For a while now I had been toying with the idea of putting together an overview of what bits and pieces should be attached to a Buffalo manufactured in a given year. I saw this as possibly being helpful, as some of these bikes are approaching 40 years of age, and memories of what came with them originally do fade over time.
Over the years as things break and are replaced, and as these bikes pass through multiple owners, you can quite innocently end up with quite a hodge-podge of parts and bits from different years on one vehicle. Suzuki doesn’t help matters some times, as they up-rev parts numbers to only supply bits from a later model bike as a substitute part, having similar function but often not the same look at all.
Having something that describes what the baseline condition is supposed to be can be useful in many ways. As a specific example, you quite often see bikes advertised as being ‘all original’ and the owners ask for a premium for the privilege – in this case it would be handy to have a check list with a few photos of what the thing is actually supposed to look like, just to be sure. Such a check-list would also possibly be a useful tool to assist folks in identifying parts and pieces on places like eBay. You regularly see parts and bits on eBay and elsewhere incorrectly identified as to the year of bike they are supposed to fit – some of the sellers frankly do not have a clue, which can be great if you as a buyer happen to spot a great deal – but also bad if you also don’t know what the part is supposed to look like and you are relying on the seller to know what they are talking about. A check list with some pictures could be a very handy thing.
After mulling this idea over for quite some time, I finally decided to get off the chair and try to pull together such a guide, and the first version (it will be a work in progress for quite a while I suspect) of it is available on-line for viewing now. I would be the first person to admit, if you are not really ‘into’ these bikes it would make great bed time reading as it will bore most people to tears very quickly – the plot is thin and the character development is non-existent ! That’s OK – it’s a reference book, not a novel.
I’ve called it “A Field Guide to the Suzuki GT750 Le Mans” and it is sub-titled “What’s In Your Buffalo ?”, and I’m not selling it, it is free. It’s offered under a ‘Creative Commons‘ copy write agreement which allows folks to freely share it, copy it and transmit it, so long as they attribute the work and not try to pass it off as their own. In addition, while folks are free to share it etc., they are not free to sell it – this is a non-commercial work. And just to be completely clear – in the document several folks have contributed material – they retain the ownership to their material and it is not mine.
So if I’m not selling it – then why did I write it ? The short answer is that a lot of folks have freely given me help, advice, and even parts etc. , and have not asked for compensation – they were just willing to share what they knew within the global community of like-minded GT750 owners, modifiers (because after all, not everyone wants a stock bike) and restorers. Likewise I am now doing the same and trying to give a bit back to the community.
Hopefully one or two folks will find it useful ! If you want to take a look – just ‘click’ on the picture.
