Uh-oh! GT-380A gets religion.

[jmendoza]

Yes, this Suzy-Q is Holy is in more ways than one. The bike was run with partially blocked jets, it had sat too long between runs, and that made it go lean and fry #3 cylinder. Luckily, the bore was undamaged and within specifications, so we got away with a hone job, new piston, ring and gaskets. Now, it runs great, but still handles terribly, par for GT Suzuki Sebring and Indy models.

[Stew]

My dad had a Suzuki GT250. He always complained of it's handling. One day, he was taking a corner into our road at not much more than walking pace, and somehow, the front wheel went out, he toppled off, broke his wrist, and banged his head off the road, knocking him out. The helmet strap cut off his oxygen. Luckily a neighbour got to him and did the right things, but he reported an NDE (near death experience) when he came around, and says he met an old man, sitting on a dry stone wall in a beautiful countryside, who asked him if he wanted to stay...No said my dad, I need to get back to my wife and kids...
He considers himself very lucky to have survived.
Go careful out there!!

[Martin]

I had a Suzuki GT500A which had similar performance to the the 380 but was a two-stroke twin, rather than a triple. I think the 500 got better gas mileage than the 380 - despite its larger capacity it was in a lower state of tune and only had two carburettors rather than three - the 380 sounded nicer though. I rode the 500 to the south of France and back one holiday and had a great time. I was always concerned that it used so little two-stroke oil from its tank - it consumed less oil than several four-stroke motorbikes I've owned!

There was also a 550cc version of the Suzuki triple. I rode a friend's 550 which wasn't as fast as I expected, and seemed a bit heavy with rather vague handling. Many years later another friend let me have a go on his Kawasaki H1 triple, which was much faster than the Suzuki, but was still disappointingly slow compared to modern bikes: it was true what they said about the handling though!

[Carl]

My very first experience of motorcycles was on a GT750 'kettle' - also a 2-stroke triple. I didn't ride it, but a friend of the family had one, and I was in my early teens. He took me out on it with me riding pillion and that was it. I was hooked for life. The sound, the smell, the feeling of being in the open air. I knew then that when I was old enough I would own and ride a motorcycle - and still do several decades later

Well impressed with your selection of 2-strokes and that you look after them well.

Carl