Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

to go bble up the miles, then we' d pick a n other mount. Do n ' t take the above wron g; thou gh. We found the bike ' a nice package and put some fun m iles on it. Trying to give th e bike a split personality is basically th e biggest problem of the GS650G. We had ridden a 1981 model and accepted the 1982 as a chance to' see if there were any noticeable changes. Other th a n the fact that the 1981 model had over 15,000 miles on it and the 1982 was fresh o u t of the crate, there was actually little difference. Suzuki crea ted a good model to beg in with a nd di d not elect to make any major changes. The G model and its brother, the chain dr ive E model , were in troduced into Suzuki's product line las t year. For 1982, the G was refin ed with numerous little changes, mostly COS O' metic, to mak e the package even more presentable. Redesig n ed magtype wheels , n ew colors, chro me p la ted turn signals , an integral he adli ght/ tu rn signal switch, a ne w fuel gau ge and a rep ositioning of th e choke wer e amon g the ch a nges. The front fork o n th e GS6 50G is air ad justable. We fou n d th e factory setting - 7 lbs. - was a bit soft and we opted to increase the air pressure to 11 lbs . The change made th e handling feel m uch better. We found it is best to ch eck th e pressure every so often an d Suzuki supplies a gauge for just that purpose. The for ks required air to be added twice in a fo ur week period. It would be a ni ce tou ch to have a cr ossover/equalizer fitting on the fork so that pressure checking/adj ust men t need only be done once ra th er tha n separately wit h each leg. The rear shocks are co nven tional oil damped with four da m p ing adjustments changed by ro ta ting th e top shock collar. There are five load settings to choose from . The seat, while typicall y Japanese in its firmness , was contou red n icely and got good ma rks for comfort. At 31.1 inches, the seat h eigh t gives average height riders a feeling of security which comes from being able to plant one , or bo th feet, fir m ly on the ground . On a two- up ri de of nearly 300 miles neither rider n or passen ger suffered from n um bn ess of th e tail section. However, th e same cou ld n o t be sai d for the feet. The passen ger pegs buzz. The front p egs aren' t bad, but you will feel vibra tion a t cru ising sp eeds. The bike turns 4, 100 rpm in fifth gear wh en rolling alon g at the govern me nt lega l 55 m p h. At 60 m p h, th e engine rpm cre eps u p to 4,600. While we prefer to rep lace most stock hand grips with softer accessory grips, the Suzuki's were n' t bad. Firm, yes, but quite accep table. Controls on the left handlebar in lude, aoJcombina tion; headligh (up • • ......... • • •• • • .. ~ I . " . _ and down for high/low beam ) and turn signal (left/right switch ing) con tro l. The horn and choke ar e a lso easily reached. The choke lever is eas-. ily operated with the thumb and is in a much better location than last year' s placement of a push/pull assem bly in the center of th e steering head. The right side controls a re th e start er button and the on/off e ngine kill switch. The starter has a clutch lockout operation so the cl utch lever must be pulled in for starting. The control panel has an 85 mph speedo with a re-setable trip mileage indica to r. The 12,000 rpm tachometer is red-lined at 9,500. The lights for high beam and oil pressure are also on the tach. The speedo and tach are lit by soft red light for night reading and are very easy on the eyes. The center of th e panel is given over to an electro nic fue l gauge, gea r posi tio n indica tor and ligh ts to indica te turn signals an d neutral. The head li g h t is 55/60 quartz ha logen. The gear position indicator is ini tially foreign to someone who normally rides a bik e without one, bu t it soon becomes almos t secon d nature to ch eck when downsh ifting or sitting at a stoplight. If you wish to beli eve th e fu el ga uge th en th e second th ing you ne ed to do is become very fam iliar with th e reserve setting on th e fu el ta p. Two quick lesso ns taugh t us to click off 135 miles and wait for the engin e to yell reserve. The tank h olds 4.2 ga llon s with reserve pegged a t 1.2 gal lo ns. At an average of 50 mpg for everyday sto p and go riding, th e bi ke wo u ld go on reserve after using less th an three gallons. Cons ervat ive riding on a lo ng distance trip- keepin g a steady 55 mph-brought the mileage figu res up to 58-60 m p g. The engine, actually 673cc rather th an 650, comes to life easil y hot or cold . The choke should be used when the engine is cold. We found a choke setti n g of halfway on to be th e tick et. Touch the starter button and th e fire power from the transistorized ignition system cra n ks the en gi n e to li fe a nd gets the Mikuni CV carbs slurp in g gas. T h e engin e takes a m ile or two to warm up before closing th e ch oke. Shifting up through the five speed transmission is posi tive alt h ough downshifting fro m fourt h to third a n d - more o ften third to second req uired a p osit ive, forcefu l tap of the toe to ma ke the sh ift. We did ha ve a few m issed shifts un til resorting to forcefu l downshi fti ng every ti me. Finding neutral, until yo u get th e " feel" of th e transmission, can be a , bit of a ch ore. Suzuki's Dir ect Link sha ft drive is very smooth. There wasn 't a ny clunkin g on accelera tion , decelera tion or q uick shifti ng. Even jerky on/ off th ro tt le man ip u la tions couldn't di sWf t t~~ ~W-PPf P~ eratiCl~' J I I I _ ~ Stoppin g, whether ro u tine or getti n g on th e brakes hard, with th e GS650G is a smooth op era tion . The double slo tted di scs on the front and th e single slo tted disc on the rear provide positive stopping power. The front brake requir es very little pressure from two finger operation to slow you down. The whole package fits together very nicely. However , there were some things which co ul d be changed to add even more to th e bike. The seat is not on a hinge opening arrangement. If you want to check underneath you must remove the entire seat and set it on jhe ground or elsewhere. You replace it by lining up the two hooks on the front with those on the frame and then line up the bar on the back with the seat lock. The removal/replacement can become an irritating job. The seat is vulnerable to damage while not on the bike. In addition, there is no space whatsoever' underneath the seat for storage of even the' I smallest items. Bungee cords can co me in very handy - provided you ha ve a: place to hook them to. The rear section on the Suzuki doesn 't lend itself to bungee cord users. The kickstand is nearl y straight up and down, allowing th e bike to sit in a position from which it could very easily topple over. We fou nd ourselves actually pulling the bike toward us , whenever it was put on the sidestand, as a precaution. Of course, if you use the centerstand then you don't have that problem. In conclusion , we found the GS650G to have a few shortcomings, but these were made up for by the total package. This is a bike you can swear by, not at. If you're in the market for a bike you can save some bucks on the $2,999 GS650G list price by heading down to your Suzuki dealer and asking about the factory rebate sale. The sale is on through September 30. •

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