How many miles can GT750 GO without a rebuild?

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Eddie
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Suzuki 2-Strokes: 1974 gt750, 1963 superhawk

How many miles can GT750 GO without a rebuild?

Post by Eddie »

I know its a kinda open question and all bikes are probably different, but I'm just wondering what is the usual mileage when it needs at least a top end ? (rings) ? my bike has a little over 16,000 original miles and I ran into a guy that used to have a gt750, he said he bought it new in 73 and it seized on him right at 40,000 miles. He apparently kept regular maintenance on it , and did not neglect it at all. The last time I had my exhaust headers off I could see in the cylinders and they all looked pretty scarred up , and my compression is kinda low, but its always been low,,,,just wondering what is about the norm that one of these can go before tearing down?
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Alan H
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Re: How many miles can GT750 GO without a rebuild?

Post by Alan H »

Depends how it's treated, run, maintained.
One guy in Australia has over 100000 miles on only one rebuild ages ago.
Others............
Just run it until it's too tired to run properly. It's up to the individual to decide what's acceptable against what he can afford.
16k is very little for an unstressed engine like the Kettle.
Think of how stupid the average person is, then realise that half of them are more stupid than that.
Eddie
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Re: How many miles can GT750 GO without a rebuild?

Post by Eddie »

That's a lot of miles !, I'm planning on riding it until it won't go anymore, just wondering what the usual , ball park amount of miles they are good for before tear down , thanks for the info !
yeadon_m
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Re: How many miles can GT750 GO without a rebuild?

Post by yeadon_m »

Eddie,

As everyone will say, it hugely depends on how its used, but what many of us have noticed is that a very large proportion of used ones being bought for restoration show mileages in the 30s of thousands of miles. My own hunch is thats as far as they got through a small handful of owners 'back in the day' rather than they stopped working because of being worn out through mileage. I would hazard a guess that 40K would be very commonly easily reached on a well maintained one. If on mileage, the top end might need a rebore. If on time, the crank seals are also very likely to need replacing. On any old one which have never been rebuilt, if I'd a wish to enjoy owning it for an open ended period, I'd recommend you dig in and do it right, once, throughout. Then you've a new motor and you'd be a spectacular oldster if you managed to wear it out before the grim reaper returns the compliment to the rider :-)

Enjoy!
Mike
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Re: How many miles can GT750 GO without a rebuild?

Post by Warehouse1001 »

+1
Frank T
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Re: How many miles can GT750 GO without a rebuild?

Post by Frank T »

10 years ago my every day rider was an original '76 GT750. That bike had about 50k miles on the odo when I sold it and the engine was running fine. Allen Wood (Ironbutt Allen) had one that blew a crank seal at about 90k miles and when he replaced the seal he found the top end still within spec.
Frank Tarpley
1968 Cobra, 1973 T500, 1974 GT380, 1987 Yamaha RZ350, 1988 Yamaha TDR250, 1989 DT50
rngdng
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Re: How many miles can GT750 GO without a rebuild?

Post by rngdng »

As long as the seals hold up and you keep the oiling system working, 40K is easy on a GT750. A GT750 that failed at 40K was not the norm.



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Too many bikes, too much time, ENOUGH SPACE, FINALLY! Never enough money.........
Eddie
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Re: How many miles can GT750 GO without a rebuild?

Post by Eddie »

Thanks guys!,,,,i figured 40,000 miles was not that many miles to have it seize up,,,mine currently has a little over 16,000 miles so I can hopefully put many more on the old girl before I have to tear her down. I was just figuring there might be an average amount of miles that people get on these before a tear down but I guess its all in the bike, how the owner takes care of it and really I guess god.... my cylinders do look shitty but what the hell she runs pretty good I think,,,,hopefully she keeps running ....
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