I had a 1982 GS650G. I loved that bike. It was large enough for two up touring, light enough for fun, had shaft drive and was smooth as silk. I sold it when it was about three or four years old and had around 10,000 miles on it. I looked for a used one and found that they do not exist because they had a tendancy to not make it past 20,000 miles without self destructing. Longevity is what drew me to Honda. My 1975 550K is my first Honda. There is no comaparison between the build quality. Suzuki didn't build a four stroke until the late '70's and I think they had a learning curve.
Would I buy a new Suzuki? Yes. A 1970's or '80's? No way.
You're missing out mate, apart from my GS750 with less than 20000 on the clock, all my GS1000's have done 50,000 plus miles with no problems whatsoever, I've been around big Suzy's for years, and my cousin ran a dealership for over 10 years, and we've never heard that myth about GS650G's self destructing, so I'd suggest it's just that, a myth.
Honda builds great bikes, and have been building 4 strokes since the end of WW2, but that didn't stop them from building a few lemons, the VF750/1000 series of the early eighties was a case in point, and when they couldn't fix the problem, they dropped it completely, and built a whole new engine.
While I love my CB750's, there's nothing that Honda built in the 1980's (apart from possibly the mighty CB1100R) that would dissuade me from riding a GS1000S, GSX1100 Katana, or the mighty GSXR1100! What did Honda have to challenge these 1980's "Muscle-Bikes"? Nada! Cheers, Terry.
