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GT750 Production Overview

Excluding Japanese local market sales, the GT750 had a commercial export production run of six years covering 1972 through 1977, with early frames actually having been built in 1971. The frame numbers are also listed in each section that follows, but by way of a quick overview:

The last frame number appears to be GT750-80508 belonging (at the time of writing) to Bjorn in Scandanavia. The highest engine number Martin Krause of the Wasserbueffel Club in Germany has recorded so far is GT750-87388 and he also notes that the machine in the Suzuki museum in Japan is frame number GT750-80507.

Suzukis model identification system used letters which corresponded to the year of manufacture so all Suzuki motorcycles made in 1972 were 'J' model vehicles (1973 was 'K', 1974 was 'L', 1975 was 'M' and then just when it was starting to make sense, 1976 was 'A', and 1977 was 'B'). The Japanese domestic market used a different system which is covered in its own section here.

Of course, the Suzuki GT750 was not the first large displacement liquid cooled two stroke motorcycle, or even the first two stroke triple - that honour goes to Scott Motorcycles in the UK which produced a very small number (specifically eight !) of 750cc and 1000cc liquid cooled two stroke triples in the 1934/1938 time period. However, the Suzuki GT750 was the largest displacement, mass produced (roughly 71,000 were sold world wide in total), liquid cooled two stroke engine ever offered for retail sale. The GT750 offered comfortable, low vibration highway cruising, reasonable fuel economy (roughly 45 mpg using Imperial gallons, or 6.3 l/100km) and as such was a strong alternative to Honda's CB750, and it aimed for a completely different market than did Kawasaki's incredible two stroke offerings. As such the Suzuki GT750 stands alone.

The following sections focus on year specific details, and in a departure from early versions of this guide, the focus is on the the 'E1 General Export' version. Please note that this specification differs slightly from what was offered for sale in North America, the UK and some other large markets. I have attempted to capture market specific changes in the section on region specific models. The detailed component reviews often include photos of parts and bikes as you are most likely to find them - somewhat tired and faded ! Most of the photos are my own, but many people have also sent me photos, so where I have the information I have tried to give proper credit to the photographer.

Before starting in, I should also mention that I'm not a 'purist' when it comes to these bikes, but I do think that when that rare occasion occurs when you are presented with a presentable, un-molested, and complete example then it should just be kept as is - to quote my friend Fred, "It's only original once !". The information that follows then, will be of use in determining just how original the example is, as well as being a guide for keeping it 'original' should you wish to use the vehicle, because after all that was what they were intended for and in doing so, things will inevitably break and need to be replaced.

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