Stoke on Trent Bikers Forum - Star Bikers Charity Toy & Egg Run Message board

fzrgray wrote:

it could be if the baffle as collapsed it could be blocking the exhaust try taking the baffle out

Progress report:  I've replaced the silencers.  Lovely pair.  Of reverse-cone megas in the Dunstall pattern.  As I took the old ones off they rattled alarmingly, and when I looked through, I could see daylight - a perfect circle of it!  On tipping them up with the flared end up, what was left of the 'baffles' fell out!  They consisted of a couple of little tubes with a cut and a dent in each, and they were just rattling around loose in there!  It now sounds even more Triumph-esque - beautifully fruity and not too loud or too quiet - just right!  Soon it will be MOT'd, soon...

Is that an SR500?

You asked me ages ago to post a pic or two of the 650.  So here's one to be going on with...

Last edited by Hic! Mine's a triple (08-10-2008 11:22:19)

And another...




Note the old 'silencer' on this one.

Last edited by Hic! Mine's a triple (08-10-2008 11:24:53)

Looks very nice Hic, is it by any chance an American model?

I was thinking when you mentioned the bike after you posted about it that these larger XS's were very similar in styling & looks to the more modern day SR125 & that was perhaps a factor in the SR's design that was probably inspired by these old classics. Looking at those pics i can see definate resemblences.

Hic! Mine's a triple wrote:

Suzuki came good with the GS550L, after a rather weak version of the GSX250 which gained higher handlebars, wire wheels and half-hearted custom styling while it lost the 'X' and most of its appeal.

I was always lead to believe the GSX250 (we are of course talking late 70's versions) was simply a 4-stroke variation of the GT250, which of course was a 2-smoke twin which of course had the more sporty vcariation of itself which was the X7 (i've owned a couple of them) & many features from the X7 (such as the star pattern wheels) & other bits from the original GT250, went into the GSX250E, which was also hailed as a baby version of the GS850 of the time (if memory serves me right the GS850G) - minus the shaft drive of course!

Well you live & learn as they say, very informative thread this & nostalgic at the same time..  As i say my know-how on what we've been talking about here goes about as far as owning a couple of X7's but i have to say the seat on them was much the same as the GSX, however a lot firmer (so firm the seat cover was prone to splitting) & for some daft reason it was the same level as the tank, so if you jammed the anchors on hard you'd slide off the seat, sliding onto the tank to clout your wedding veg on the fuel filler cap or worse, the top yoke!  Probably accounts for the reason why so many X7's you see these days have cut seats where they have peeled back the seat cover & cut out some of the foam on the rider seat, some do it of course to make the bike a bit more like a proddy racer, but from experience that adding a bit of a recess in the seat to stop you skimming along the tank & singing soprano is certainly welcome for practical reasons. 

Also knowing your point on the suspension, this is something the X7 also suffered with, hence why many X7's have the shock set with the spring at maximum stiffness (as you would for pillion or load carrying) at the back (also means the back of the bike sits a tad higher so we are back to the seat vs gonads problem as theseat then sloped downwards all the more) usually because at the back end it felt more like a bucking bronco ride, or they have swapped the original genuine shocks for aftermarket "get you through an MOT" R&R shocks which despite the fact they were a pile of turd, they seemed the best compromise.

Again like you say, the XS is the better bike over the GS & you say you are biased, one thing i will say is the same could be said for the X7's.. many people always said i should of had an X5 as they were more sporty or bought an "Elsie"(RD250LC/350LC) or the RD250DX instead if i wanted teh same sort of styling.  OK i admit the X7 had it's faults (shock bushes failing regularly, head & exhaust gaskets often failed, it smoked like Dot Cotton) & the LC in comparison was a very scary bike as it was a pure wheelie machine for boy racers, but the X7 had a lot more character & above all it could be used as a tourer or to let your hair down for a good thrash up the cat & fiddle on a sunday afternoon & when i was 19 i prefered something i could use everyday to get to work/college on & not be out of place to much if i went to have a play on at weekends, rather than something that liked it's neck wrung.  It's like the argument many bikers have today, where many say they had more fun running around on an old clapped out FS1E at 40mph trying to get it to the mythical 60mph mark or goind round on a ratter of a 125 that was governed down to 60mph than riding some modern road rocket that goes umpteen million miles an hour.

Yes, the big GS range were excellent pillion bikes - a mate of mine had a 1000G and I fell asleep on the back coming up the M6 one night...  Perfectly fine, it was the most secure feeling pillion perch I ever sat on.  On Wolfie's point about Suzi seats, the GSX250's had a softly padded kick-up at the front which climbed halfway up the back of the tank.  Actually, another good pillion bike, too.