New EXperience

[atomsplitter]

Went for a morning ride with Tom (he was riding my Bobber and I was on my Thruxton R) and while we were coming back from Grapevine Lake he hit the fun handle hard which prompted me to do the same. The front wheel lifted a short distance and then the engine cut out. ??? The motor was still running, I had managed to hit the Thrux rev limiter. Oops. I may be too used to my Speed Triple RS and its rev limit in the lower mesoshere. At about 60mph in 1st the Thrux runs out of revs where the RS is just getting fully into the power band. Shifted to second and all was well. Note to self, parallel twins aren't as rev happy as the triples.

 

[brooke]

Sixty sounds fast for first gear to me . The Rev limiter is meant for guys like you , I hit it a couple of time years ago . Tried to to do it after the remap but chickened just past 8 k . It was pulling like a triple , smooth as silk . Would love to know what power these twins are capable of when tweaked hard .

 

[Agfish18]

I had a similar situation some years ago. I had been riding a Buell XB9R for a couple of years when I decided to move up to the 1125 R. Both were twins, but very different rev ranges/ power bands. I had decided to keep both for the time being. After a few months of riding the 1125 fairly exclusively (new toy syndrome), I decided to get on my XB9R and hit the rev limiter pretty quickly while merging onto a highway. To add to that I kept reaching for that 6th gear that the 9 just didn’t have. Luckily my Thruxton and Tiger are not too bad of a difference.

 

[brooke]

Although usually thought of as high revers , the Kawasaki 750 triple was a notoriously low spinner and a natural wheelie machine . I believe they had just 74hp , the 500 had 60 and maybe turned 8k while big brother struggled to see 7k , removing the air filter was a big help. 2 strokes don’t rev nearly as high as many would have you believe . My air cooled ‘75 250 Skidoo racer made 43 hp at just 8k , my 96 Artic Cat ZR 440 had 94 hp at 8300 with the benefit of liquid cooling and reed valves but just one muffler and rules limited 34 mm carburetors , same size the little Skidoo had .

 

[atomsplitter]

Sixty sounds fast for first gear to me . The Rev limiter is meant for guys like you , I hit it a couple of time years ago . Tried to to do it after the remap but chickened just past 8 k . It was pulling like a triple , smooth as silk . Would love to know what power these twins are capable of when tweaked hard .

I can probably hit 90mph indicated in first gear on my RS, my Thrux can't get there due to the ECU's fun police arresting forward progress. I just need to remind myself which seat I'm sitting on before doing something totally stupid being a hooligan.

 

[Vector]

Although usually thought of as high revers , the Kawasaki 750 triple was a notoriously low spinner and a natural wheelie machine . I believe they had just 74hp , the 500 had 60 and maybe turned 8k while big brother struggled to see 7k , removing the air filter was a big help. 2 strokes don’t rev nearly as high as many would have you believe . My air cooled ‘75 250 Skidoo racer made 43 hp at just 8k , my 96 Artic Cat ZR 440 had 94 hp at 8300 with the benefit of liquid cooling and reed valves but just one muffler and rules limited 34 mm carburetors , same size the little Skidoo had .

Wish I had my 72 Suzuki GT550.

 

[atomsplitter]

Wish I had my 72 Suzuki GT550.

I resurrected one of those around 2004, (it was a barn find), and in a few words, "no you don't."

I also did a resurrection of 74 Suzuki T500 Titan barn find in 2006, final product:

 

[sikatri]

I resurrected one of those around 2004, (it was a barn find), and in a few words, "no you don't."

I also did a resurrection of 74 Suzuki T500 Titan barn find in 2006, final product:
View attachment 59698

Some motorcycles are interesting to look at from the past and I suppose memories are often more favorable than the reality. LoL.

 

[sikatri]

Although usually thought of as high revers , the Kawasaki 750 triple was a notoriously low spinner and a natural wheelie machine . I believe they had just 74hp , the 500 had 60 and maybe turned 8k while big brother struggled to see 7k , removing the air filter was a big help. 2 strokes don’t rev nearly as high as many would have you believe . My air cooled ‘75 250 Skidoo racer made 43 hp at just 8k , my 96 Artic Cat ZR 440 had 94 hp at 8300 with the benefit of liquid cooling and reed valves but just one muffler and rules limited 34 mm carburetors , same size the little Skidoo had .

Got any pictures of those machines? Would love to see what you raced!

 

[Rocky]

Great looking Suzuki!

 

[brooke]

Got any pictures of those machines? Would love to see what you raced!

Got any pictures of those machines? Would love to see what you raced!

Took these off the web . The green ones were obviously oval track machines judging by the drooped left side handle bar although these models served as the factory racers for snocross and cross country as well . The black ones were oval racers only , usually half mile horse racing facilities. For trail use their short suspension and wheelbase made for a very choppy ride . The green ones had about 10 inches of suspension at both ends and despite being a bit short as well still made a great trail machine , very light for the day , 375 lbs , the black ones were just 320 .

 

[sikatri]

Took these off the web . The green ones were obviously oval track machines judging by the drooped left side handle bar although these models served as the factory racers for snocross and cross country as well . The black ones were oval racers only , usually half mile horse racing facilities. For trail use their short suspension and wheelbase made for a very choppy ride . The green ones had about 10 inches of suspension at both ends and despite being a bit short as well still made a great trail machine , very light for the day , 375 lbs , the black ones were just 320 .

Oops, your link must have failed! LoL.

 

[brooke]

Oops, your link must have failed! LoL.

Can’t believe file is too large . Will try again .

 

[sikatri]

Can’t believe file is too large . Will try again .

Now that looks fast! Nothing like the ones I recall in my youth in New England. I had a friend whose family had several skidoos, around 1970.

 

[brooke]

..

Now that looks fast! Nothing like the ones I recall in my youth in New England. I had a friend whose family had several skidoos, around 1970….

 

[brooke]

..

Can’t believe file is too large . Will try again .

 

[sikatri]

..

Oh my! A pair! Lovely!

 

[Vector]

Must be fun.

 

[sikatri]

Must be fun.

There’s fun to be had up north too! You just have to have layers of warm clothing! LoL! Here we have to have layers of clothing in the heat to have fun! LoL.

 

[atomsplitter]

Hey Vector, I finally found pics of that old 72 GT550 Indy I restored back when (my old '41 Farmall H in the background). The paint job was applied back in the 70's by the original owner after he dropped the bike. I had to replace the left side panel after my first road test because it blew off somewhere in the fifty miles I rode it. The old rubber grommets that held it on shattered under the wind's impact. They were the last rubber items I had to replace.





Closeup of bike's 30 year old custom paint:



Found a NOS throttle cable assembly to operate the carbs. The single cable from the grip goes into a hub assembly and pulls three carb cables and one oil injector cable. Getting those all synced up was a bit of a nightmare.


With all that said I was very impressed with this bikes torque down low. I was used to 2-strokes that had to be "on the pipe" to have any real power, but this unit had it right off idle and pulled hard from the bottom. Twin leading shoe drum brakes were adequate but not great. Bike handled reasonably well for being a bit heavy for a 2-stroke.