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Dave French-Hewits' GT380 - as featured in Superbike Magazine
Through the smoke darkly comes Suzuki's GT380.
By Graham Scott
The 1970s must have been a great time if you were into two-stroke triples. With both
Suzuki and Kawasaki launching numerous different capacity stroker triples you were spoiled
for choice. Kawasaki's were always that bit wilder, crazier and deadlier, while Suzuki's
triple triples - 380, 550 and 750cc were all smoother, quieter and more civilised. And
this owner. David Hewitt is obviously a Suzuki triple freak since he owns three Suzuki
threes: a Dunstall GT750, a tuned GT750 and a pristine GT380. The smallest triple lacked
both the power of its bigger brothers and the violence of the Kawasakis but was instead a
pleasantly balanced all-rouner, whether hacking to work or tooling off on holiday. He
bought his later 'B' model in 1979, although the bike had hardly changed since its launch
early in 1972, with six-speed box, single front disc, wire wheels and the infamous digital
gear indicator. Doesn't it all sound dated? Compared to the Honda NS400 triple it sounds
positively Jurassic my dears, but not everyone wants something that extreme - or
expensive. David paid £500 for his second-hand model with only 1600 miles on the chromed
clocks, and has only forked out about another £100 since then. The front tyre is still
original and tired while a Bridgestone lurks on the rear. The major expense has been in
the battle against rust and old age. All bolts have been cadmium plated while notoriously
dodgy areas, like under the chromed mudguards, have been heavily lacquered. Given the
original quality of paint and chrome, both somewhat on the thin side, it is proving to be
quite a battle. Mind you. David cheats a bit by treating the bike like something from the
Ming Dynasty. The 380 spends most of its time cosily tucked up in a heated shed, its every
whim catered for. Soft music, subdued lighting; any weapon is used to keep the bike warm,
happy and dry. I glanced at the mileometer to find just over 4000 looking back at me. Hum,
that makes 4000 minus 1600 divided by four take away the number you first thought of .
While my brain battled with a figure for average annual mileage he put me out of my misery by commenting that in 1985 his total mileage was nine miles. Obviously an all-weather biker, this one. At 4000 miles he did a decoke, but otherwise has hardly touched the engine. He rates it as very reliable, but then so it damn well should be with such a low mileage and such a pampered life. "It is basically an ornament," he opined, and I couldn't argue with that. Wonder what the designers back in Japan. would make of all this. I'm not personally that keen on treating a mass-productionbike as an object of veneration, so I made it my business to take it out for a thrash. David asked me to keep the revs down as, incredibly, the motor is still a bit tight, and followed this up by pointing out that he manages the butchery department of a local store. I took his drift and kept the revs down. It's actually quite fun to ride in a relaxed sort of way. It is incredibly smooth, certainly the smoothest of the triples, and sounds quite nice in a tinny fashion. The three-into-four exhausts smoke a fair bit but that is not surprising as the bike never gets a good hammering to clear it all up. At low revs it tinkled happily along but obviously needing hard revving before any thing exciting happened. The brakes were surprisingly good but the front end was a bit wandery, doubtless due to the knackered front Jap tyre. A close encounter of the second kind with a demented donkey showed that it could be flicked around with reasonable ease even with rider and donkey trying to kick each other. Whatever happened to dogs running out in front of you? Life used to be so simple. Despite the low mileage, David every now and then needs some spares, more for fiddling about than necessity, but has found no problem with getting hold of them. It does seem that the spares back-Up for all these older Japanese bikes is just as good (or bad) as the set-up for the latest hot-pooper. All in all, then, David is quite happy with the way things are going bike should last to the end of the century the way things are looking now, at which stage theoretically, it ought to be worth a fair bit of money. Already it is worth more than he paid for it, which isn't something that can be said for an NS400 or like. If he had the mone he would buy a Laverda. surely the ultimate triple, whether four or two-stroke but, since that happy situation seems unlikely, he is perfectly content to potter out to the heated shed every few months when the Sunday is hot of course and take his 380 for a spin through the lanes before giving it a clean and tucking it away. Why not?
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