Suzuki GS650

Article by Dean Johnson

IT WAS THE SUMMER OF 1982 IN A SMALL MIDWESTERN TOWN ON THE BANKS OF MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI RIVER. I HAD RECENTLY GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL AND WAS WORKING PART TIME AT THE LOCAL SUPERMARKET ALONG WITH SEVERAL OF MY MATES.

By now we had all shed our quads, 3 wheelers and farm bikes and with our hourly wage money burning a hole in our pockets we all dreamt of new street bikes.

In the early 80’s we were spoiled for choice but in our town, there was only one dealer and that was Riverview Sports (they are still in business today) which sold Suzuki.

The dealer ran a catchy ad featuring the bike I had to have … along with the watch of course, which was given away with new purchases to fit in with the theme of “The GS650 gives you everything but the time of day …”.

So came the day that I was going to secure my first Saturday night cruiser. Unfortunately I virtually had no money. I had only managed to

My uncle loading it up in NY

Tear down begins straight away

save up a mere $20 bucks (HA!) and I needed a bank loan to cover the $2869, and back then, zero money down loans … forget about it!

In today’s dollars that would have been about $10k.

Fortunately for me I knew the dealer’s owner wasn’t afraid of showing some clever accounting on the sale paperwork that the bank needed to approve the loan.

A couple hours later I am riding the bike home on top of the world … hell, I didn’t even have money for a helmet. It’s 1982, who the hell needs one of those!

And then a few hours later the bike and I are sprawled across the front lawn of the local KFC. A casualty of too high of speed in a sandy curve. Me carted of to the hospital in the back of an ambulance and the bike and its pieces carted back to the dealership.

The bike recovered faster than me thankful for the insurance cover. As soon as it was repaired my mates brought it by the house but I could only take looking at it for so long and with my leg half in a plaster cast I tossed the crutches and got back on the horse.

For 3 years I rode as much as possible and as late into the seasons as I could before the snow came at which time it would be put away until winters end which would/could last up to 6 months!

Then came the day that university, work, and adult life got in the way and I sold the bike to a mate.

Fast forward 35 years and I have been living in Australia for 16 plus years and over the years I thought of the bike and the great times and would like it back.

Obtaining one here in Australia was not an option, as Suzuki did not sell the model here. So, I set out to track down my original bike in the USA. Thanks to social media, friends, and relatives I did just that; unfortunately the bike was now in New York, 15 hours from my hometown and halfway across the US.

My uncle accepted the job to drive out to NY with a trailer to inspect it and, if it was all there buy it back and haul in to North Carolina to put it in a container for its voyage to Brisbane.

That all went according to plan, and 38 years to the day that I bought it, I collected the bike for the importer in Brisbane. Tear down started straight away, but the process of restoring and sourcing parts from all corners of the earth - some of those parts were from the same dealer I bought the bike – took more than two years.

The exhaust system and mudguards were rusted beyond the point of saving so whilst back in the USA is 2019, I wrenched some replacements from a salvage yard in the US

The bike 99% done as I write this, and by the time the mag is finished the bike will be registered and joining in on VJMC runs.