Suzuki GT 380

[Milan]

How is the interest in the Suzuki 2-Stroke Market?

( Maybe should go in the CL Section? )

[Milan]

No One on the forum has a Suzuki 2-Stroke?

M

[Striker1423]

I'm in the process of buying a GT750 currently. Yay! lol

[m in sc]

out of the triples, i prefer the 380 vs the 550, never had a desire for a GT750, but have owned all of them. (+  a few gt250s and currently a T500 and  also have had a GT185) what exactly is your question?

[Milan]

Popularity of these.
Not seemed to be talked about alot.
are they fun bikes to ride, in comparison to the RD's or Kawasaki's?

Values seem to be rising.

M

[Striker1423]

As I've heard (no proof on my end), the Yamaha's are the better handling bike in all aspects. Triples are the oddity and the allure of many.

[SoCal250]

Popularity of these.
Not seemed to be talked about alot.

I think you answered your own question

Values seem to be rising.

This is true for everything. And your money is worth less. Heck, a Honda Hobbit moped just sold for $4000!

[teazer]

utter nonsense.

Suzuki triples are hands down the bestest and most popular two strokes ever made and biggly so.   

OK, so not 100% accurate perhaps.  Handling was always good for the time and road testers seemed to prefer the nicer habits of the triples but buyers were buying motorcycles and they were typically young, so why not buy a nasty RD instead of Miss Prim and Proper.

Gt380 is hugely underrated and is a great bike but like all Suzuki triples is a tad heavy and could use a more sporty set of ports and pipes. 550 is a nice all round road bike but not as exciting as some alternatives.  GT750 is a whale of a thing.  heavy, soft power and so on but they can be made to fly and even stock are a very pleasant bike to ride and they were designed to cover vast distances not just a quick blast around the local back roads.

If you want a 750 i can build you one to whatever spec you fancy from mild to wild. just sayin'

[m in sc]

suzuki was trying to compete with the others available 4 strokes at the time, so their 2 strokes were always pretty tame but very reliable by contrast. I mean, they were competing against xs650s, honda CBs, goldwings,  etc as commuter & touring bikes.  They did race the GT750 and the T500 in the era, but as far as i know the other triples.. never. they were commuters. Suzuki didn't have a 4 stroke for the masses until the GS series came around in the late 70s, considering the rotary almost sunk them.

if you are trying to buy to invest, might want to read up a bit more on these things.  Have i ridden flat out fast GT750s, T500's and even a GT380? yup. but the work to get them fast vs anything else is pretty extreme. I even got out of the kawi triples, and i have had some fast and desirable ones, because the yamaha twins as far as my needs are just all around better bikes & more enjoyable. 

[Milan]

I was thinking of purchasing the one in the picture.
But had not studied them much.

Would depend on price as well.

Alot of good comments here.

Thanks,

m

[Striker1423]

Marks right. The GT I'm getting is for my longer rides. If I want to put 300 plus miles on, hen the GT750 will be there to fill that gap. The RD is fun but loses its comfort rapidly past 120 miles or so for me.

[m in sc]

I'll say this much, the best sounding bike i ever owned was an S2 triple, hands down nastier sounding than any of the h2 or H1's i had. a stock 380 on the pipe does have a fantastic exhaust note, i enjoyed the one i had.

[dgorms]

Any viable 2 stroke street bike is in my window of acquiring, if the price is right!.......................D

[teazer]

Any Suzi triple with a three into one pipe sounds amazing.  I had a Strader on my last one or Jemco's.

You can guess which made more power but around the 'hood, the Strader was quieter, easier to ride at low speeds and just more fun. At teh drag strip it was a whole other matter.

A buddy of ours has a somewhat stripped down GT550 and that we ported and it does 13 second quarters and makes more power than the average RD400 - about the same as a mildly tuned RZ in fact.  By comparison to the RZ, it's a fat ugly slug, but they can scoot along.  not close to say a TZ350G but that's a different beast altogether.
 
Anyone remember the 500cc Sparton - spondon chassis and water cooled GT380 top end with stock six speed trans.

[BlueR32]

For more info there's a very loyal & knowledgeable forum devoted to Suzuki 2-strokes here:
http://www.suzuki2strokes.com/forum/
I know some of us are also members there;)