CONTENT S

BACK ROAD EXPERIMENT

[Rode Testing Suzuki's High Performance GS750] Dave Petersen . ... 12

A BIKER’S GUIDE TO DAYTONA BEACH

[Touring The Environs of Speed Week Country] Bob Anderson........24

SPRING FEVER: SOME TESTED RECIPES

[Camping With Cliff] Cliff Boswell...............................31

SPEAKING YOUR NATIVE LANGUAGE

[Humorous Notes on the English Language] Roger Lovin.............39

WINDFALL

[Experiencing a Bike Club's Movie Debut] Ruth Calif..............42

YAMAHA ‘77

[Preview of What's in Store This Year]...........................50

GOURMET TOUR

[People Going Places to Eat].....................................52

LOVE STORY

[An Opinion of the Dual Purpose Yamaha XT500D] R. L. Carpenter . . 74

STRICTLY STREET

[One Biker's Solution to the Commuter Problem]...................79

SCENIC “NINE”

[There's This Road ... in West Virginia] William Phillips........85

Faulty Muffler....................................................2

Two Up............................................................4

Letters...........................................................6

Reports at Random................................................46

Product Report

Signal Sentry...............................................48

F.Y.1............................................................56

File Under “B” For “Bureaucrap” .................................60

What About... ?..................................................66

Book Review

Cycle Touring...............................................72

What’s Happening.................................................82

Classified.......................................................86

No Comment.......................................................88

Advertisers’ Index...............................................88

COVER: The back roads of America offer a refreshing change of pace and scenery

for the touring motorcyclist who ventures off the blacktop. This particular country

lane is part of the extended "driveway” leading to the home of the A.L. Petersens in

eastern Oklahoma. Mr. Petersen shot this back road photo of son Dave arriving for a

visit on this month's test bike: the Suzuki GS750.

In the summer of 1976, representatives

from assorted motorcycle publications

were airlifted to Montana for a preview

ride on Suzuki’s new GS750 four-stroke.

After the brief 500-mile ride, I wrote up

my first impressions (“Is It Suzuki’s

Turn?” — October, 1976 RR) and said

that I was looking forward to doing a

standard Road Rider Rode Test on the

machine. The chance to do just that

came sooner than I expected, and it

wasn’t long before a Suzuki van rolled

into the RR parking lot and a bright red

GS750 was off-loaded.

Considering that the GS750 is Suzuki’s

first attempt at manufacturing a large

displacement four-stroke motorcycle, it’s

obvious that the research department has

done its homework. The machine is not

only attractive on the outside — it is

completely state-of-the-art on the inside

as well. According to U.S. Suzuki, the

bike is designed as a high-performance

street roadster. They won’t get any argu-

ment from me. The engine is 748 cc’s

worth of four-cylinder, air-cooled, double-

overhead-cam wallop! It took me only a

few moments in the saddle to reaffirm

my earlier observation that the bike is

definitely a contender in that category.

But my original article ended with a

question as to the bike’s suitability as a

touring motorcycle — and now I had a

chance to pick up where I left off.

Due to illness in my family and the need

for a long-overdue visit back home, my

choice of a place to take the Suzy was

pretty well made for me. However I still

had the prerogative of route selection.

The trip from California to my parent’s

home in Stigler, Oklahoma is pretty much

of a straight shot on Interstate 40, but

this time I decided to take a long detour-

ing route — staying on back roads and off

the Interstates as much as possible . . .

visiting some of the places I had not seen

since I was a child, and some of the

places I’d passed by several times before

for lack of opportunity or inclination to

visit.

I outfitted the bike for the trip by

installing a small Bates windshield, check-

ing the fluid levels, tire pressures, chain

condition and — last but not least —

unhooking the throttle return spring!

Once upon a time many moons ago

(well, not all that many) some words of

wisdom were laid upon me by a more-

than-usually attuned Marine Corps Drill

Instructor. I recall those great words

quite often: “You don't have to practice

to be miserable. ” In this case, the 500-

mile preview ride last summer plus a

couple of days of local running around

had convinced me that I had already had

enough “practice” with the return spring.

It’s not that the Suzuki has a harder

return spring than other Japanese bikes,

but just that I personally feel that any...