@ Trueblue,
Do you mean this one:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_GT750 ?
I am not knowledgeable about the 70's... what do other members think? Was it the fastest and most head turning of the time? To me it sounds like a very good contender... If I understand correctly this one replaced the H2, right? And was sold before the GS750, right? It was certainly an important milestone in motorcycle industry. Wikipedia says it was the first water cooled & the first double front disk brakes. What about performances with respect to the CB750K?
The H1/H2/H3 was outlawed in many large cities, due to its extreme smokescreen when flying down freeway on-ramps. Kawi later solved this by doing what Suzy had done in their GT550/750 3-cylinder 2-strokers: they added some suction valves in the crankcase to pull the oil accumulation out on a more consistent basis while riding, to avoid the buildup. But, by 1975 the 2-stroke street bikes' handwriting was on the wall, due to the smoky Kawi triples, as several big cities (LA, Chicago, NY, Atlanta, among others) would simply not license the bikes, and some cops (at least in Chicago) were ticketing the riders by using the "too much smoke" ordinances against worn-out cars in those days.
Most of these ordinances were later beaten back in the courts, but like today's situations, the damage was already done.
The Kawi Z1 tried to dominate the street in the mid-1970s, but guys like me kept putting it back in its place with the CB750.
The GT750 was very heavy for its day (54 lbs more [bare] than my Vetter-equipped 750K2, by our local trucker scales' reports). It had one major advantage over all the others that even Craig Vetter liked so much he bought one and rode for many years: it's powerband in 5th gear started at 48 MPH and pulled like a locomotive to 90 MPH, so it was always "on tap" when touring. Touring was HUGE in the 1970s and 1980s, probably 5x more than today (based on my wet-finger observations on interstates as I cruise the country for work), and the Z1 was too buzzy for most rider's tastes in that service. The CB and the GT750s dominated this activity until the GL1000 appeared.
When the Kawi improved into the KZ1000 series, it challenged even the GL for touring service, and the police especially loved them. They could idle for 30 minutes alone, or run to 130 MPH in a few seconds, a great pursuit bike!
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