New to me '74 GT750

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nick5446
Still in the Driveway
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jul 27, 2018 8:44 am
Country: USA
Suzuki 2-Strokes: GT750

New to me '74 GT750

Post by nick5446 »

Hi!

I'm in the Boston area and just picked up a '74 GT750. So far so good. It's needed some basic work to get it reliably rideable, but it's been good to me. I've got to eventually track down a manual for it, but it seems like a pretty straight-forward bike.

One question that's on the front of mind, anyone know why my speedo would read roughly half the speed I'm actually going? It acts like it's working, but if you're paying attention, you quickly realize that it says you're going 30, when you're really going more like 50-60. Wrong drive gear, or wrong speedo entirely? Purely guessing, I think the odo still works normally, but I will confirm tonight.

I've got leaky fork seals, a leaky MC, and worn brake pads. This is making me want to swap in a modern front fork. I've done this a few times to vintage bikes. If you can get over the mis-matched wheels, it's pretty great. Any reason not to do this on mine?

Thanks in advance!
sportston
Expert racer
Posts: 1119
Joined: Wed Jul 10, 2013 12:04 pm
Country: England, UK
Suzuki 2-Strokes: FZ50, GP100, RG125 Gamma, GT380, Bandit 1200S

Re: New to me '74 GT750

Post by sportston »

nick5446 wrote:Hi!


One question that's on the front of mind, anyone know why my speedo would read roughly half the speed I'm actually going? It acts like it's working, but if you're paying attention, you quickly realize that it says you're going 30, when you're really going more like 50-60. Wrong drive gear, or wrong speedo entirely? Purely guessing, I think the odo still works normally, but I will confirm tonight.
It sounds like a faulty speedo. Perhaps it needs a refurb.
As for swapping the front end; no reason why not, but it can be a lot of hard work. You'll have to either re-calibrate or replace the speedo if you change the diameter of front wheel.
nick5446
Still in the Driveway
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jul 27, 2018 8:44 am
Country: USA
Suzuki 2-Strokes: GT750

Re: New to me '74 GT750

Post by nick5446 »

sportston wrote:
nick5446 wrote:Hi!


One question that's on the front of mind, anyone know why my speedo would read roughly half the speed I'm actually going? It acts like it's working, but if you're paying attention, you quickly realize that it says you're going 30, when you're really going more like 50-60. Wrong drive gear, or wrong speedo entirely? Purely guessing, I think the odo still works normally, but I will confirm tonight.
It sounds like a faulty speedo. Perhaps it needs a refurb.
As for swapping the front end; no reason why not, but it can be a lot of hard work. You'll have to either re-calibrate or replace the speedo if you change the diameter of front wheel.
That’s actually a great point…I probably shouldn’t get too worked up about the speedo since I’m going to get rid of it, huh? Haha
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