Mystery Solved....Finally....

H2RICK · Post by **H2RICK** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 4:36 pm

You've always wondered why the Italian market 380s were 384cc displacement and NOT 371 like the rest of the world, haven't you ??!!??
Well so did I.

Thanks to a gentleman from Italy and our own Triplerocky, the mystery has been revealed.
I did a writeup for Wikipedia on the Suzuki GT Series and mentioned the 384cc anomaly in the Italian market. A kind gentleman wrote an explanation in Italian. My Italian is kind of rudimentary so I asked Rocky to translate for me which he kindly did.....adding further info to the explanation as well.
Here's the story:
At the beginning of 1975 (calendar year, I believe) the Italian government instituted a ban (or maybe heavy import taxes) on motorcycles smaller than 380cc and lighter than 170kg.
This was done after lobbying by Alejandro de Tomaso who had recently bought Benelli and Moto Guzzi and was apparently an attempt to protect the small bore domestic bike industry.
Suzuki, not wanting to miss any sales in such an important market, simply increased the bore of the 380 from 54mm to 55mm and....voila....384cc displacement. They also made sure that the frame data plate read 171kg regardless of the real weight of the bike.
This effort must have been successful as the 380 went on to be a big seller in Italy.....so big in fact that, if I have it correctly from Rocky, they continued to sell the 380 in Italy until the end of the 1980 model year.
That would surely rank Italy as the last place on Earth still getting 3 cylinder GTs of ANY size during that 1978-80 period.

So now you know....The Rest Of The Story!!! (done in my best Paul Harvey voice)

Post by **Suzsmokeyallan** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 5:36 pm

Thanks Rick, very interesting reading and certainly falling under one of those' restricted market model' headings.

jkevinlilly · Post by **jkevinlilly** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 5:37 pm

Leave it to a government to take an action that causes a re-design of a motorcycle.

OH, wait a minute. That's why Suzuki does't market two stoke street bikes anymore, isn't it.

:^):^):^)

Kevin

H2RICK · Post by **H2RICK** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 11:21 am

Or rotaries either......

Craig380 · Post by **Craig380** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 2:12 pm

Ha, that's brilliant Rick, thanks for that

H2RICK · Post by **H2RICK** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 12:34 pm

Craig, it's this kind of stuff that needs the widest distribution possible so that it is added to the "Body of GT Knowledge" somewhere on the planet.
That's why this board, Muzza's site, mraxl's site, Clive's 550 site and others are so important. The net has made the chances of this knowledge surviving (after all of us are gone) infinitely greater.
IMO, ANYONE with the most trivial piece of Suzi stroker info owes it to the world at large to pass it on to as many interested people as possible.
Utopian ??....maybe....but at least you/I have the satisfaction of knowing we've made an honest effort to keep the flame alive.
End of rant....for now....

Post by **Suzsmokeyallan** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 1:02 pm

So does that mean someones wanting to see the pics of my vintage Suzuki tie pins and lighters.

GT Tim · Post by **GT Tim** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 1:03 pm

Suzsmokeyallan wrote:So does that mean someones wanting to see the pics of my vintage Suzuki tie pins and lighters.

Sure...just don't model your Suzuki brief and boxer collection for us!

Craig380 · Post by **Craig380** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 2:01 pm

H2RICK wrote:Craig, it's this kind of stuff that needs the widest distribution possible so that it is added to the "Body of GT Knowledge" somewhere on the planet.
That's why this board, Muzza's site, mraxl's site, Clive's 550 site and others are so important. The net has made the chances of this knowledge surviving (after all of us are gone) infinitely greater.
IMO, ANYONE with the most trivial piece of Suzi stroker info owes it to the world at large to pass it on to as many interested people as possible.
Utopian ??....maybe....but at least you/I have the satisfaction of knowing we've made an honest effort to keep the flame alive.
End of rant....for now....

You're damned right, Rick, and it's one of the reasons why the Web is so great. Discover / share / pass it on.

In fact when this board's original ancestor was set up nearly 10 years ago

, I got just such a piece of insight from you on the "GT sticking oil pump lever" issue.

And later, I was able to advise another GT owner on a UK forum about the very same issue.

By the way, that's a great job on the Wikipedia entry you did. And do I recognise that green 550 pictured .....?

H2RICK · Post by **H2RICK** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 5:19 pm

Thanks for the compliment, Craig. An author can use all the encouragement he can get....and, yes, that's the mighty Indy shown in the pic.
Unfortunately, I had some nice pics from Ed Zunz's site of a Buffalo and a 380 but Wikipedia has very strict rules concerning copyright issues....even though I had Ed's permission to use the pics. I'm going to have to take some pics of bothof those bikes myself and then upload them to get around their rules. Grrrr......
Ed's bikes are sooooo nice and that Pearl Red and Tan Buffalo is so rare.
Grrrrrr.....

EZ · Post by EZ » Sat Jan 31, 2009 7:24 am

Triplerocky · Post by **Triplerocky** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 10:17 am

Me too, me too.... you can have ALL the permissions you want if you need some pictures of the GT380s of mine.
Is a little narcisism permitted or not?

H2RICK · Post by **H2RICK** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 9:23 pm

Thanks for the offers. PM's on the way, Ed and Rocky.

Post by **Suzsmokeyallan** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 9:38 pm

Rick and i thought youd want another Calgarian located GT bike pic, hmmmmm.