The range of chain sizes in use 011 motorcycles-from the fin RE5 and Z900, 011 the left, to 1he dimi11u1ive Honda 50 cam chain . The smal/es~ of the lot is from a watch made i11 Coventry before even the bicycle industry started. On the right, simple duplex, and /rip/ ex versions of th e same lmk size for Commando camshaft, BMW camslwft, and Vincellf primary drives

the sprocket is immediat ely carried up wards as the sprocket rotates, carrying the chai n with it. It then falls until another roller makes contact, and the chain itself is constantly being flung up and down every time a tooth passes. The sprocket acts as a three-sided figure, in fact, and, although this is the worst possible condi­tion, the problem still exists as the sprocket is increased in size. The cyclic-variation in position and ten sion makes life hell for the poor old overloaded chain, and gives exactly the right condition for fatigue-rapid variation of tensile stress. As the number of teeth increases and the polygon more nearly approaches a circle, the effect becomes less. The mmimum size recommended for a drive sp rocket is 16 teeth, although there are many machines around with fewer than this- the Suzuki 380 has 14, the450Ducati has 12, the Kawasaki 750 H2 has 15, the MZ 125 has 15, the Honda 50 has 13, and so on. The limit on largeness, rather than smallness, is dependent on the speed of the

tion that the chain should be replaced when it is worn by 2 percent is due as much to sympathy for the sprocket as to sympat hy for the chain. The chain doesn't in fact get significan tly weaker as it wears--even with a powerful machine the load on the chain is only about a third of its breaking load under the worst conditions, so there is plenty in reserve. If a chain does break, it is usually fatigue failure, which can occur even if lubrication is perfect

0

Fitting a spring clip the official way

New and hooked sprocke ts-w hen the teeth get this bad a new chain won't last long chai n- the larger the rear sprocket the faste r and no wear takes place, a lthough havin g said the chain has to travel round the front one. that it is only fair to add that oi l in the links

While we are looking at sprockets, it is does a wonderful job of cushioning the altern -. worth mentioning that the small driving ating loads, so it would take a very long time

sprocket tran smits its load throu gh, at best, for fatigue to break up a properly lubricated around eight teeth or so, and all its teeth come drive. The other possibility is failure of the into contact with the chain more often than the split link. rear sprocket. The front sprocket therefore ,--- ---- ----- --------, requires to be made of a tougher and harder material. Case-hardened stee l is agai n used­but for rear spro ckets mild steel cast iron light a lloys, and even plastics, hav~ been used'. Most front sprockets wear out eventua lly, but the rear ones are usually destroyed by worn chains. The load on each tooth is on ly small when the cha in fits the sprocket; as wear occurs the ro llers are snug aga inst fewer and fewer teeth, putting up the load- on eac h tooth. The load will eventually hook the teeth on a ductile Roller-linkplate

mater ia l, but crumble them away on a friable Am erican terminology from the Japanese firm cast- iron sprocke t. Th e maker' s recommend a- D / D

132 Motorcycl e Sport, April l 976

The Americans call the split link a master link, but the. logic of thi s escapes me as the split link is more inclined to break and to wear out than an y other. Because every chain has to be removed from time to time, the great maj ority of makers fit a spl it lin k in at least the rear drive. Those who don't a re usually the ones who are so safety minded that yo u a lso expect them to put a big arrow on the tank sayi ng "Front -l ook thi s way" and another on the seat say ing "Sit here" . Their representatives sho uld all be compelled to fit a new cha in every weekend in their own tim e-be cause that's what the customer has to do. So, a sp lit link is a goo d idea, and what's the problem? It is thi s­every other link in the chain has both pins press-fitted to both sides. The sp lit link can only be press -fitt ed on o ne side, and on the free side th ere is always a certai n amo unt of s lack , or you wou ld never get it apart or together by the roads ide. This me a ns that this link wears more quickly than all the others, especially ·on

one side, and thi s can put all the strain on the other side. Then either th e fixed side breaks, or the pins co me loose in th at side too, causing mor e wear . Eventually on a lightly loaded un­Jubrica ted mach ine the wear can enlarge the holes in the clip until it fa lls off, a nd the chain will then drop off almo st at once -bu t first the link will slide half out so that the chain mangles one of the sprockets, or the cra nk case, or at least the rear -chain guard , on its last revolu­tion . Jt helps, then, to repl ace the spl it link at leas t twice as often as yo u replace the cha in, to check the co nd ition of th e link it self whenever you check or lubrica te the cha .in, and carry a spare link always. Most machines have two keys, a nd J find it a good id ea to use a new sp lit lin k as a key ring-not only is the link a lways there when yo u want it , but it stops the keys from rattling against the side panel, or top yoke.

Co nti nu ed on pag e 159

It deserves plenty of buyers FOR ME mo to rcycl ing is unc long cycle or La Ronde : the damned tune get s played time a nd ~ime again. It goes l ike this:

I. A n.ice l ittle b ike. handles \\ ell. stops well. but sags t\\(>-up .

2. That's better: lots or po\\er. goes like the w ind : \\·oighs a ton. a bit la rge Ill

heave around. 3. Whal a bou t th is one '! Fair bit of power.

not too la rge. not really ras t enough, sags ra th er with two up. why not get a lit1le one. ar ter al l it' s solo run. and sedate touri ng: we· ve done 4.000-mile trips on 250s be fo re now

And so it goes. Thi s year I'm on stage two . by the way. so \\ hen I tell yo u that the Suzuk i GT550 is the subj ect or th is test it isn't ha rd to te ll that J find th e des ign concept very appea 'li ng ind eed thi~ t ime round. The GT75 0 M was a very nice mach ine. a nd sho\\'e d the first signs that Suzuki had rediscovered tha t perf ormance has rea l sal es appeal. The injection of power did noth ing to reduce its acceptab ility . as a civilized machine.

The GT550M is the

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M otorcycle Spor t, April 1976 133

tional performance , and once again it was an addition to an already esta blished tourer. The 550 was a great deal J.ighter than the 750, and fitted ·into the middleweight slot initi ated by the Honda CB450, folilowed by the Honda CB550 (which has yet to get to the UK , as we are the dumping ground for the rema,ining stocks of the out-of­production CB500), and now steadily filling up with machines like the TX500 Yamaha and 2400 Kawa sak i. The market s'lot ·is rather w,ide, and really covers stage three of La Ronde in two quite different ways. Both sty,les of machine fill the common specifica­~ion of 400 to 500 lb nett weight, and a torquey engine. The gap is set between the Kawa sa ki 400 c.c. two-stroke and the Kawa -

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sak,i four-stroke twin Z400. The two-stroke is very accelerative and a bit uncivil ized: all has been balanced in favour of perfor­mance, and the 400 c.c. size gives the re­quired smaill poten~ial edge ov~r the RD350 Yamaha which is really outside the scale we are con sidering now, in spite of its astounding performance. The KZ400 is si'lky smooth at lower r.p.m. , and is as docile and wieldable a middleweight as ever offer ed to a mild-mannered public . The Suzuki entrie s in thi s broad class have been un­comprising'ly on the side of the quiet man­nered and the docile machine. The GT380 and the GTT550 a-re both serving essentially the same market. Earlier 380s and 550s were maiJlly distingui shed by the greater "to ur­ing" tune of the larger machine which gave roughly s,imilar performance fr om the t:vo bikes by different mean s. The 380 betng the rev-happy multi-speed machine and the 550 more the torquey crui ser.

The extra capacity of th e 550 always offered the poten~ial of greater performance while stil1l retaining the docile character: this has been done for 1975/1976, with a set of cylinders treated by a new finishing process.

With the extra power , aJI remain s usable: this is the point at which the T500 falls down very badly . The T500 is-lo steal a delightful phra se from Cycle magaz ine­Stone Age motorcycling ; the GT550 is in no sense Stone Age in style , performance, noise, or power delivery. It exacts no painful price in terms of vibration for the use of all the performance ava ilab le--u nlike the

T500 with its crude and bumbling stammer­ing shout "Of an exhaust.

The GT550 has that golden characteristic of having just enough performance to be loo much to use a ll the time. Just a bit loo much is ideal , and s tem s off a desire for more power that leads one up the capacity sca le. Suzuki claim 115-120 m.p.h. for the 550, and while thi s is a singula-r unlikeJ.ihood , the fact remains that a steady 100 m.p.h. is certainly within its capaci1y. The 550 is now fast without a doubt. Can thi s have been achieved without loss? Of course not: the 550 soaks up fuel a t a fe a rsome rate , and ha s not the torque to pull the gearing throughout the range. At 50 m.p.h. fifth gear indicated 3.500 r.p .m. , fourth 4.000 , third 5,000 , sec ond 6.500, and in ti rsl it wou~d be way into the red and beyond a t more than 8,500.

Thi s great gap is necessary as the low .bottom ratio is definitely needed to pull away. It is· just tha'l the engine now needs a sixth speed in the gearbox. like the smaller 380. While we are on the neg a tive p9ints . the vibration at 5.500+ r.p.m . is really very annoying indeed . It is emphasized by the uncanny smoothne ss below and a bove that figur e. rt is sad tha1 70 m.p.h. is a n ideal motorway cruising speed for this machine , as the vibration is annoying enough to cause an automatic speed-up. Were one 's character milder it might induc e a slow­down-but this seems a ra re event. How far this vibration is ob1rusive is a moot point: many riders will hardly notice it , and wonder what the fuss is about. Others. who soak

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up mil es at speed , will s imply decide that any tangible vibration is to be :\Voided , and will want to be told abou t it. I found myself riding the 550 at 60 or half as much again -but only rarely at any point between.

For a touring 550 a cruising speed of 90 or so might be thou gh t to be a fiction : after all we a ll know that any machine over 125 c .c . can cruise at 80 or 90 (as long as it is the model one owns when it is being discu ssed) , but the sad truth of the matter is th a t machines like the CB500 gel rather tired of full-bore s training to keep the needle near 90 for any distance. The T500 Suzuki twin simply shakes yo ur hand s firmly but irrevocabl y oIT the handl ebar . as it is con­s titutionally unable lo deliver flat-out speeds in road trim without making its shake s all too evident. The Morini 3} can-and docs­take a steady fla t-out 90 for miles. But the new GT550M can cap a ll these by th e happy manner it will hum a-long at a real 95 (or , if you prefer fiction-100 upright . 105 hunched a bit): 22 minutes for 33 mile s are figures which leave no room for speedo­meter exagge ration. The fuel co nsumption matches this performance. with 27 .5 m .p.g. for this little trial session.

The astounding thing about this motor­cycle is 1hat it ju st go es on delivering tho se high r.p. m. on full load in 90+ ambient tcmpcra •lures without even burning one·s leg with the air blast from the ba rrels and head s: the Ram-Air cooling shroud contri­butes to thi s cool running by ensuring that the driver at leas t remains cool. by directing th e hot air away from his legs- th e engine

Cool running of the al/­alloy three is due to the

adequate /innings and effective heat dissipation in the design rather than the "Ram-Air System"

cowling

c_oolness is ?u~ to_ade~uate fin~ing an~::e~­llve heat d1ss1pat1on inherent lfi the !goo

For machines with this no-nonsen se m.p.h. performanc e I have only rarel y been able to accredit the brak es as being adequate for the purpose intended. Even the ~I Kawasaki is distinctly underbraked with just one disc. and the "cardboard " lining s fitted to the GT750M Suzuki rendered th e excellent twin disc brakes on that enjoyable machine virtually impoten t. when the brak­ing area is accounted for. The GT750M was adequat ely braked even so. as long as one developed gorilla fists. but the GT550M comes with only one similar disc. Thi s par-

ticular ma h · mil es of c l~e had seen a good hard 5,000

h d . service before it reached us and a surv1v d · ·b ' h . . e v1s1 ly un scathed. This means

t at , if thi s machine had been in continuous ~~se as a press mac hine , it had either seen ittle hard use-or th at it has been thr as hed

lo death by some pretty merciless riders . and • not given in and knuckled und er to the resultant stra ins. This GT had obviousl y had a hard but balanced life . as the front disc brake showed the worn and rill ed pro­file of the thoroughl y-well-used a nd har d­ridd en machin e. The hard pads favoured by Suzuki seem to need high pre ssu res, and

Continued on page 152

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Motorcycl e Sport , April 1976 135

SUZUKI 550 TEST Continued from page 133

It is greatly superior to the T500 twin those fitted had been well worn in. As a re­sult ·the GT550M was adequately braked for solo use in as severe a set of circumstances as a solo r:ider could push the machine. If , however , a second rider a nd luggage were to be added, a second disc would in all proba­bility be required.

The 550 is not very well suited to this kind of load as the five-speed box is not adequate for the machine as it is now tuned by the factory. The low first gear is abso lu­tely essential, and the top four gears give a superb set of ratio s matched closely to the power characteristics of the 550: unfortuna­tely this means that the second gear that should be fitted is simp ly not there , and a change int o first gear from seco nd can lock the wheel in even city driving condition s. You can imagine how unsuitable thi s would make the 550 for heavy-load touring. Design foible s are often toned down in test report s, so please take note: the two bottom gears do in practice provide a seve re di sincentive to the use of the 550 in town. The 750 has ample torque to overcome a similar gear / power deficiency. but the 550 simply doe s not have sufficient reserves. On the open road the 550 is a darling: it is perfectl y possi ble to set the needle to over I 00 m.p.h. and keep it there for miles without any temperament or 0·1erheating. I have often wondered how we could possibly obt a in such susta ined high pe rformance figures at any venue within reasonable reach of the UK were it not for the Isle of Man 's reluctance to concur with Mr. Gilbert's "te mporar y" speed limits. There is faint chance of the se a rbitra ·ry and wi·ldly inequitably enforced 50 and 60 blank et limit s being actua lly treated as a nything other than a permanent mea sure although introduced! as a placebo to ga,in a direct impact of people's thinking when petrol took a sudden jump in price , a nd specificall y subject to review. This is a very serious issue, as the cynical rolling over of such arbitrary and unprincipled regulations in•to a de facto permanent regu­lat ion mea ns that the poor BMF a nd other repr esenta tive bodies will be forced into a stance of consistent •ly negative views towards future draft gover nment regulation s. Look at the arrogan t fiasco happil y eve ntu a tin g from the headlight regula tions , which Gi l­bert so nearly precipitated ·with massive disregard for the full cons ult at ive pro cess and the spirit of the power s under which such statutory instruments can be adJvanced without further recourse to Pa rlia ment .

I rai se this matter here as the case for reorg anized spee d limit s and inde ed head­lam p usage regu lations is overwhelmingly pe rsuas ive-but that the proper proce ss of systematic review and rat iona-\iza1.:ion which we have a right to expec t from our civil

152 Motorcycle Sport, April 1976

Three .Mikuni carburettors with large air­c/eaner/si/encer servants, and the concomitant consultative processes which are the th-in red line of our democratic defence , are both increa singly swept by the board in broader and bro ader files~ ot only those under the contro l of the Ministry for Tr a nsport Indu str ies.

It's a great relief to see how the Isle of Man follows at a short but critica l distance behind the UK as a whole in introdn.!cing further controls, which permits a more rati onal appraisa l of the case a nd the man­ner for their applica ·tion. The 550 Suzuki is a real spo rts machine , wh,ich is se t up in a manner certainly not too we ll attuned to sub-50 performance. The irony of it is that the simple facts of enforcement coverage mean that the less suita'ble the road is for the use of this performance , the less eflectiv e can any enforcement measures be. We simpl y have too man y minor roads, and too few police a nd equipment to cope . The 550 is very happy on side roads, and has a lmost enough ground clearance to keep in the power ba nd. On the open motorw ay the 70 m.p.h. crui se is about right solo , but badly mi.smatches the power and torqu e del ivery when two people are aboa·rd. The fuel con­sumption suffers badly if the full perfor ­mance is used , and I drove it down to 28 m.p.g . on one occasion over 40 miles of repetiti ve running. Once again, the extra weight of the 550 over machines such as the RD350 Yamaha to ld-but the· touring aspect ·of the design sho ne through -in the comfo rtable ride and low level of'v ibration offered at continuou s high r.p.m. l'he dig ital gear indica tor is no ornament on a Suzuk i three-cyLinder , and at 50-70 m.p.h . it is essential to determine which gear one is u~ing_ The exha ust not e is commendably quiet and is therefore on1y a poor guide to r.p .m. at such speeds.

The 550 is in no sense a sma ll motor­cycle ; in bulk it equa ls a ll but the most

:....-...: massive 7 50 and 900 c.c. behemoths: the actua l kerb weight is not much lighter than many 750s, and the size of the 550 is frankl y of supre me unimportance. The 500 has to be judged a s an a ll-round machine a l a price , an d with littl e regard for the nominal c.c.s pro v-ided in the hu ge mass of aluminium below the tank. By the se standards the 550 scores very we ll indeed. and is as good va lue for mone y as the 750M at its own commanding ly competitive price. The bike is over 7ft long, a nd even on Suzuki's claims weighs 445 lb dr y : this tran sla tes to a bout 500 lb wet, and underline s the " 750" sca le of the beas t. The four s ile ncer system is an irdt a nt. The pipe s are all neat and leak · free-but one is tot a·lly unnecessar y, and really the who le lo t could be replaced by jus t one, wi th a great weight sav ing. The appearance would suffer how ever, and this is a po int of so me importance with the people buying mac hine s of thi s type. The paintwork is stdking a nd we ll app lied , an d the overaJ,i finish of the machine is up to the higher Japanese s ta ndards. The use of a s tainless steel disc ·is rather sad: if only cast­iron discs could be fitted then disc b rakes wou ld get less of a doubtfu l name for wet­weather a dh esio n. The front forks are well styled a nd the s liders have a rea lly long bearing surfa ce . They wo rk pretty well too , and the whole front end could • profitabl y be grafted on to the T500. Ju st af ter this test was written the GT500 was relea sed with just that imp rove men~ fitted to it :

Some styling features w11-I dale rapid ly. The pe tro l cap is proud of th e ta nk . This will soo n look outmoded , a nd a smooth profi le with a locking flap is lik ely to be the next a lteration to the ap pe ara nce.

l1he RES already ha s this feature, which is a rea l safety improvement.

Some features carry over [rom machines with great er v ibr a tion leve ls. Th e rearvi ew mirrors st iM have the ir rubb e r iso lati ng pots. a nd a t certain r.p.m . they do still discharge

their func tion as the vib rat ion is not totally killed at all r.p .m. on the 550. The cylinder heads are covered by sheet cowls with "RamAir" stamped on them . to emph asize that they are there int ention ally. I suppose they do their job, at least l have no reason to suppose that they don' t , and litt le evidence that they a re actually needed. Suffice to say th at the engine runs pretty well af ter sus­tained heavy therm a l load s have been in­duced. The seat is not par ticu larly outsta nd­ing , and is ju st another so -so scat for travel ­ling on. Sta nd ards ha ve risen recent ly. an d the 550 seat has followed that main stream .

GT550 controls : See comments 011 this

The handleb ar controls are the sa me as those fitted to the 750. The faults of lay­outs are ther efo re ide ntica l, as ar e the virtu es. The ignition cut -off switch is still the best ava ilab le, a nd the headlight flasher one of the mo st awkward. Th e electric starte r is controlled from just the right place and work s every time. The kicksta rt is really quite superfluous on the 550, and its removal would reduce the weight by at lea st a couple of pou nds, as it is a robust piece of metal.

The oil-injection system used by Suzuki is very economic a l on oil, and a lso injects it inl'o just the right places. Yamaha may have been the first of the Jap a nese factories to fit an "autolu be" system, but Suzuki did a better job on design afterw a rds. The Suzuki 550 motor is a pretty tough uni t, and has quite remarkable tun ing potential. Somehow I don't see many people act ually getting down to take full advantag e of it. I can be proved wrong quite easily. All it takes is for Barry Har t's Sparton engine project to get a little mor e momentum. The 550 an d 525 c.c. Sparton s a re based firm ly on the 550 Suzuki, and have proved to deliver the necessary horsepo we r for the 500 class . The other ha'1f of the Sparton is the Spondon frame and running gear, p roduced by thi; D erby firm. Bob Stevenson has a nice touch with racing equipment development, and races with the best -of them on his own machines. A good bas is for development , and we sha ll be trying out the first of the production line Sparto n race rs shortl y if time alJows . The en gine ha s certainly reached the standard required , as Alan Jackson 's Manx GP mount proved at 103 m.p.h. around the Isle of Man.

Oddly enough , the size of 550 c.c. might just have been chosen to stop people from making -play racers (or even real ones) out of these thre e: ironic ally the produc tion

page race classes ar e now likely to shift just to let such oddball sizes in : . . they simply sell too many.

l have been vastly amused by the manner in which those committed to holding stan­da rds of motorc ycles down have screamed at my mild summary of the T500 (rough. vibrMing, and considerabl y underbraked) as a trifle outdated,. I wish that those concerned would tak e the trouble to try the 550. The 550 is heavier , and has less ground clear ­ance, but otherwise scalds the pants off the T500. The brakes are excellent, the motor unfatigu ing, the comfort very good , and the exhaust fa r quieter . The 550 is simply an eX:tremely good modern motorcycle: the T500 an extremel y good mid-si>.."lies motor ­cyole, which by a series of mon key gland treatment has been dragged with little pro­test into 1975 with a near 1968 pr ice tag. How can it lose? The answer sits qu iet ly purring away beside it in the showrooms.

The 550 does have one very irritating feature , in that the four exhaust pipes really are .quite unnecessary: surely three woul d do? Or even one? The weight penalty of the styling would then release a bit more perfor ­manee--after all, even Suzuki, as I've men­tioned. claim 441 lb. dry kerb weight. and anythin g to cut . that down would be an advant age .. . this weight factor is the nub of the debate. There is no question but that the 550 is civilized, but need it have a pau nch as well? Japanese dampers are of uneven qua<Jity, even though the racing Yamaha uni·ts are high on my list of fav­ourite shock absorbe rs, and Suzuki do not invari ably fit the best units to all their mode ls. The 550 units have both too hard a set of springs and too little damping to sal'isfy either sporti ng or touring riders. Some bette r compromise must be achievable by the fact ory which makes those supe rb handling motocross machines ?

While looking for minor irr.itati ons, I would add the lack of a low posi-Jube J,ight: you need it when the motor uses so little oil that you don't need to look at the level

for a 1,000 miles at a t-ime. You can ge t caught out very eas ily that way . Another annoy ,ing factor is that the Jap an ese are now producting really excellent tou r ing motorcycles. yet st ill refuse to desi gn in the essent ia11 pickup point s on the fra me. Even BMW have fina lly got round to this af ter the decades that t),ey have been in the tour.ing bike bus iness-yet the R90S does not share in th is good fea tur e, and is a swine to fit box and pann iers to . Once aga·in those inferna1l silencers are crow ded up to force any pan nier s to be fitted qu ite h igh up-a bad point for touring purposes .

The seat ·is a bit hard for tour ing. but reasonab ly adequate for two people.

I am very hard put to fault the 550. which is why I have tr ied to sho w you the areas in which I feel impro vements might be made . It sets its own standards for assessmen t. and meets its target comfort ­ably_ Let's pin do wn the tota lly happy 550 owner . He doesn' t like kickstarting, and is a b it of a comfort lover who does not like undue exha ust noise . He does n't r,ide really fast very often. but when he does wants to do it with total lack of temperament and with full security in handling and road­hold ing. He pre fers a s<J.ightly heav ier b ike tha n usua,J for stability in cross-w inds and adverse cond iLions, and wants a stab le tune as. although he has a garage . in which to keep the mach ine. he is not in favour with adjus ting it as he grud ges the time.

Said person wou ld be very unhappy wit h a 400 Ka wa or 350 Yamaha. and m ight well take a very close look indeed at the 550 Honda 4 (and ignore the 400 to tally as it would not offer comfort for his occas·ional passenger).

No wonder Yamaha have up rated and softene d the ir 350 to a 400; this is a rap idl y ex-panding, d iscrim inat·ing. and wel1-off target aud ience.

Cal1! it whatever size you like. the Suzuk ·i is of a size and bal anc e which needs nothing but wider knowledge tha t it ex ists to draw the customers at its r.r.p. of £789. M.R.W.

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Motorcycle Sport, Ap ril 1976 153

I ' l