Suzuki GT550

I ran across this one the other night perusing craigslist, a 74' Suzuki GT550 - two stroke triple . I knew that kawasaki made triples but not suzuki, then again I'm about fifteen years younger than the bike too. What is good and bad about them? I'm looking at it as an interesting cruiser, just something to run back and forth to work on instead of driving the car down.

Nothing great about the suzki versions. Early models were prone to over heating. Later versions had "Ram Air" on the head basicly a hood scoop for the head. Some of the vintage racing guys love the drum bake wheels as they have a nice cooling inlet but that all they use from the bike. There not bad bikes they don't bring any $$ ither Sold a mint 550 4 years ago for $75 just to move it.

All years of the GT550 had the ram air cooling scoop, it was styled differently on the later bikes. My brother bought one new in 1975, it was a pretty good little bike - he took it on a trip from Minnesota to Massachusetts and back without any problems. I took my motorcycle license test on it, too. They didn't have the hot rod image of the Kawasaki triples but they were nearly as fast and handled better.

The one in the picture looks like the front forks are bent, I'd check for frame damage as well.

44Dwarf wrote: Nothing great about the suzki versions. Early models were prone to over heating. Later versions had "Ram Air" on the head basicly a hood scoop for the head. Some of the vintage racing guys love the drum bake wheels as they have a nice cooling inlet but that all they use from the bike. There not bad bikes they don't bring any $$ ither Sold a mint 550 4 years ago for $75 just to move it.

$75???? I can't find junk bikes for that around here.

+1

Junk bikes are $200+ here.

stuart in mn wrote: The one in the picture looks like the front forks are bent, I'd check for frame damage as well.

Jeebus, you're right! Good eyes!

Ya it ran great but fork lock was rusted up tight in the locked position and the front wheel bearing were siezed. I got it in a bulk buy. I needed it gone not one call at $375 so i posted it on a vintage suk site for one night only 1st to come with cash no questions...

In reply to Nitroracer:

My brother had one-I love the way they sound-like an outboard motor on steroids! Two stroke street bikes are a rapidly disappearing breed. If it runs and is cheap, I'd say buy it.