Memories....

[adouglas]

Just ran across something that sends me back. This, a 1982 Suzuki GS650L, was my first bike -- rather, my first bike was this model, not this actual bike. Turns out they're pretty rare. I don't see this particular variant (the L model) too often.

I bought it in 1987 when I was young and didn't know what the hell I was doing. Only bike I've ever crashed.

It came from a dark period when the Japanese thought that Americans wanted "chopper-esque" features like stepped seats and sissy bars on their rice burners.

Lord, was it uncomfortable. And ugly. It was brown. But it was all mine....

From this I went to an EX500 (aka Ninja 500), then a newgen 250. The 250 was way better than its predecessors and the first bike I truly loved.


http://newyork.craigslist.org/wch/mcy/5111224872.html

[csmith12]

WOW! I had one of these also. Was my 3rd bike. They were plenty common round my parts in the early 90's but no so much anymore cept in the tall weeds in the backyard or out behind the shed. lol

I remember treating mine pretty bad but it always treated me right. Sold it for 8 big faces and when to an HD.

[choneofakind]

ha, actually!

I have a buddy. His dad has a beautiful model, same color as that one. Was sitting in some dude's basement since the mid 80's. He bought it in 2012 for next to nothing, changed the fluids and tires, cranked her over, and now rides it regularly. Looks good, sounds good, and gets ridden regularly. Less than 10k on the clock.

[Sirref]

Nice! I'd ride it, not necessarily in that color but I'd ride one of those

[LittleRedNinjette]

I wonder if i'll be looking at the newgens like that in 20 years.

I'd ride it. Love the color on that one.

[InvisiBill]

A little more cruiser-y, but obviously from the same era, my first bike was an '85 VN700.



It looks like your typical Harley-copying cruiser, but the engine wasn't so stereotypical. It had an 8500rpm redline and could do 0-60 in 5.0 seconds. As far as fat (it was over 500lb dry) cruisers go, it was fairly spritely.

When it started having issues, my TU250X experience in the MSF class got me looking at Ninja 250s (and joining here). While looking for 250s, I stumbled upon my 500 deal, and here I am.

[sh123469]

Originally Posted by adouglas

It came from a dark period when the Japanese thought that Americans wanted "chopper-esque" features like stepped seats and sissy bars on their rice burners.

We still have the stepped seats except not near as comfortable(just look at your 250/300) and now they slope downward instead of having a nice level sitting area, and they never did figure out how to make a decent sissy bar.

[FrugalNinja250]

I've got one of these sitting in my carport, though it's in really rough shape. Missing/rusted tins, broken plastics, rotted seat, and one carb body that has a broken float boss inside which doomed the project. It's a shafty just like this, and in fact it's the same color blue. Have no idea what to do with it, will probably eventually scrap/part it out since it has a title problem.