VOLUME ISSUE APRIL , P123
State city, but the MT certainly
looks like a bike that George
Jetson might've been cajoled
into buying for his boy, Elroy. It's
$329 MSRP would have made
it affordable for George, even
with his two-hour work week at
Spacely Space Sprockets. On his
bright orange (or blue or green)
Suzuki MT50 Trailhopper, Elroy
would've been the coolest kid in
all of Orbit City!
For a 10-year-old in 1972, the
only thing better than getting a
Suzuki MT50 Trailhopper would
be getting a free Suzuki Trail
-
hopper, which is how a young
Kimberley Wright came into pos-
session of her very own bike.
"It was a drawing contest
open to family members of
employees of the U.S. Suzuki
Corporation" Wright recalls.
The objective was to "design
a Christmas card for Suzuki.
Some of the runner-up awards
included a Team Suzuki jacket
and some magazine subscrip
-
tions, but the grand prize was a
1973 Trailhopper."
Kimberley's dad already sport-
ed his own Team Suzuki jacket,
and he was likely even featured
in some of those magazines; her
pop was none other than 1960s
road racer Merv Wright. Wright
had piloted a Norton Manx at the
Isle of Man and later raced an
almost legendary bike a heavily
modified Parilla 175 known as
"The Gadget." When his racing
days were over, he joined Team
Suzuki, first as a mechanic for
fellow road racer Ron Grant be
-
fore eventually being promoted
to team manager.
"I remember there were many
different motorcycles [Norton,
Triumphs, etc.] with the big fair-
ings parked in our house," Wright
recalls. "The neighborhood kids
and I would get to sit on them.
In mid-70s, we would tag along
to the races with Barry Sheene
and Roger DeCoster. I have been
riding and tinkering on Suzukis
ever since!"
Kimberley had submitted
numerous designs for the con-
test, but it was her initial sketch
(which actually featured her
rendition of an MT50) that was
selected.
"My dad, with his English
accent, had a very dry sense
of humor, so when he told me
that I'd won I thought he was
kidding! We laughed about that
one, because I had spent hours
TRAILHOPPER
SUZUKI'S TINY TWO-STROKE
Kimberley with her brother,
father Merv Wright and Roger
DeCoster in 1974.
