CNII ARCHIVES
P124
BY KENT TAYLOR
CN said a lot of nice
things about the
Suzuki GT 550 in
1973, like "civilized,"
but was civilized what
the buying public
wanted back then?
THE
SUZUKI
GT 550
Civilized
I
t is 1973, and there is still some
fun left in this world. Crank up
"Frankenstein" on the Pioneer
stereo in your Firebird Trans Am,
AMC Javelin or Ford Mustang
Mach I, still a year away from
becoming the emasculated pedes-
trian known as the Mustang II. Yes,
1973 is where the action is, baby!
Motorcycles in 1973 are still
pretty groovy, too, with two-stroke
street bikes ring-a-dinging around
town. Cool bikes like the 1973
Suzuki GT 550, which Cycle News
tested in the January 16, 1973, is-
sue. According to CN, it was "a very
civilized motorcycle."
Say "huh?" Weren't two-stroke
street bikes supposed to be bad
boys, makin' noise, causin' trouble
and smokin' in the boys' room (and
everywhere else)? What kind of a
rebel wants a "civilized motorcycle?"
Changes were afoot in the world,
and it wasn't just in the automobile
business, where emissions controls
and something called "the five-mph
bumper" were turning muscle cars
into 98-pound weaklings with sensi-
tive feelings. As Cycle News would
write in a later issue that same year,
"suddenly, performance doesn't
really matter, and most of the bikes
coming out of Japan are down on
performance and up in pleasant-
ness. Suzuki has gone farther in
this direction than most anybody."
Which doesn't mean that this
crew didn't like this particular
Suzuki, which they heralded for
its "fantastically smooth engine.
No vibration, no dead spots when
