The biggest res tric tio n to the handling w as the gro u nd clearance. T here w asn 't h ar dl y any of it. T he m ost " li ttle o ld lady " road ri d e r on the sta ff

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