Kettle Clinic

Thanks Ian,interesting info,I know from my metal compliance plate on the headstock of my GT750A (sent you photos of the plate a while ago) that she was "born" around November 1975...will now check front rim for date stamping..no good looking at the rear rim,as it was replaced 2 years ago ! Birthday cake & 40 candles next year....not me,the bike !!!
Cheers,
Roger

Ian,

Thats really interesting info (anorak zipped right up of course). A small delight in realising that from the stamped numbers, the GT750 VM32 carbs I bought for a song off ebay are in fact 1973 K carbs.

Cheers,
Mike

Roger Ackery wrote: .... my metal compliance plate on the headstock of my GT750A (sent you photos of the plate a while ago) that she was "born" around November 1975...

Here you go Roger - I had misplaced it as you'll recall you originally sent it to me under your friend Luke's email address, but it is there now. Many thanks again for the photo ! Just click on the photo for the large version, and to see the photo credit.

http://www.oldjapanesebikes.com/GT750_f ... page-A5111

Doing some more clean up and tidying:

• - cleaned up the Frame Number section, and also added a new spreadsheet for older models so I can start to capture data

• - moved the T500/GT500 material to the front cover

The direct link to the resource pages again is:

http://www.oldjapanesebikes.com/mraxl_G ... index.html

Ian, the dating info is fascinating to me; I will check the date stamps on my rims as I've always wanted to know roughly when my bike was manufactured.
It was first registered on the road on 1st march 1976 ( an A model), so I suspect it was on the production line in late 75/ early 1976 and then shipped to the UK.
Hopefully this info will confirm this.
Many thanks for the post and what a great site Mraxl is; I've been follwing it for a good few years.
cheers,Andy

Thanks Andy - appreciated.

I'm nearing completion of a new section to be called 'The Field Guide to the GT550' and which is based on work Manfred Schönherr in Germany first did in the early 1990's, and which he has agreed to let me use. Those of you owning original paint GT550's could help out by emailing photos of your bikes that clearly show the tanks, seat, side covers, instrument cluster and switch gear. Actually, the only switch gear I would need photos of would be for the J and K as it was all the same for both GT550 and GT750 for 1974 and onwards. What I'd like to be able to do is show good examples of the different colours that were offered in different markets. This effort will not be as detailed as I did for the GT750 - more of a pocket guide I suppose - as other than the split between the EU and North American engine types, the bicycle bits were pretty much unchanged other than cosmetics.

My email is ian@oldjapanesebikes.com - and if you do send a photo or two, please also tell me how you'd like your name to appear in the photo credit (some people prefer to use their forum 'handles' rather than their actual names) .

Thx !

oldjapanesebikes wrote:Thanks Andy - appreciated.

I'm nearing completion of a new section to be called 'The Field Guide to the GT550' and which is based on work Manfred Schönherr in Germany first did in the early 1990's, and which he has agreed to let me use. Those of you owning original paint GT550's could help out by emailing photos of your bikes that clearly show the tanks, seat, side covers, instrument cluster and switch gear. Actually, the only switch gear I would need photos of would be for the J and K as it was all the same for both GT550 and GT750 for 1974 and onwards. What I'd like to be able to do is show good examples of the different colours that were offered in different markets. This effort will not be as detailed as I did for the GT750 - more of a pocket guide I suppose - as other than the split between the EU and North American engine types, the bicycle bits were pretty much unchanged other than cosmetics.

My email is ian@oldjapanesebikes.com - and if you do send a photo or two, please also tell me how you'd like your name to appear in the photo credit (some people prefer to use their forum 'handles' rather than their actual names) .

Thx !

Ian,
I am looking for the start and ending engine and frame numbers for the J model. Can you help please?
Thanks Gary

My original J which I bought in August 1972 had engine/frame numbers 10576/10595 and was the first in my area, I was told at the time it was the first registered in Yorkshire and must have been one of the first in the UK if that helps at all.
My current (in bits) J, registered October '72 has engine/frame 139**/151**, so probably over 3000 bikes sold in a couple of months.

Per Suzuki, the first one globally was GT750-10001 with engine number GT750-10001, and the last ones were GT750-30689 (or 31252 depending on another source) and engine GT750-31356. Alan H's first and current are obviously very early ones indeed !

As a matter of interest - I now have in my possession GT750-16152 and also GT750-16153 - sequentially numbered bikes, obviously both part of the same shipment to a dealer here in Calgary and both undoubtedly built within minutes of each other. The frame on 152 I think is too far gone to restore, but the 153 frame seems serviceable. And - for the anoraks amongst you - something else that may be of interest. The engine numbers are out of order, as the 152 frame has engine 206 and the 153 frame's engine is 203. Again - both engines must have been built within minutes of each other but were installed out of order on the assembly line. Both bikes have had very hard lives and are little better than wrecks really, but I'll be posting photos on my web site as the build (or perhaps 'builds') progress - we'll see how I get on over the next couple of years.

oldjapanesebikes wrote:Per Suzuki, the first one globally was GT750-10001 with engine number GT750-10001, and the last ones were GT750-30689 (or 31252 depending on another source) and engine GT750-31356. Alan H's first and current are obviously very early ones indeed !

As a matter of interest - I now have in my possession GT750-16152 and also GT750-16153 - sequentially numbered bikes, obviously both part of the same shipment to a dealer here in Calgary and both undoubtedly built within minutes of each other. The frame on 152 I think is too far gone to restore, but the 153 frame seems serviceable. And - for the anoraks amongst you - something else that may be of interest. The engine numbers are out of order, as the 152 frame has engine 206 and the 153 frame's engine is 203. Again - both engines must have been built within minutes of each other but were installed out of order on the assembly line. Both bikes have had very hard lives and are little better than wrecks really, but I'll be posting photos on my web site as the build (or perhaps 'builds') progress - we'll see how I get on over the next couple of years.

Ian,
should they read GT550 and NOT GT750.You are referring to the 550, right?