Smoke ’em if you got ’em. Two-stroke blue smoke, that is, not tobacco. Anyone who is into vintage two-stroke, triple-cylinder, water-cooled dusty barn-find bikes, this is one for you. If you have a thing for huge projects, it wouldn’t hurt either. This 1972 Suzuki GT750J Le Mans is listed here on eBay in Fayetteville, North Carolina, there is no reserve, and the current bid is $910.
This is the only photo that I could salvage without making a vertical-to-horizontal composite to fit the format here, since the seller took all vertical photos. I get it, 90% of people take photos with their phones now and they hold them vertically. My argument is that a pogo stick and rocketship are the only two “vehicles” that are vertical, so turn your phone 90 degrees and take horizontal photos! Sorry, that’s a tired old rant. Back to this incredible project Water Buffalo, which is what most folks called them in the U.S. – they were also known as the Water Bottle in Australia and the Kettle in Britain.
The GT750J, known as the Le Mans in the U.S. and Canada, came out in 1971 for the 1972 model year and it took the world by storm, sort of. It lasted until 1977 at which point, two-stroke bikes were almost gone, although Yamaha offered one up until 1984. Suzuki integrated what they called their SRIS system, or Suzuki Recycle Injection System, which burned excess oil in the crank chambers. They still smoked, however, which is one of the cool quirks of vintage motorcycles for me. The GT750 was based on Suzuki’s T500, but engineers added one more cylinder and water-cooling. In fact, it was Japan’s first water-cooled motorcycle. Cool.
First-year models always intrigue me as far as collectibility goes, but sometimes they have issues that could have been worked out better if time and budget weren’t factors. By 1973, the company had worked out a few bugs, and as is often the case – I’m looking at you, Pontiac Fiero, among others – by the end of the run they had them down to almost a science. You can see that this one is in fairly rough shape. There are missing parts and panels, and it’s been sitting in a shed since the good ol’ USA turned the ripe old age of 200 (1976, for those of you who weren’t paying attention in history class).
The seller tells an interesting story of how this one came to be sitting for almost five long decades. A soldier at Ft. Bragg in North Carolina owned this beautiful bike and one evening, after much celebrating, he was cruising along at 110 mph and got pulled over. The bike went into storage and never came out until now. The engine is Suzuki’s 739-cc water-cooled two-stroke triple, which had 67 horsepower and 56 lb-ft of torque. At 480-500 pounds, this is no lightweight, and the seller doesn’t have the title or the key, bummer. Still, if you’re a Ph.D.-level motorcycle restoration expert, this is one for you. Hagerty’s at $3,000 for a #4 fair-condition version, how much is this one worth? Let’s hear those two-stroke Water Buffalo stories!
“Blue smoke two stroke!” Again a case (no pun intended) of more engine than chassis refinement but boy were they fast up to the corner.
And on those skinny lil bicycle tires no less!
That’s a good point! The tires weren’t up to the task on these bikes, and the whole motorcycle was a bit on the high side, so cornering was a bit iffy sometimes at best.
Begged a friend of mine to let me ride his and after he finally let me but it was so “impressive” that in the future I would have begged him not to have to ride it. It’s water buffalo nickname was appropriate because an actual buffalo likely handled better.
And drum brakes! In ’74 they got a revised frame and disc brakes.
Still,it’s a really cool looking bike that screams “70’s”.
In the continuing saga of most interesting writer, sorry others, but you won’t see this authors name on a 454 Chevelle or rusty Mopar. If the staff allowed gas powered cement mixers, Scotty would cover it.
Couple things to add, as mentioned, 2 strokes had their day, and Suzuki milked it to the end. The GT750 was, by far, the most refined 2 stroke road bike. Previous 2 strokes were noisy, smoky, straighten your arms out on acceleration, but made for poor long distance touring. The GT750 changed all that, kind of the last gasp was the best. The “Water Buffalo”, actually a misnomer, as it was “liquid” cooled,( anti freeze) not water, ( Scotty rolling eyes) was a nice bike. Liquid cooling allowed tighter tolerances, and smoother operation and longevity. It was not uncommon for these to rack up a ton of miles with no problems if you didn’t mind smelling like oil when you got there. This one? Valuable much needed parts, but not nice enough to restore. With the others already well on their way with air-cooled 4 cylinders, Suzuki was behind the game until the GS750 in 1977. THAT changed everything, and launched Suzuki to #1. Today, it remains the only Asian motorcycle in NHRA.
Great comment Howard. 👍
Keep it up.
Has one of the best drum front brakes! Coveted by the go fast guys
I rode one once, what a hoot.Roll on the throttle in first and squeal the tire.Smooth ,quiet and powerful.If I didn’t have a few projects going I would be interested at the current price.Lose the fairing and luggage rack and it would look a lot better.Would be the only one at cruise night.
2 strokes are a major source of air pollution in many 3rd world countries…get rid of them.
In 3rd world countries for sure. Unfortunately, that is where they will live on forever. Modern 2-strokes, like the Rotax E-tec series are incredibly clean. The amount of oil they don’t burn is scary to us older guys.
Yeah, I’m sure Union Carbide has nothing to do with it. Besides, it’s diesel soot that’s the menace, not 2 strokes.
2 strokes are nasty in so many ways. A nice 450cc Honda 4 stroke is all you would ever need. Clean, reliable, cheap to own and run.
I had a Water Buffalo for a while back in the ’90’s. I never rode it to it’s full potential because I’m no speed merchant. I had a much better Suzuki product, the GT-380 which I dubbed “Revenge Of The Nerds”. It was a sweet machine with a smooth as silk engine and a six-speed gearbox. It even had an early digital gear indicator in case you got lost in the gears! Really fun to ride and I wish I had never let it go.
Its nickname was (Water Buffalo), when I was 16 I bought one that had a water leak into one of the cylinders. Yes, it was liquid-cooled and I thought that was so cool. It was my first complete engine rebuild and yes that bike was heavy but it got out of its own way really fast. I learned a lot about motorcycles and went to a Harley next that a neighbor had with 1200 miles and was like new. At 18 teen years old, owning and driving a like-new super glide, I think that was the model. I was the king of the road. I sold it with a 1300-dollar profit, giving my dad all his money back, plus more, and bought a Kawasaki GPZ 550 wrecked (cosmetics) that was fast as hell after fixing. Yes, that Harley was slow as a snail but what did I know at 18 teen years old? I then found a 1969 GT500 Mustang in a farmer’s garage with 64k miles for 3 grand. Drove the piss out of it for a year, sold it for 4k, and thought I had made a ton of money instead of putting it in a garage for 30 years.
Looks exactly like the bike I owned new in 1972. Had just sold my 1969 Honda 750 and needed another bike and the dealer had just got 2 or 3 of these in. Said not the same as the Honda but it is a really smooth riding bike, take it out and see. SO off I went and thought wow, so smooth, about as quick as the Honda but was at that time a few hundred less as I recall. So I kept that bike for about 4 years, never any trouble and sold it to a freind that kept it for at least 5 years. He too said it was the most trouble free bike he had owned. Sure don’t see many of them anywere any more. No longer ride, but see this bike in this color brings back memories.
I do construction progress photos and I HATE when people send vertical shots. Its not a selfie!
When I went to take the motorcycle endorsement test. I took my Yamaha Virago 750. A friend was there with his brother in law’s clapped out Water Buffalo, smoking like a chimney, and barely idling. He’d only rode it once, on the way to the test. I was ahead of him in the maneuverability test. I went, passed, and went into the building to take the written part. A couple of minutes later, my friend comes running into the building, out of breath and sweating. Seems the Buffalo, conked out midway through the test. He got it fired up, then dumped it going through the cones! He begged to borrow the Virago. I let him, to no avail. Good times.
It does not. Have fur or horns or hooves but is still called a water buffalo Had one in the late 70s sold it. To a friend who crashed about a month later and was killed,
Have they never put a bike on a trailer/in a van before? Tie the wheel into the corner so’s it can’t move…
It’s worth making it a goer again. Restoration, less so perhaps.
Popular motors for racing sidecars in the day.
Had one while in the Army in Germany from 1974-75. Would run the Autobahn at 80mph and still give 40mpg.Mine was same color as this. Rear tires only lasted 3000miles because of the speeds. Always got more respect from the locals riding this instead of a American car Went Frankfurt to London twice and never a hiccup.Brought it back but it never did like the land of 55mph back then.
The seller has no clue how to strap down a ‘cycle for transport, especially a heavy bike like this. NEVER with the side stand down and rarely on the center stand. Bid up to $1030, that’s the value of just the front wheel assembly alone. The missing parts on engine as well as the frame side cover shouldn’t be tough to find. The muffler cones are another issue, though. If no registration in the system for the past 10 years, a South Dakota new title can be had for $5. I should know, a friend in Sioux Falls has gotten several titles for me.
I’ve owned at least a dozen GT750’s over the years. They were competition for Kawasaki’s H2 750. Compare the H2 to a Corvette and the GT750 to a luxurious Cadillac. I rode my ’73 GT a little then sold it to a buyer in Norway. The rest of my bikes were parts only machines.
The seller/flipper has only 7 pictures and zero description so obviously they don’t care what it brings.
It’s the EPA that shortened the 2 stroke motorcycles reign of terror in the USA ONLY! as Canada , British isles , Europe enjoyed them well into the 1990s even 2000s in some parts but as stated 1984 ,1985 RZ350LC king Kenny Roberts replica was the last liquid cooled bikes we got while the rest of the world enjoyed Suzukis square 4 2 stroke 500 that won a few Championships even right here at home at Daytona speedway !
Suzuki RG 500 Gama, RZ 500 LC, Honda NSR500 guys google it your missing the best 2 strokes they ever made!
NS400R was Honda’s road-legal racer – the triple. Nice handling, but still totally radge!
Best front drum brake ever!
I bought a new GT750 in 75. They made a few improvements for 75 including a bit more hp and it had dual discs on the front. Gear indicator on the dash, and I discovered by dropping 2 teeth on the front sprocket you really transformed the performance. It was a nice bike, traded it for the 1st GS1000 in town. Now that was a screamer, lightweight and handled great.
If memory serves, they actually lost a couple horsepower when they were revised, to make them a little more “civilized”. This was due to the CV carbs they put on them and also a different exhaust and port tuning, thanks to emissions laws.
Actually the gained a few hp for 75.
These came in two colors that year, in green/turquoise or magenta, the latter of which I had two of! One had expansion chambers, so along with the speed it also made noise. And these first ones were the fastest of the Buffaloes. A carburetor change and revised port timing due to emissions requirements slowed these down slightly in following years. Great bikes though, and they shared a lot of electrics with the Honda CB750.