Suzuki Gs750 Owner Survey
Suzuki GS750 Owner Survey
Extraordinary Dependability and Owner Loyalty Characterize the Suzuki GS750
"A quiet and tasteful motorcycle which is also the quickest and best handling production 750 on the market." That was in January, 1977. In April, 1979, after a little over two years of technological warfare among the major motorcycle manufacturers, the Suzuki GS750 still stood out with its balance of virtues. For 1980 the 750 Suzuki is vastly different, but that's another story.
But enough of what we think. There are a lot of Suzuki GS750s on the roads. If they are as good as they’re supposed to be, those Suzuki owners should be a loyal, wellsatisfied group. Right?
Two hundred forty eight Suzuki owners responded to our survey, with 46 percent owning 1977 models, 49 percent with ’78s and the rest have ’79s. Most, (88 percent) were bought new.
Despite its long-distance capabilities, only 59 percent of the owners tour with their 750s (compared to 70 percent of the Yamaha 750 owners). On the flip side, 89 percent of the Suzuki owners use their bikes for pleasure riding compared to 80 percent for the Yamaha. Commuting and transportation was listed by 75 percent of the owners, about the same as for the Yamaha.
The riding style figures suggest the Suzukis are put to less sedate, more athletic uses. The moderately hard and average percentages (47 and 35) are almost exactly the opposite of the Yamaha figures (37 and 47). Compared to the Yamaha, more Suzuki owners ride very hard (12 vs 8 percent) and fewer ride gentler than average (6 vs 8 percent).
Even though relatively few are used for touring, the GS750s still manage to pile up the miles. The new bikes had from 700 to 80.000 miles on the odo. averaging 10,500 mi. The used machines averaged 7300 mi,
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continued from page 86 so the overall average mileage is about 10.100 mi. All together, the Suzukis in our survey have covered nearly 2.5 million mi. Per year mileages were as high as 27.000 mi. but the average was 7500 mi., a typical figure for the bikes we've surveyed so far.
Fuel economy figures of 25-52 mpg were reported with an average of just under 40 mpg. Jumping ahead a bit. 17 percent of the owners call the fuel economy a worst feature while 4 percent list it as a best feature. It’s the lowest fuel economy we've encountered so far in our surveys.
Suzuki GS750s are average to work on according to 65 percent of the owners. Thirty-four percent call the Suzuki very easy and only 1 percent think it is difficult to service. Twenty-nine percent always do their own maintenance. 37 percent usually do. 33 percent do sometimes and the remaining 1 percent never work on their bikes.
Parts aren't a problem for most Suzuki owners. Eighty nine percent find parts are always (38 percent) or usually (51 percent) available. Nine percent say they’re sometimes hard to find while only 2 percent always have trouble finding parts.
Maintenance problems? Not really. Sixty-six percent of the owners report no maintenance problems and there are only four problem areas that 2 percent or more of the owners mention. Shim-type valve adjustment (Haven’t we heard this before?) leads the list, mentioned by 8 percent. followed by chain problems, such as frequent replacement or adjustment (4 percent), frequent or difficult carburetor adjustment (3 percent), and complaints about soft-headed bolts and screws or sticking threads (2 percent). Several riders suggested replacing the Phillips-head bolts and screws with alien heads.
About half (46 percent) of the Suzukis are kept in stock condition and most of the rest have received only mild modifications, usually not more than a header and rejetted carbs. Headers (27 percent) are the most popular modifications, followed by custom handlebars (23 percent), carb rejetting (10 percent), fork air caps (9 percent) and airbox modifications or different air filters (5 percent). Other mods mentioned by 2 percent or more of the ow ners include gearing (5 percent), internal fork modifications (4 percent) and lighter throttle return springs, modified seats, drilled brake discs, mirrors, carb modifications and internal engine modifications, each with 2 percent.
Fairings and other touring goodies head the list of accessories, but at much lower percentages than on the Yamaha 750 or the BMWs. Forty-five percent of the Suzuki owners added fairings, compared to 70 percent of the BMW and 60 percent of the Yamaha 750 owners. Forty-four percent added luggage racks, 36 percent got sissy bars or backrests. 35 percent installed case guards and 24 percent replaced the
original seat with an aftermarket one. Other popular accessories are quartzhalogen headlights (23 percent), cruise control (18 percent), shocks (16 percent), electronic ignition (15 percent), saddlebags ( 14 percent), horns and oil coolers (10 percent each), grips (9 percent) and cast wheels and travel trunks (8 percent each). Finishing up the list of accessories listed by 2 percent or more of the owners are highway pegs. CB. tank bags, radios. Safety-Brakers. driving lights and fuel filters.
There are a few products that seem to turn up on every survey in the “especially good accessories” category and many of the accessories praised by Suzuki owners are those familiar and apparently high quality, products. Vetter Windjammer and Vindicator (a Windjammer without the extras) fairings are the runaway leaders with 41 riders giving them high marks. Four riders like their Pacifico Shadows and three riders each like the Silhouette and Dick’s Cycle West fairings.
Ten riders told us they get excellent results (easier starting, longer plug life and easier tune-ups) with Martek electronic ignition systems. Vanda-Cruise controls and S&W shocks were each praised by nine riders and S&W got three more “good accessory” votes for the fork kits. Fiamm electric horns and Kerker headers were each highly rated by eight Suzuki owners. J&R headers got three mentions and were the only other headers listed by three or more riders.
GS750 owners also had nice things to say about Lockhart oil coolers (seven mentions). Continental tires (six), Boge shocks. Amco racks, and KG racks and backrests (four each), and K&N air filters, SafetyBrakers, Hang 2 seats. Eclipse tank bags, Lester wheels, Bosch quartz headlights, Goki air fork caps and Gran Turismo grips, each mentioned by three riders.
Only three accessories got a thumbs down from the Suzuki riders and they are all high on the list of good accessories. Five riders complained of rust and paint peel on the Kerker headers, three riders said the Vetter fairings are overweight, fit poorly, vibrate or cause handling problems and three riders said the Vanda-Cruise won’t hold a constant speed.
Dealer rating are about average for our surveys, with the largest number (36 percent) rated very good and progressively fewer in each lesser category. Thirty-one percent were rated good, 17 percent fair, 11 percent poor and 5 percent got a very poor rating. Five of the owners rated the local dealer very good for the simple reason that they work there! The poorly rated dealers earned their status with, as one rider put it, “no parts, no service, no respect, full list price plus 10 percent.” And one rider said that if you ask his local dealer for a GS750 oil filter, he’ll reply “none of the twostrokes have one."
Forty-six percent of the Suzuki 750s needed only routine maintenance and the bikes that had problems show' a definite pattern. Head gasket oil seepage (cosmetic only, no loss of compression) is the most common problem. We broke the complaints down by year and found that 21 percent of the 1977s. 18 percent of the ’78s and 17 percent of the ’79s have the problem. continued on pape 150
Suzuki GS750 Owner Survey
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In 1978. Suzuki changed the head gasket (the updated 1978 gasket can be retrofitted to earlier GS750s) and recommended that a sealant. Suzuki Bond 1211 be used on the O-ring around the cam chain area of the cylinder head. In early 1979, another bolt was added to increase the pressure on the O-ring.
According to Suzuki, the seepage problem is cured with the updated parts and this is included in the warranty. They also recommend torqueing the head bolts at 600 mi. and afterward, at 4000 mi. intervals. The large head bolts should be torqued first (25 to 29 lb-ft), followed by the smaller, 6mm bolts (5 to 8 lb-ft). Each bolt should be loosened a quarter turn before being torqued and the valve clearances should be checked after all the bolts have been torqued. To determine the source of a seepage problem, a Suzuki representative suggests cleaning the engine and then spraying the suspected area with dry powder deodorant. Run the bike for a few minutes and any oil seeping out will darken the powder and be visible immediately.
Fork seal leakage was reported by 13 percent of the owners. One owner suggested lubing the seals frequently with light penetrating oil to reduce stiction and increase seal life. The only other relatively common problem was speedo and tach cable failure which another rider says can be reduced by lubing the cables with silicone-based grease.
Do Suzukis break down? Never. Never? Well, hardly ever. Only 5 percent of the* GS750s in this survey broke down or stranded their owners, a new record for our surveys, well below the 9 percent rate for BMWs. There is absolutely no pattern to the breakdown reasons, which suggests they are of purely random nature that has nothing to do with design or quality. None of the breakdowns were attributed to the head gasket.
Nine percent of the Suzukis have been down while waiting for parts, not quite as good as the BMWs (6 percent), but the average waiting time of 22 days is the shortest of any of the bikes we’ve surveyed.
Under hints, one rider wrote, “I could sure use some.” and the other GS750 owners provided plenty of them. Most common hint is to keep doing the usual preventative maintenance, frequent oil changes and tune ups, etc. Recommendations for improving chain life ranged from lubing it while hot or packing it with Vaseline to replacing it with GS1000 chain and sprockets. Cornering clearance can be improved by removing or filing down the center stand and one owner cautioned, “Don’t leave the kickstand down when pulling the bike up on the centerstand or> it’ll pinch your foot off.” According to one rider, the easiest way to change the jets is to remove the entire carb block, and another rider suggests using grease to hold the oil ►filter O-ring in place. Other hints include. “Get thee to the country. Then, goest thou very fast!” “Be patient. It’ll warm up eventually.” and “Just bend over and give ’er hell. She can take it!” A drag racer told us, “Hints I keep to myself or I wouldn’t be winning.” Uh, thanks a lot.
GS750 owners found quite a few good points to rave about, but nearly all agree on the best feature. A nearly unanimous 81 percent of the Suzuki owners call the handling one of the GS750’s best features. Next on the list is speed (29 percent), followed by reliability and power (27 percent each), style or appearance (25 percent), and smoothness (20 percent). The owners also like the brakes (17 percent), ride quality ( 14 percent), comfort ( 10 percent), engine responsiveness (9 percent), easy starting (7 percent), ease of maintenance (6 percent) and the digital gear indicator (5 percent).
GS750 owners have a few gripes. The seat. “rock, vinyl covered” as it was described. was listed as a worst feature by 22 percent of the owners. Poor fuel economy was listed by 17 percent, 14 percent said the GS750 is too cold-blooded and 11 percent found the throttle return spring too strong. “Gorilla-rated” one called it.
The handlebars and lack of low and mid-range power (8 percent each), the brakes (poor wet braking and noise) and the chain drive (6 percent each) finish up the list of worst features. Twelve percent said they found no worst feature.
Most of the changes desired by the Suzuki owners are also worst features. The >seat is a sore point with 13 percent, and 10 percent each want better fuel economy or electronic ignition. A softer throttle return spring, better carb jetting or accelerator pumps, and more mid-range power were each listed by 8 percent. The owners would also like to see a better riding position (7 percent), less weight, a larger fuel tank and a quartz-halogen headlight (5 percent each). Finally, 4 percent each would like shaft drive, softer grips, better handlebars, better or larger tires and a better exhaust system.
We have a new record for owner loyalty. Asked if they’d buy another Suzuki. 98 percent replied, “Sure!” “You bet!” and “Greatest way to fly since the Wright Brothers.” Sixty percent said they’d buy another GS750 and most of the remainder want to move up to an 850 or a GS1000. Judging by the comments. Suzuki owners are delighted with their machines. “Dependable as a pet rock.” “The cops have stopped me seven times but I haven't ever gotten a ticket—they start talking about my bike!” As one owner put it. “I can’t wait for the day, 20 years hence, when heads turn to see if the bike I’m riding really is a 1977 GS750!” ' ES
