C/L Denver 1972 Suzuki 500 Titan 5600 miles $5500

[srsupertrap]

Pristine looking but I am guessing not much of a following?

https://denver.craigslist.org/mcy/d/casper-1972-suzuki-500t/6776520123.html

[marvinsc]

My first street bike was the same bike 1976 model. They weren't the hot rods the Kawasaki 2 strokes were so not as desireable. That one looks to be in excellent condition, not sure he will find a buyer at that $$.

[storm 64]

Definitely a beautiful motorcycle! You probably would have more money into restoring one than the fellows asking price. The trick is finding the right person with the right money. Maybe a auction is the place to find a buyer...

[bccap]

I had one back in the day. Great bike except when it came time to stop. Worst brakes of any bike I ever owned.......

[Tom R]

I had one back in the day. Great bike except when it came time to stop. Worst brakes of any bike I ever owned.......

I’ll second that.... to a point. The first time I rode the one I had I figured that brake would be the death of me. But, after playing with that front drum for a while with sand paper and adjusting the cams it grabbed at least as good as the single disc on my cb750. One trick often overlooked is that you have to pull on the brake when you tighten the axel nut to make sure shoes are centered in the drum. It’s a twin leading shoe, so not a bad design for the era, and actually sought after in vintage race classes that require drum brakes.
A fun bike though. A lot of them have 4th gear issues due to the oil level in the crankcase being too low unless you modify it if I remember correctly.

[jabcb]

Has a Wyoming license plate. The craigslist map points to area around Casper, Wyoming. Didn’t find any other listings of the bike.
So it may be legit.


Cheap aftermarket pod filters. Petcock isn’t stock. Wrong taillight, no mirrors & no turn signals. Wrong handlebar brake & clutch levers.
The green paint might be darker than the original Suzuki cascade green.


Looks sweet. That could be reasonable money for the bike.
But if you are into 100% correct, its not going to be cheap to address the mods.




I already have too many Suzuki two strokes. But I would go take a look if the bike were nearby & he was asking for less $$$.

[jabcb]

I’ll second that.... to a point. The first time I rode the one I had I figured that brake would be the death of me. But, after playing with that front drum for a while with sand paper and adjusting the cams it grabbed at least as good as the single disc on my cb750. One trick often overlooked is that you have to pull on the brake when you tighten the axel nut to make sure shoes are centered in the drum. It’s a twin leading shoe, so not a bad design for the era, and actually sought after in vintage race classes that require drum brakes.
A fun bike though. A lot of them have 4th gear issues due to the oil level in the crankcase being too low unless you modify it if I remember correctly.

The front brake is reasonable with modern brake shoes and a proper lube/adjustment.
A good brake for some vintage races classes, but they can crack & fail catastrophically when given that kind of abuse.


Suzuki modified the crankcase to increase transmission oil capacity. An oil dam is available to retrofit earlier crankcases.
The clutch cover has a screw used to check the oil level. Suzuki didn’t move that screw when they did the oil capacity mod.
Doesn’t take that much to trigger a recall nowadays, but back then things were very different.

[marvinsc]

IMG_3292 by Scott Marvin, on Flickr

This is mine circa 1980

[Tom R]

Several years ago I was looking for a larger brake for my CL175, I remember reading they had a tendency to crack and should be reinforced.... That was enough to deter me, I ended up getting a cb160 setup instead.

[jabcb]

Several years ago I was looking for a larger brake for my CL175, I remember reading they had a tendency to crack and should be reinforced.... That was enough to deter me, I ended up getting a cb160 setup instead.

Ouch! Pics of failed T500 drum: https://www.ahrma.org/ahrma_pdfs/leg...500_brakes.pdf


Vintage Brake likes the CB450 & CB160 brakes. https://www.vintagebrake.com/drumspec.htm


The GT750/GT550 4LS brake is really good but its way too heavy for your CL175. I have a GT380 with it & am building a GT550 with it.

[jabcb]

Found it. Was sold on eBay on 12/21/2018 for $5,500.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1972-Suzuki-500T-/113455141322 (Click on “View original item”)


So the CL ad may be a fake, or perhaps the eBay sale fell through & the owner is listing it on CL.

[850 Combat]

I know that the 4 leading shoe drum from the GT750 is sought after. I never heard the same about the brake from the Cobra/Titan. A Titan was the first fulll sized motorcycle I ever rode, back in maybe 8th grade. I remember you could buy new ones in like 1977 for $800 in the maroon and wight color. Tempting. An RD400 was like $1200 at the time.