Richard Simpson Mark II wrote: ↑Wed Oct 08, 2025 9:35 am
garyboy wrote: ↑Tue Oct 07, 2025 11:45 am
XR650 .. quite a different beast .. almost the opposite of an Xtrainer? possibly.
He had 3 different variations of the Suzuki 250 twin, including one Japan Domestic Market one with an electric start.
When the Suzuki Super Six 250 landed in the UK, BSA purchased one for evaluation. Jeff Smith, BSA development engineer and World MX champion conducted an evaluation of it against the BSA C25 Barracuda 250, and ruled it superior to the British machine in every respect, with performance at least comparable to a British 500 four-stroke twin but with greater comfort and reliability.
He was summoned to the director's office...not to be thanked for his efforts and told to go and develop something better, but to be admonished for his negativity and lack of loyalty.
"We have got the Japanese licked" he was told.
Thus perished the British motorcycle industry.
Interesting little story .. though not so little for the industry.
I remember the thinking at the time was that the Japanese were not capable of inovation or good design thinking .. as they lacked the left side of the brain functioning .. just the one side. True Story. Unbelievable !! 2 right sides? lol.
I wondered about that for many years ... and now, 50 years later .. I am beginning to think that maybe they were Wrong. lol.
I suppose I just believed everything everyone said .. not realising that people were telling lies, to put their competetors down.
Now .. I question everyting .. too much in fact.. as I now take a negative view of mankind. A shame.
What I remember most about the suzukis were their impossibly high reving, the incredibly smooth delivery, and the very shiny glittery stuff.
I'd forgotten they had a kickstart .. but it was so light and easy to use, and always started first time .. second time on rare occassions.
The brakes were dangerously poor, and of course the tyres were too hard a material .. not like on the British bikes, which had real rubber, lol.
I saw a GT250 a few years ago at Bridgend, Thunderroad .. it looked so dated .. and small. I never thought it would age .. but compared to present day monsters with abundant technology....
Before I bought mine, a mate had a Supersix .. I seem to remember it was less capacity than the 250?
He stripped it appart, and it lay like that, in bits, for a few years .. then just disappeared.
Of course .. the GT 250 had Six Gears .. a new thing in those days .. and still a novelty in these times, for some bikes .. Suzuki 400?.
