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/1523001
VOLUME ISSUE JUNE , P131 OPEC with a thrifty 41 miles to the gallon. Plenty of power and the suspension is good, though the tester said there is one "… idiosyncrasy. The front wheel has a tendency to pump up and down in resonance with the engine at certain speeds, usu- ally around 45 mph, part throttle. Feels weird, but doesn't make the bike do anything nasty." The GT 380L showed plenty of power, especially at around 5500 rpm and hitting 100 miles per hour is no problem. Sea level is 6000 feet below and the Suzuki's stock jetting is burning just the right amount of fuel/air mixture throughout its range. A quick stop for some Chevron two- stroke oil for the CCI injection system and the ride continues into pending darkness. No fancy media junkets for this moto-journalist! At the end of the day, he heads for a dirt road, look - ing for a soft place on the ground to throw down the sleeping bag where he can drift away under the stars: "[As] a deer coughs in the distance and squirrels chat- ter overhead," said the CN journo, and man and machine become one with nature. Lights out. In the morning, our test rider learns that his freshly-injured knee is now acting up and he will have to prop himself in odd fashion to somehow use his left leg for the right-side-mounted kickstart to bring the Suzuki to life. It isn't really a 380cc kick; rather, it's a booting of three 125 two-stroke singles. That's an easy one, and our hero and the Suzuki are soon ring-dinging their way down the highway. With an outside temp of nearly 100 degrees, the Suzuki needed some cooling help, which it would receive thanks to the company's "Ram Air Cooling" design. Ram air cooling was brought about by a scoop of sorts, mounted to the top of the cylinder head, making the engine appear to be taking a big bite of air as it went down the road. It might've helped. It also might've kept hot air from escap - ing off the top of the head. Bot- tom line: no heat-related failure on this test! The Suzuki's performance was pleasing, though not remarkable enough to merit much in the way of superlatives. Reliability was a key segment of any road test back in the day and the 380L met the 1974 standards, as the chain stretched just a bit after 1000 miles and the spark plugs showed signs of needing to be swapped out for a new set. Over - all, the motorcycle was comfort- able and inspired confidence. The standards for good braking, however, have certainly changed, as the test rider lauds the Suzuki for coming to a halt with only three fingers on the front brake lever. A full four, he added, would "lock the front wheel straight up." Memories, crooned Ms. Strei - sand, may be beautiful, but she also adds this caveat: "What's too painful to remember, we simply choose to forget." Raise your hand if you recall how to set points on a motorcycle? Ready to replace spark plugs every 1500 miles? And what exactly was in that blue smoke that was puffing out of those two-stroke expan - sion chambers anyway? The Suzuki GT 380L was a fun, inexpensive ($1295 MSRP) mo- torcycle, one which also brought along some niggling issues for the ride. Such a description ap- plied to many simple machines of the time. Right or wrong, it was "the way we were." CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives The two-stroke 1974 GT 380L had Suzuki's new Ram Air System, which utilized a scoop to push air across its three-cylinders and behind the block while in motion.