Suzuki GT 750. An internet opinion

In the eyes of some people, the Suzuki GT 750 now has an almost divine status. But even sour people cannot deny that the heavy Suzuki 750 cc water-cooled three-cylinder was and is a very beautifully detailed, heavy and fast touring machine. After the Suzuki GT 750 was equipped with 1 or 2 disc brakes, it scored well to excellent on all fronts. Even two-branch theaters are able to appreciate it. And there was not a single fast, heavy touring bike that the Suzuki had to be afraid of.

The Suzuki GT 750. Top or flop?

The water bowls also belonged to the last generation of 'universal' motorcycles. Because with a low handlebar or clip-ons, a pair of rear-mounted footrests and a set of expansion exhausts, you suddenly had a pure sport bike. That's why we were surprised that we got a link to a downloaded English article, in which the big Suzuki was high in the top ten of the worst engines of all time. He stood there in combination with the GT380 and GT 550. Their unforgivable bad qualities? They were too heavy, had too little ground clearance and had poor braking.

Among the other biggest motorcycle missions of all time were also the Harley Sportsters, BMWs and other distress…. That all did not come from England. The Kawasaki Z900 was no good either.

And that those Britons were more than chauvinisctic is evident from the 'Engine of the year' election, which appeared at about the same time, in which the Triumph Trident and BSA Rocket 3 won year after year, while Honda could not tow the CB 750 OHC machines.

Cats in the corner make weird jumps

It is true that the British motorcycle was a global leader. That there is a whole line of British motorcycles with eternal value. But by the time the list of 'The Worst Motorcycles of All Time' was published, the British motorcycle industry was in fact already dead. Only the patient himself did not want to do that yet. Literally entire books have been written about the decline of the British motorcycle industry. And so the whole tragedy was written down seamlessly afterwards. The Rise and Fall of the British Motorcycle Industry (ECW Press, 2009 ISBN10: 1550229001, ISBN13 9781550229004) is a good example of this. The book is not under the category 'Motorcycle books' at Amazon, but under 'Study & management, economics and business'. The old saying is that 'the fish starts to rot at the head'. And if management is the head of the fish ...

The missed opportunities

In 1970, the BSA group was in dire need. Turner was retired, but he designed an 350 cc DOHC two-cylinder with two carburetors and five gears. The machine was refined by Bert Hopwood and Doug Hele and as Triumph Bandit presented. The slightly modified version was called BSA Fury. These machines had Triumph and BSA a chance on the market for lighter motorcycles such as the Honda CB 350, the Yamaha YR5, the Suzuki T350, the Kawasaki 350 Mach II, but also the European competitors Aermacchi, Ducati and Moto Morini. A huge media campaign was conducted, the models were already included in the brochures, but the poor financial situation did not allow their production. Prototypes of these machines still exist.

Yet again a great brand

Fortunately, after the demise, yet another serious piece of rebirth came when real estate millionaire John Bloor the rights of Triumph and again showed the world that the British could still build phenomenal motorcycles. And that the new Bonnevilles come from Thailand? Oh well, some things have changed in the world.

But that those Suzuki GT 750s were so bad? Well, the author of the text himself must not have believed that either…