IT’S IMPORTANT. IT REALLY IS

You have to wonder who worked out the strategy at Suzuki in the 1970s. It had been seven or eight years since Honda had introduced the gamechanging CB750. Four years since Kawasaki had blown our minds with the Z1, and yet here they were with a ‘mere’ 750 in late response…

Of course, with hindsight we now know that a year later, in 1978, its larger sibling, the GS1000, would storm to the top of the premier league (or division one, as it was then known), but for 1977 Suzuki came into the four-stroke market almost quietly; they even painted the new bike in muted colours. The GS750’s arrival was precipitated by the need to meet new US emission laws, which their existing superbike, the two-stroke GT750, could not meet. And arguably, caution was the watchword at Suzuki as they’d only recently gambled big on the RE5 rotary – and lost. So, probably as dictated by the boardroom’s bean counters, it would seem little steps was the preferred strategy.

But let’s make this point: despite its ‘Plain Jane’ looks (and they were plain, even in 1977), the GS750 was an excellent machine. Suzuki’s first four-stroke motor was mechanically strong, following (almost exactly) the path taken by Kawasaki’s Z900/1000s, with a nine-piece crankshaft sat in roller bearings, gear-driven primary drive, and with a centrally positioned cam-chain running to dual overhead cams with shim-on-bucket adjustment to the eight valves.

Suzuki claimed around 70hp at 8500rpm, which translated to around 55hp at the rear wheel. Good for a speed-tested 123mph, making it the fastest 750, but short of the eye-watering 135mph the 1000s were nudging… but from this humble start came the big fours that Suzuki would shock the world with.