Shadow Boxer

Scoop finds out if Suzuki’s GT550J is still living in shadow of Kawasaki’s 500cc two-stroke triples.

- Steve Cooper

“Always the bridesmaid, never the bride”; if you’re into 1970s classics then that phrase may strike a chord with you when run alongside Suzuki’s GT550.

For reasons that are as biased as they are inaccurate, the middleweight triple has perpetually lived in the shadow of the Kawasaki H1 both then and now. Back in the day, in the UK at least, some insurance companies ran a capacity break from 351-499ccs which meant, against all logic and common sense, that a GT550 was perceived as more of a risk than a Kawasaki 500 Mach III. Four decades on and the Hamamatsu machine is still perceived as the poor relation, somehow a lesser entity, less charismatic and, ultimately, is perceived as being worth less: all of which is a huge shame and totally unjustified.

The two manufacturers were always aiming at different target markets and whatever anyone else might say then or now a direct comparison is about as valid as comparing apples with oranges; different flavours, different uses, different riders. Suzuki’s logic at the time of the bike’s inception was a lot more sensible than it might at first seem. Having delivered a raft of hugely successful singles and twins; triples were the next logical step. However, Kawasaki had got there first in 1968 with its ‘take-your-brain-out, heart-into-your-mouth, bum-clenching’, 500 triple Mach III.