A tén year old (1982) Suzuki GSX250 for £400? It seemed OK, there was only one owner and just 17000 miles on the clock. I knew someone who'd owned a 40,000 mile GSX, who‘d regaled me with tales of burnt out valves, quick rot cycle parts and terrible starting problems. But he did admit he’d never changed the oil, touched the engine or even cleaned it.
I had a quick test ride, that revealed more performance than I'd expected, and handed over the money before someone else turned up. It was that kind of bike. Believe me, I'd spent a couple of months looking at overpriced dogs until this one turned up via an advert in the corner shop.
A new MOT was part of deal, so all I had to do was sort out third party insurance. Being only 19 I could’ve cried when I found out how much they wanted but what can you do? They say they don’t make any profit out of motorcyclists but you don't see them slashing salaries or benefits (low rate mortgages for employees etc), do you?
I was full of enthusiasm and joy at my new acquisition, but it wasn't shared by the autumn weather, which consisted of cold drizzle. I rode through it regardless, but after the first couple of days my shining machine was reduced to rat status and I had doubts about the half worn Japanese rubber. It seemed a little too easy to slide the back wheel, although the drum was quite sensitive. A panicked braking session had the back wheel locked solid, waggling from side to side. I felt like throwing my guts up but kept control of my bodily functions.
I didn't much like the single front disc either in the wet. It was powerful enough, but there was a bit of lag and a bit too much haste in looking up the wheel. Engine braking was so-so, although there was a lovely bark out of the 2-1 exhaust on the overrun. That might have been the cause of the stutter at 6500 to 7000rpm, but I didn't really mind, it emphasised the way the power flowed in strongly at the latter revs.
The bike would run well enough at low revs but there wasn‘t much power, it felt more like a 12hp 125 than a full bloodied 30hp 250cc twin. To make the little Suzuki fly, the six speed gearbox and throttle needed to be worked hard, the revs kept between 7000 and 10000rpm for maximum performance. Fortunately, the gearbox was sweetness itself, both clutch and throttle light and precise. In short, I found the GSX highly amusing to hammer along the roads, at least in the dry.
After buying the bike and paying for the insurance I was right out of cash, no way could I afford to replace the tyres. They were OK on dry roads but felt like they had 60psi in them on wet surfaces, incredibly sensitive to white lines, manhole covers, and the like. Slides were all too easily encountered, pushing to the limit my reactions on this, luckily, light and responsive motorcycle.
There is nothing revolutionary in the cycle parts, direct descendants from the fifties with twin rear shocks and gaitered front forks. This was orlginal fare, with only a few inches of travel and a paucity of damping, but the tubular frame's strong and the steering predictable. I suppose if my second vehicle was a CBR600 instead of an ancient pushbike, I'd be horrified by the Suzuki but coming from a rat RS100 it felt pretty damn good!
I'm a slim 5'8", the dimensions of the GSX suited me down to the ground, the layout of the bars and pegs so natural it was as if the designers had knocked them out just for me. This instant rapport did much to compensate for the choppy ride resultant from the worn suspension; encouraged me to hustle along at quite indecent speeds for such an old 250.
Maximum speed, on the clock, down a quite steep hill was 101mph. That had needed the engine rewed into red in all the gears. Top gear was too tall for normal use, only really making sense with more than 85mph up. Fifth, or even fourth, was much better suited to the real world of fast A-roads. I often ended up playing with the red zone, when snarling up hills or agalnst fierce headwlnds, in fourth gear! The bike would weave a little but never shook its head even when bumps were whacked coming out of corners.
The real test of a machine's handling occurred when I screamed up to bends 10 to 20mph too fast, only realising my mistake at the last moment. Then it was down to losing speed on the brakes and taking a wide line through the bends. The old RS used to try to throw me off under that duress, the GSX was appreciably more composed and,somehow, we always avoided falling off.
After a month of getting to know each other. we were great friends. I did about 1200 miles in that time, would've done much more if it hadn’t been so cold. Decided it was time to do an oil change and carb balance. The manual reckoned there was an oil strainer hidden behind the sump plate, so I pulled that out but there was only a little bit of gunge — a sure sign that the previous owner had been meticulous in servicing the GSX. Essential for long life with these high rewing twins.
It wasn’t until the spring that I had the money to put on a new set of Avons. The GSX wasn’t expensive to run, turned in 55-60mpg despite my abusive right hand. The only real hassle was keeping the rear chain oiled and In adjustment, it needed attention every few hundreds miles. Chain life turned out to be about 8000 miles, not that bad considering it was the cheapest available and the sprockets were far from being brand new.
Over the winter I’d had two chronic problems. The straightforward one was keeping the alloy (both engine and wheels) in nice condition. That was just hard work. More perplexing was erratic starting on ice cold mornings. Sometimes it’d growl into life straight off, other times I had to persuade my brothers to give me a push the whole length of the street. WD40 didn't help but it became impossible if I didn’t put in a new set of plugs every three weeks.
Apart from that, it never failed to get me to work every day, take me for short evening runs (all I could do in the winter) and generally impress with its friendliness and ruggedness. Come the spring it was obvious I’d have to get into serious touring. The GSX could cruise at 80 to 90mph all day (with a bit of gearbox work and quite comfy mild racing crouch). The seat was something else, good for only 75 miles before the cramps started and thereafter I had to move around a lot as well as pull over every 50 miles. It you every saw some lunatic standing up on the pegs at 70mph on the M1, that was me trying to relieve the crippling cramps in my thigh muscles after 200 miles of self-abuse.
The seat so spoilt the touring ability of the GSX, that I tore the cover off, put in several layers of high density foam, them compressed it down with the old cover and half a mile of adhesive tape. The finished result was far from elegant but good for about 150 miles before my bum started complaining. Perhaps I‘ve got a sensitive backside, on the RS l was in agony after 30 miles!
By the end of 1993 the clock was reading 33000 miles. True, the carbs were so worn that they needed balancing every 750 miles and it was very hard to put more than 95mph on the clock, but the little twin still whirred away with stunning reliability. Our relationship was such that the GSX let me cane it relentlessly and in return I kept the machine beautifully polished. Rust would occasionally break out on the frame but I cleaned it off, proofed it and painted it gloss black.
With the winter, the poor starting returned. My brothers had both left home and I couldn't bump-start the Suzuki on my own. Several times I ended up frantically pedalling into work on the pushbike. This pissed me off no end, a massive loss of face. I took the GSX to the local dealer who charged me £75 to tell me there was nothing wrong... that’s the problem with sporadic faults, they never turn up when you want them to.
A nice GS550 for £600 turned up, too good a deal to miss. The GSX would have to go. £500 richer, my happiness lasted just a day as the insurance company took most of that for the new policy. I wasn't all that overjoyed with the 550, it was so much heavier that it didn't seem any faster until I got to the open road.
As the next step up from a 125, the GSX250 is a natural. There are quite a few rats around and some nice ones. If anyone knows a solution to the winter starting, let the world know via the UMG. That aside, I’d happily buy another.
Fred Cummings