Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/141046
.ci ., u. ~ w Z w -' o >- o ou ee • THE SUZUKI GT· 250 Stoppi ng is excellent , but t op speed is only about 85. by Art Friedman It was the o rigin al pistol. A 250cc weapon cap ab le of ma kin g itself fe lt by whatever came up against it . Six seco nd o to 60 times, wheelies in th ree gea rs, explosive. acce leration . When you thin k you've seen it all, shift into sixth. It was th at kind of bike ; very intense. No three Iif ty co uld match it, and even 5 00 's lived in fear. It was yea rs before any 25 0 dared cr oss its path. It was the X-6 Hustler , Suzuki's pr oof tha t : th er e was in dee d a substitute for cu bic in ch es. 'I' h e X -6 w as a fly -we i gh t firebreath er, a ma ch ine br ed with p erformance taking precedence o ver an ything. Which ma ke s its descendant, th e su bject of th is te st, something o f a surp rise. The GT-25 0 b ears only a vague o u tward resemblance to th e X-6. Compared to it s p ro geni t or. the GT ·250 is a s iss y. N o t ir e -smok in g , wh eel-standing, hair y-ch est ed antics for thi s kid. No way. It ma y be a slug , but it's a refined sJug. "You go ah ead and smoke th e fel las, Mom, I think I' ll just kind of relax an d take a nice quiet ride." This mild mannered little dear seems to believe that a 250 should stay in its p lace an d not go creating a row. Oh sure, it can be fun to ride around town, bu t it should b e quiet and docile . . Ha ndling an d stoppi ng well is a good idea, but it should be kin d of gentle to ride and, you know, comfor table. And we ll, gee , it should n 't be a show-off. The radical differe nce in the Suzuki Hustler fa mily can't be traced to the ir engines. T he tw o un its loo k abo ut th e same . T his year the GT-250 has received the same " Ram-Air Coolin g" shroud that is fou nd on th e lar ger Suzy stree t bik es. In all other wa ys , ho wever , it loo ks like last year's 2 5 0. It is st ill co up led t o the six-spe ed gear box wh ich seems rather st ra nge becaus e of th e change in performan ce characteristics. The performan ce de crease has its ori gin in the ca rb ure to rs. The throttle slides have been len gth ened slightly an d n ow don't pull all th e way ou t of th e venturi. In other words , the th ro ttle doesn't op en all the way. Th e 26 millimeter Mikunis ar e e ffe cti vely made abou t 2 0m m I\likunis, and engine performan ce goes away . T he GT · 250 is redlin ed at eight grand , bu t it wo n 't pull ahove 6,800. In th e higher gea rs it won' t pull above 6,000 RPM . Claimed maximu m h orsepo wer is 31 a t 7000 RPM . T he engine has a governor an d doesn 't put out the p onies th at lu rk inside . Othe r things limi t the S uzu ki 250 's pe rforman ce as we ll. I t has gai ned weight. The co nversion from T250R Hustler to GT-250 mild man ner ed street bik e has pu t on 20 pounds. It isn't that mu ch , but co m b ined with th e loss of horsep ow er it has a way Of making itself felt. When yo u fir st see the mach in e yo u realize wh er e the weight co mes from. " That is a big bik e for a 25 0 !" said one _handy if you are the la zy or forgetful type and wish to avo id flooding you r crankcases. Despite su i t s t o u rin g -li k e accouterme nts, th e GT-250 is n o t a to uring mach in e. It does n't h ave the necessary beans to go ru shin g aro und a car in a high-speed pass situation . Howeve r, it is at ho me enou gh on the freeway to provide th e co mm u ter with daily transportation. staffer at first glan ce. M ore size me ans m ore weigh t. It co me s in the fo rm o f a bigger seat. more gas capaci ty I the ram-air sh ro ud, bigger instruments, better brakes , in sh ort a more pleasant machin e is wh at th e changes in th e GT .25 0 Hu stler (it bears th e sam e nam e) are allabout, E verybody's doing it. Suddenly performan ce doesn't really matter and most of the bikes comin g out o f Japan are down on performance and up on pleasantn ess. Su zuki has go ne farthe r in this direction than most anybody . It is co mfo rt ab le. The long, wide seat is properly stuffed and gives y o u and your pillion pal no cause to dislike it. The bars were we ll-placed, b ut the grips were a tad sm all and m ade of the same h ard rubber as m ost Jap an ese grips. The non -fo ldi ng footpegs fits us all, but our ta llest (6 '2") staffe r found th at the position forc ed him to ke ep s light p ressure o n the bra ke pedal a t all tim es. T here was so me vibration, but it wasn't inte nse eno ugh to fat igue . Like all Suzuki's stree t bikes it wa s quiet eno ugh that y o u co uld wind it ou t in a h ospita l z o n e w ith ou t b ei n g conspicuo us. Fend er pro tec tion was e x c e l l e n t , s om ethin g w e w er e p articu larl y ap p reciat ive of during Sou the rn Calif orni a's recent mon so on s. Tb e gas tank ' h olds a health y 3.9 gallo ns withou t be in g obnoxious abou t It. We found th a t it . held 3.9 ga llo ns wh en d ry at th e sa me tim e th at we di scovered that it would go o nly eig ht mil es o n reserv e . It wen t be tween 3 0 and 4 0 mil es o n a gallo n of gas and ca n manage 140 mile s b efo re you have to fin d a gas station. T he vacu u m ty pe pet co ck (pio nee red by Su zuki] is very The GT-250 is an ideal aro und town mach ine . It will serve the daily rider in other ways, One kick alwa ys brought it to life, and it was p repared to set off im mediately with n o fur ther fuss about wa rm -up. It never fouled a plu g or even th ou gh t about It . Nothi ng caused it to stop ru nn in g. I t used almost no o il a t all. In fact, the o il tank stayed full for so long that we b egan to wonder if th e line might b e plugged . T he fa ct th at, for all intents and purposes, it didn't