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She?s in sad shape. Battery dead, tires flat, brake fluid empty, fork oil dripping from the seals ? a pathetic remnant of a once beautiful and powerful companion.
Who would have dreamed, over a quarter century ago ?
I?d just turned 21. Working through college. Racked up 40K on a ?74 GT550 in less than two years (less than 200 miles on the ?cage? I owned, in the same period). No small feat while pulling 17 hr semesters of undergrad engineering at UMKC along with a 40 hr/wk job at UMB bank AND a 30 hr/wk job at McBran?s Cycle Shed? glutton for punishment, I guess. Sleep? What?s that??
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The engineering student in me was enamored with the literally artistic refinement of that Suzuki triple. The exhaust system totally sucked, but the rest of the machine was a fine work of engineering. Quite a contrast from the crude Kaw triples the GT inevitably got compared with, in those days. Riding several nights each week from KC to Springfield, MO, to visit my girlfriend, racked up some hard miles. But, it taught some valuable lessons about high speed wintertime riding. Bikes have amazing traction on snow and ice? as long as you don?t stop or turn?
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That period also taught that speed can make a difference. (I?d hung with the ?caf? racer? crowd for several years.) The effective size of this country can be cut in half by traveling double the ?double nickel??
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Having resigned myself to finding an affordable BMW R75, (the Yamaha and Honda shaft drives available in the fall of 78 just weren?t up to the level of refinement that?d spoiled me with the GT550) I?d picked up a Cycle World (or was it Cycle?) with an impressive review of Suzuki?s first shaft drive offering? as I recall, the article was titled ?Smooth Operator??
In those days, drive train backlash was just accepted as part of the shaft drive experience. It was quite a turn off for me. That article claimed Suzuki had virtually eliminated it through typical Suzuki inventive refinement? having experienced that GT550?s ?smoothness? made the magazine?s claims unusually credible to me. I still remember the pictures in that article? the beautifully proportioned 5.8 gal tank (blue) with offset cap, the fuel gauge (that was a BIG deal back then), the gear position indicator, air charged forks, automatic petcock, adjustable rebound shocks ? even the little ?glove box? under the seat? were all indicative of more than a little thought and refinement. (The closed cell foam pad on the seat pan was something I?d already successfully experimented with on the old GT550.)(amazing what a 1? piece of closed cell can do for the old tailbone
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I was smitten? Visions of those beautiful blue images danced through my fantasies through the Holidays until a dealer got the first one in KC. Valentine?s day. It was red, but I knew this was a very special machine within a block of the first ride. The smoothness of the drive train and suspension had NOT been overstated by the ?rags?. More than that, this machine?s neutral responsiveness proved immediately compatible with my neural reactions. In other words, it felt more like an extension of my body than any ?heavy? machine I?d ever ridden. Taking my girlfriend (Myrna) for a ride proved an unexpected pleasure. The machine?s response geometry accommodated her weight quite naturally. The three of us ?connected?. We returned to the dealership with big smiles and a little less rubber on the edge of the foot pegs?
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BUT! I HAD to have a BLUE one. Myrna concurred. It would be St Pats, ?79, arranging money and waiting for a BLUE one. I got the first blue GS850 in Kansas City.
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Spent most of the day, St Pats, helping the dealer?s mechanic uncrate and assemble the front end. Being a motorcycle mechanic myself, they allowed me to start her first and test ride. No one ever rode ?Suzy? before myself?
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It was pouring down rain that St Pats, but who cares?? Rode straight over to get Myrna who immediately proclaimed that this new, blue, ?79 GS850 should be named ?Suzy?. As the ?other woman? in my life, that name just stuck. We rode everywhere we could think of. We entered a ?sports car event? (there were two other bikes), on a whim, and rode the pylons TWO UP. Many there were old friends, so nobody mentioned anything about passenger rules? hey, we had helmets, at least?
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By then end of the first week Suzy had acquired the Windjammer III and Bates tote box from the old 550 and was ready for her 2000 mile service that Monday. Needless to say, we didn?t get much sleep (nor much home work done) that week?
Suzy got her Kerker 4-1 later that year. Reversing the rear axle bolt allowed MUCH easier rear wheel changing with the left side exhaust pipe out of the way. Suzy?s appetite for miles became addictive. The distances she could cover at 100+mph cut the size of this country to manageable proportions for a ?limited budget? college student. That summer we rode to see the ?classics? like Grand Canyon, Painted Forest, Big Sur, etc ? Hwy 1 was WONDERFUL!!
Suzy got her Krauser starlets the following summer just before leaving for a trip to British Columbia that included Pike?s peak, RMNP, Yellow Stone, Sturgis, Rushmore, etc? Everything was great with a nice strong wind out the southwest. BC was beautiful. Followed my brother?s band (named Denver Locke) up to Invermere BC and had a great time till Friday when I got a call and HAD to get home YESTERDAY! Heading home from Invermere BC I started smelling burnt plastic and found that the Kerker exhaust was blowing right on the bottom of the right side Krauser and melting it. The wind from the southwest had somehow kept the exhaust from causing trouble while traveling north and west. Now that I was traveling south and east, the wind was pushing the exhaust stream right onto the Krauser.
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Northern Montana. 100+mph. Suzy?s brakes ?save the day?. The officer commented on how her brakes kept him from getting a good ?radar lock?. He ?nailed? me for 69mph in a 55mph and extracted a $5 charge for ?wasting fuel? or some such legalese.. ?OK, that makes sense??
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A few hrs later? 71mph in a 55? this time it was $20!!! Amazing what 2 mph can do! Now I?m down on bucks (only $15 to get back to KC) AND down on time? Can?t afford any more tickets. This was going to be a LONG trip. Heading into Idaho, I just decided to do an allnighter, and keep the speed down to save gas ($$) and prevent any more tickets?
3 AM. Somewhere in Idaho mountains. Early July. SNOW!!! 5mph. Couldn?t see Suzy?s nice red gauges when the trucks passed and kicked up a ?white out?. This was a LONG night. Ultimately covered the 2000 miles in something less than 48 hrs! Wasn?t good for much, that Monday morning, but Suzy had gotten me there?
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Myrna eventually went to ASU (Phoenix) and I went to the Rolla School of Mines, in Rolla MO. ? Suzy was our connection? I could cover the 1200 miles between us in less than 15 hrs and once managed just a little more than 14 hrs!!! do the math. Suzy seamed to enjoy the experience. High speed ?commuting? required a combination of Art, Science and a little Poker? Not to mention a LOT of insanity? who, in their youth, can claim sanity???
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Thanks to luck, tactics and a very good radar detector, I only got 2 tickets during those years? several 30 minute lectures?
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Rear tires took a beating at those speeds. The Metzler ME88 turned out to be my favorite compromise for durability, wet traction, and dry handling. More often, I?d settle for the second best, but still excellent, Continental K112 because of price. Went tubeless on the rear, despite the ?Not for tubeless? warning on the rim. Never regretted it. The Conti RB2 was my fav for the front? WITH tube? never had the guts to go tubeless on the front.
The ability to plug the tubeless rear was VERY handy for fixing the multiple shale punctures encountered along the Alcan and up the Dempster ?highways?. That was summer ?84 with two friends crazier than myself (if that?s possible
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You?ll find yourself seeing the sun near the horizon and thinking: ?hmm? better start thinking about a campground?? and many hours later, the sun is STILL on the horizon and you?re tired to the bone and you finally look at your watch and it might be 3AM!!!!!
The gravel was intimidating for the first couple days. Both friends had grown up blasting down gravel roads, but my street experience was on STREETS. They left me in the dust. Literally. They kept telling me to ?get over it? and that things start feeling ?solid? again over about 50mph. !!:0 !! Well? this 3 week blast was going to take 3 months if I didn?t pick the pace up, so? THEY WERE RIGHT! Gravel has momentum! Higher speeds (50+) start feeling more stable as the gravel simply can?t get out of the way of the tires fast enough to induce that ?fishtailing-washout? feeling that had terrified me for two days. Suzy?s off road heritage surfaced and impressed me, once again, when I least expected a 600+ pound ?enduro bike? to pull through.
We spent the rest of that magnificent trip ?burning up the map? at 70+mph and Suzy just seamed to enjoy the experience. That might seem fast, but the 18 wheelers up there were even crazier! They?d pass us at what seemed like double our ?breakneck? speed!! I kept close watch in the mirrors for approaching drivers and had just checked, once, less than 30 seconds when I heard a ?jakebrake? and saw ?Peterb?? in the mirrors!! He was too close to see the whole ?Peterbuilt? on his grill through the mirrors!!
Drivers at truckstops, up there, liked to talk loud enough for coffee drinking riders to overhear about ?missing motorcyclist? stories and such? all in good fun?
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Up the Dempster Hwy to Eagle Plains, we each packed a couple extra gallons of gas to make the distance. Rain was heavy and cold and washed a bridge out behind us!! After holding up in the quite modern facilities at Eagle Plains a couple days, we caught word that construction crews had erected a ?service bridge? and might allow our bikes across. The poor driver we?d befriended lamented as to how his rig was probably stuck there till next summer. We offered to take him back to ?civilization?, but he looked at us like we were certifiable and said he?d fly out. One of us had side tripped on up to the Arctic Circle during the delay (I was too tired and cold to be crazy).
After the Dempster experience, Dawson seemed like a metropolis. We stayed at Mary?s Rooms for a night. Mary was a D9 operator and had constructed Mary?s Rooms from salvaged pallets and crates. It was a serviceable structure and suited our needs (budgetary speaking) perfectly. It was DRY. Dawson had a single paved street. Many of the larger towns had a paved Main street/hwy through them. The pavement usually stops about a mile out of town with a somewhat gregarious sign announcing: ?Pavement Break?? as if we needed a break from the pavement?
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My bond with Suzy only grew. Time after time she delivered my tired carcass through elements and terrain no wheeled or legged conveyance should be subjected to. AND, never failed to convey that she was enjoying the experience. What is it, hidden in human psyche, that can forge such bonds? Is it something genetically hidden in our equestrian past? The bond between man and beast that ultimately assures survival of both??
Myrna and I eventually (and amicably) parted. Several relationships later I met my wife (Cathy) and she, too, fell in love with Suzy. Cathy had encouraged me to compete in the ?Iron Butt?, but the entrance fee was prohibitive. Now we are preparing the world?s best daughter for college? Life?s been good. Wouldn?t dream of changing anything.
Suzy patiently waits. She waits with the same effortless competency that has characterized her 27 year existence. No doubt, she?ll impress both the Engineer and the Mechanic in me with an enjoyable resurrection. What will this winter bring??? Maybe THIS will be the year?. ??????
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