Today in motorcycle history, December 22, 2007

  

  Remembering the Suzuki two-strokes.

  I came across this article in Rider magazine dated December 22, 2007 and thought someone would enjoy a short version of it. Enjoy a stroll down memory lane.

  "In the early 1970's there must have been somebody at Suzuki headquarters who was a numerologist, and felt that 185 had to be a lucky number. In 1971 there appeared the TS185 Sierra, a 183cc two-stroke single set up as a woods bike; followed by the GT185 Adventurer in 1973, this 184.8cc two-stroke twin street bike; and then the 1974 TC185 Ranger, a woods bike that was quite similar to the TS185, differing mostly with its dual-range transmission. Now that we have brought up the TS and TC, we’ll ignore them and focus on the GT.

  In 1972 Suzuki began putting the GT (Grand Touring) prefix on its street bikes, from the GT750 LeMans (better known as the Water Buffalo), to the GT550 Indy to the GT380 Sebring, all triples, and then the GT250, GT185 and GT125 twins.

  Suzuki was in its two-stroke stage back then, and had built some exceptional machines in the late 1960's, followed by the excellent triples. One innovation of which the company was most proud was the Ram Air concept, very apparent on this little twin. Take a close look and one sees that this is a vertical twin, parallel cylinders standing upright. The cylinders are perfectly square, 49mm by 49mm, and the air rams are actually built into the cylinder heads. As opposed to being bolted on, as with the 380 and 550 triples.

  The patented Ram Air design was not of any use around town, but out on the open road it allowed these two-strokes to motor along at close to maximum power with no undue side effects, such as overheating. Focusing the air right over the cylinder heads does wonders in getting rid of the heat. The GT185 ran a healthy 7:1 compression ratio, claiming some 21 horsepower at 7,500 rpm, most of which were galloping along when the speed-o needle was at the 75-mph mark..."





  Today in motorcycle history proudly supports the National Association for Bikers with a Disability (NABD). www.nabd.org.uk