The original UJM (ask your dad)
There’s a line of logic within the business world that says second to market often makes more profit than the pioneering company that launched their unique widget first.
The argument goes that you let your competitor do all the legwork, iron out the bugs, sort out any warranty issues and then go in with your own take on their concept. It certainly worked for Suzuki when, in 1976, they launched their sublime GS750 allowing every single member of staff at Hamamatsu HQ to let out a sigh of relief.
In the early 1970s Suzuki had purchased a licence from Dr Felix Wankel and the NSU car company to produce Wankel engined motorcycles. To cut a long story short the resultant RE-5 bombed sales wise and was launched just as the world went into an oil crisis. The timing really couldn’t have been worse and the failure nearly finished Suzuki off but fortunately a smaller R&D team had been working on a Plan B which was fortuitous to say the least. The resultant GS750 was precisely the right bike at the right time and arguably saved Suzuki from either collapse or severe embarrassment.
The GS750 was a perfect example of ‘second to market’ having been unashamedly based around Kawasaki’s seminal Z1/Z900. The GS750 took everything that was so right about the big double overhead cam four and then condensed, summarised and compressed it into a 750. Any rough edges were rapidly knocked off, areas of compromise addressed and Suzuki’s own meticulous brand of engineering applied. Fresh out of the crate the engine was a winner with no significant issues. And then it all got an awful lot more sophisticated. It’s an open secret that Kawasaki had spent most of its resources designing the Z1’s motor and giving the bike a fresh new look but they’d not had the resources to really refine what was in essence a late 1960s frame beefed up to take extra power. Suzuki saw this omission and recognised an opportunity. Their new bike would be designed as a single entity with little or no compromise. They knew they had to bounce back from the RE-5 disaster and prove to the world that they could also make something other than two-strokes.
The launch of the GS750 and its acceptance by the public couldn’t have gone much better. The journalists of the day loved the bike’s handing. Suzuki had opted for what was then a fairly unorthodox approach of long wheelbase for high speed stability allied to a radical rake and trail at the front end which gave the class leading ability to change direction without massive physical input. The press hacks quickly recognised a good bike when they saw it and raved about just how good the GS750 was… Suzuki was officially the Comeback Kid.
Within a couple of years Suzuki, now firmly with the bit between its corporate teeth, came up with a larger capacity version of the 750 in the guise of the GS1000. If the 750 had impressed then the 1000 would overawe. Even though the earlier bike’s engine could take more power Suzuki redesigned their stunning motor so that the new power unit for the one litre bike actually weighed less than its predecessor. Suzuki had built yet another class leading piece of kit.
The GS motor would go one to power a vast range of Suzuki motorcycles until the four valve GSX engines were introduced and that’s exactly why the early GS fours get overlooked. Even in the classic world human nature is such that biggest, fastest, largest is best so it’s inevitable that it’s the GSXs and GSX-Rs that catch the headlines and become the must-haves. Almost every GS750/1000 is overlooked other than the GS1000S aka the Wes Cooley replica which was an instant star from Day One.
The GS750 has unfairly been called the original UJM or Universal Japanese Motorcycle which has somehow poisoned the well. It’s a damn fine machine and easily a match for its peers. Okay it may not be as flashy with just two silencers but is that a realistic excuse not to buy one?
In a world where folk pay in excess of £5000 for a restored 70s moped you can pick up a really tidy original GS750 for £3500. If you fancy a restoration project then £750-£800 should see a complete if scruffy example in your shed. And if it’s the GS1000 that appeals then there are bargains out there. A well used but sound example could be yours for just £3300 or if you fancy a mint example, £6000 will get you one. Built to last, bags of character, ultrareliable, and massively overlooked the GS750/1000 have to be on the classic radar soon surely?