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modified: 01/21/04
1982 GS650 review
by David Gibbs
BIKE: 1982 Suzuki GS 650 L
SPECIFICATIONS: Inline 4, chain-drive, no fairing,
air-cooled, and dual/single disk brakes. It seems to be a fairly
heavy bike for a 650, and was fairly tall.
INFORMATION ON THE BIKE:
This was my first bike, and I owned it for three years. I put
about 30,000 kms on it, include several highway trips, the first
thing I did was put a wind-screen on it. It handled reasonable well
up to about 140-150 km/h, then tended to develop a front end wobble,
though this may have been partially due to the poor aero-dynamics of
the windscreen. (Which was fork + handlebar mounted.) I was
generally happy with its power and handling -- neither was
startling, but I did scrape the pegs a couple of times in turns
(though not on purpose.)
Instrument panel was fairly normal, tach + speedo, high-beam
indicator, single turn signal indicator, neutral indicator, and gear
indicator. Turn signals and high/low beam controls were all on one
button, which made them a little difficult to manipulate, but
otherwise controls were easy to use.
I did several longer trips on this bike, and found it a bit buzzy
at speeds in excess of 120 km/h, but it still had reasonable
acceleration at speeds up to 160km/h, though this did deteriorate
noticeably if I put the larger of my two windscreens on it. (Though
that screen really was larger than I should put on, I used for
colder weather only, when I needed more protection from the wind.)
Gas tank was a little small, needing re-fills between 160 and 190
km, depending on my driving style.
CAUTIONS: This being a GS series Suzuki, I, of course, had
charging system problems, and had to replace both the stator and the
regulator/rectifier. (I had one replaced with a second-hand Kawasaki
part that was cheaper than new, and never caused me problems.) It
also picked up an oil leak late in its life. I retired it when I
stripped the main drive gear, though this may have been my fault,
since I let it get low on oil on a trip (ref: oil leak).
I was happy with this bike most of the time, and found it good
for doing whatever I asked of it, from commuting to highway, and it
was a good bike to start with, if you have already learned to ride.
I wouldn't suggest learning to ride on it, since with its height and
weight, it will be difficult for an in-experienced rider to hold up
if he stops with the bike angled poorly, or if he goes off-balance
while duck-walking it around. |
