Suzuki Gs450s
SUZUKI GS450S
CYCLE WORLD TEST
Hedging bets pays dividends. When Yamaha’s Specials perked up sales and attracted attention Suzuki, like the others, did some quick thinking and came out with the L models; bucko bars, stepped seats and all the other things Yamaha used. But at the same time somebody at Suzuki had the smarts to look beyond last month’s sales figures. If, this
man reasoned, there are people who are strongly attracted to laidback styling, so it must follow that there are also people who aren't. Every motorcycle factory already is cranking out factory choppers. What we will do, along with our own versions, is build what the others aren’t building.
And they have, in the form of the GS1000S and the GS450S. Classics, one might say, as the S models have lowbars, flat seats, generous tanks and lines in the cafe theme, the road racing look.
For the 450S, the road racing looks are confirmation. The 450S looks like a little
wolf and by gosh, it is a little wolf especially, to stretch the analogy, when you reflect that those who flock together, blindly bending to the w hims of fashion, are called . . . sheep.
There’s more here than just a bikini fairing, although that, bar-end mirrors and gold-colored cast wheels are all that separate the 450S from the standard 450.
The basic bike began as the GS400. cleanly trimmed as all the original GS Suzukis were, powered by a conventional four-stroke vertical Twin with counterbalancers and a 180° (one throwup, one down) crankshaft. In 1979 the 400 grew into a 425. thanks to an increase in bore from 65 to 67 mm.
It’s An Economy Twin in Cafe Trim ,With Lots Of Power and Lots Of Carb Problems
For 1980 it’s the 450. but there’s more than just size involved. The engine can be described as new. The 180° crank has plain main bearings, in keeping with Suzuki practice for its second-generation line of four-strokes. Bore is increased to 71 mm and stroke is reduced, from 60 to 56.6 mm. All this means a new barrel, no interchange at all, as well as a new lower end. while keeping the counterbalancer.
The cylinder head is also new. but has double overhead camshafts with two valves per cylinder, just like before. (Suzuki makes a Twin with the four-valve Twin Swirl Combustion Chamber design seen in the C.S. on the GSX750 and the GSX1 100, but this elaboration is not considered needed for the 450.)
Compression ratio is a fraction less. 9:1 for the 450 vs 9.1:1 for the 425. Carbs are carryover. 34mm CV Mikunis. The 450 ignition is electronic breakerless, good news for people who don't like to set points, bad news for people who don't trust black boxes.
The gearbox is just like it was; six speeds and the same internal and final drive ratios, so the speed in gears would be the same, except that the shorter stroke allows a higher redline - 9500 instead of 9000.
Win the new engine begins to come clear. Not exactly what one would expect these days, in that the larger engine isn't built to run slower, and because the carb size isn't changed and the compression ratio is down a touch, the 450 is in effect tuned more mildly. What they must have been after here was easy power and/or performance that doesn't suffer in the cause of meeting the emissions rules. (They got one out of two. as we'll see.)
The 450 engine no longer carries a kick starter, and the 450S and 450 plain get a larger fuel tank, four full gallons instead of 3.7. With the tank comes a flat—well, it’s got a gentle curve but it isn't stepped -seat, with a race-derived tail section and a pad w here seat meets tank.
The seat unlatches, via a lock in the tailpiece, and there’s a stowage bin inside the tail, large enough for the registration papers, the tool roll and a pair of gloves if you push hard enough.
A real gain in daily use is the noncovered gas cap. Unlock the cap and it pops up. push dow n and it locks. Makes a tank bag practical again.
Steering head bearings are tapered roller, another change Suzuki is making as the models are renewed. Suspension isn't tunable beyond the pre-load setting for the shocks, but the rear springs are dual rate, so the rear will be soft on the little bumps and won't bottom on the big ones. To slow the steering and improve high speed stability. the stanchion tube/steering stem offset has been moved to gain a few millimeters of trail.
Styling—and the 450S has been styled, as opposed to shaped to fit the components is cafe. The mufflers have been shortened, the handlebars are low and only 28 in. wide. The padding at the front of the seat and the kicked-up tail section look as if the Suzuki guys have seen Moto Guzzi and BMW but heck, there are worse bikes to imitate and at least this one isn't lifted from where the other outfits are lifting their ideas.
With the S version you get a nifty little bikini fairing, not much wider than the headlight or higher than the instruments, shaped like a bullet. Mirrors are bar end numbers, again like the Europeans use and handv they are, too. with narrow bars because the usual mirrors give you a good look at your own jacket sleeves when they’re on narrow bars.
Paint choices are black or red. as you see here, with w hite striping. Catches the eye, in fact when our own promotions depart-> ment needed to take pictures of our demon testers at work, we asked them out to the test session for the 450S because it’s so bright and sporting and it looks right being run through the traps at speed.
Summing up the specs, Suzuki took advantage of the desire for improved performance to switch to a plain bearing crank, quieter and cheaper than roller bearings, to replace points with electronic ignition, ditto tapered rollers for ball bearings in the steering head. The S.the laidback 450L and its unfaired sibling the 450E. get cast wheels.
Then Suzuki gave the public a choice in both directions, with the L being where the sheep are flocking and the S being the sports model, boy’s racer number.
Some weight was added for 1980, too. (We could say the 450 gained weight, but that implies some benefit, and we don’t think heavier is ever better.) The 1979 425 weighed 399 lb. in test trim, the 450S weighs 422. Some of that’s the fairing, say, five lb. with brackets, some is added fuel and the metal it comes in. where the rest was added we don't know. Probably the way it always is; a couple pounds for the cast wheels, a couple pounds for the new engine, thicker tubing here and there to handle the power and the weight from the couple pounds here and there.
But mostly what the 450 gained was power.
Best run for the quarter mile was 13.61 sec. with a trap speed of 94.43 mph. That’s some going for an economy Twin, the beginner bike and all that. Quicker than the usual rival, i.e. the Honda Hawk, and of course quicker than the GS425 and the GS400, even quicker than the lovely little Honda CB400F and —brace yourself— quicker than the Yamaha RD400E, last and most powerful of the tiny two-stroke terrors. Times for that machine, which still wins the club road races, were 14.12 sec. and 90.18 mph. Some of the older twostrokes, the rasty little Triples, may have been quicker. (We are still getting angry letters from owners of older 750s who can’t believe the EPA-era bikes can beat their wheel-standing wonders, so for the record, those figures above are for our tests, under our conditions, and imply no offense against anything anybody owns.)
Even the original Honda 450. that initial Japanese foray into Big Bikedom. the motorcycle that let its owners ride on roughly equal footing with BSA and Triumphowning buddies, was good for only a 15.2 sec. at 85 mph in our 1965 quarter mile run.
But. Not in our memory have we had a 400-class road bike do the drags at less than 14 sec. True, the 450 doesn't fit the 400 class rule, it will never compete in class with the RD400s and Hawks and we doubt it would win if it did. Also true, the 450S is remarkably quick for what these days is a smallish Twin with no space-age combustion chamber and multi-valve heads and the like.
Carrying on with the good news, the 450S goes farther per gallon than the others listed here, 61 mpg. This is clever work. Nearly as we can estimate, the added displacement has been matched with longer camshaft timing, so there’s more power everyplace. The additional 25 ccs theoretically give punch so the EPA can take it away, and the lean mixtures that get the emissions down to certification levels increase the mpg. Sounds like more of everything, right?
Wrong. The bad part is that the 450S goes like gangbusters at wide open throttle. winding to the redline and whipping through all those gears.
It goes like gang busted the rest of the time. Soggy, is the word that comes to mind. Fires up quickly when cold and then needs juggling at the choke lever and it still stumbles for the first five miles. When it's warm, there’s no power oft' idle and the rider must jazz the throttle and buzz off the line, not to impress the natives but simply to keep the fires burning.
There’s some sort of intake resonance at five thou, under power or cruising, and at a steady cruise at 60. federal mandate be hanged, who wants to be a hood ornament?, the 450 surges back and forth.
We aren’t talking driveline slop here, nor is this the niggling complaint about CV carbs and their dislike for small changes in throttle. The 450 isn’t crisp, it doesn't like to pull below 3000 rpm and it has no cruise to speak of.
We say the 450. Suzuki's weak spot for the model year. TSCC engines excepted, is that the ridability has suffered at the hands of emissions control. Earlier tests of other Suzukis have drawn comments about this and the factory man was careful to assure us that the 450S provided had been prepped within an inch of its life. This, one assumes, is the best the factory can do within the law.
Help no doubt is on the way. Yamahas and Kawasakis are better in general, most of the Hondas aren't quite as bad. Likely the engineers will learn how to make the carbs perform well and keep the hydrocarbons under control. Meanwhile, state laws being different, the 450 engine fairly makes one’s hand flex in anticipation of different jets, pumper Keikins, smoothbore Mikunis. geez, even a brace of squarebody Amals, anything that could be tuned to respond crisply at part throttle.
In a more responsible note. Suzuki has pumped three or four more bhp out of the engine in going from a 425 to a 450. The gearing doesn’t suit this change. The 450 is smooth, as smooth as the Honda 400. smoother than either the Kawasaki or Yamaha 400 Twins, so even so. there's more than enough power to run down the road at less than 5000 rpm. W ith another tooth in front you'd have more efficient operation, same speed at more throttle and less revs, giving less power pumping the engine against its barely cracked throttle. Engine life would improve, so would miles per gallon and the buzz would be less tiring. This assumes the buyer wants to run his 400 on a daily basis, cross country and around town, and that the cost of fuel matters. What we have now is quarter mile gearing, aimed for the light-to-light crowd. Sure we do it, who doesn’t? But taller gearing wouldn't hurt, that is. we could live with a 450 Twin that required a full 14 sec. to cover the quarter mile.
Suzuki isn't dumb, though, and the bright guys who gave us the alternative option to pullback posing are bound to discover those who ride their bikes for something beyond Sunday cobweb-clearance and/or grudge night at the drags.
Speaking of Sunday morning, the 450S fits right in. The frame is enough for the engine and there’s no flexing of the forks, winding up of the sw ing arm or any defects in that line. The 450 is light, well, lighter than the Fours, and it can be snapped from side to side and heeled well over before the tires get funny. No problem with items dragging although you can touch the centerstand on the left and both foot pegs if you've got the road all to yourself.
But. The Suzuki is sprung for comfort, and the chassis never feels as if it’s taken a set, that is, has been loaded to where it’s not going any further. Not as much message comes through, while a Hawk will give advice.
And damping isn't up to the springs. The BMW R65, for example, is soft but controlled and there’s always something more if you need it. The 450S is in motion on turns, and the back bobs around on the highway. The forks disguise ripples and jars that skip the back about.
Good brakes, albeit the front felt softer than we expected. Give it a good squeeze and it firms up. Stopping distances are on a par for engine and weight classes.
Shifting is right out of the Suzuki family, with speed when you want it but requiring a firm foot. Except for first gear which engages with noiseless precision, it's on the borderline of notchy, but not something the rider will notice unless he’s riding other brands, with lighter levers, at the same time.
During the top speed runs the rider felt a hint of wander. Not enough for worry, nowhere near the sort of wobble you talk about later, merely a hint of less than perfect tracking. Weight distribution is normal, with a fraction more on the front at rest than the 425 had and the low bars mean more rider weight on the front, and trail is increased, all of w hich should make the 450S a veritable straight arrow'.
A puzzle. The veterans, still spooked by the shakey handlebar jobs of the distant past, mentioned the fairing as a suspect but nothing in its shape indicates front end lift.
Next possibility was the narrow' bars. As mentioned, we like the low, sporting bars and the clever little mirrors. We aren’t nearly as fond of the current buckhorn jobs. But there have been bikes and situations where the wider bars work better because they give more leverage.
Part of this shows up with the 450S on tight turns at medium speed, where the bike feels surprisingly heavy, more than a couple of 750s. Leverage at work, as the effort to keep the weight up increases as the distance from end of bar to center of gravity decreases.
Most likely, though, is the front end. The springs are soft and the damping is even softer. One rider looked down and noted that the front wheel was skipping up and down, what the road racers refer to as chatter in the corners. Depending on the road surfce and the wheel’s balance, this could vector into a wander on the straight.
Because the 450S has such sporting potential and good pieces, we’re going to do some experiments with engine and chassis, along the lines of improving the damping and springs, so we can find out what’s going on in front. We’ll report back in a future issue.
Well. What have we in the 450S?
A different sort of good looks. The results can be criticized, in that the 450S has the appearance of having been given an appearance, sort of like a girl w ho knows how' the makeup goes on but is new at the skill and puts on more than her age justifies. But the 450S does look good, and it does look different.
Speed. The 450S is quick, quicker than the competition and not so powerful that the new rider or one who doesn’t want to ride rockets will have any worry. The 450S isn’t going to leap out of control. You can use the power, keep it on to redline. which is rewarding without being scarey. A little wolf, remember, and one that’s not gonna bite you.
Difference. The L models. Specials and Customs may meet the demands of people who want style. They work best on first acquaintance. W hen you walk out of the house and sit down in that low saddle and grab those bars, ’way up there like the w heel of a ship, booted feet planted firmly on the ground, they feel the way a motorcycle should feel. Later, sitting up in the wind, wrists bent and feet too far forward, maybe not.
The 450S doesn’t feel right sitting still. If the 400 Twin is a beginner’s bike, it’ll appeal to the beginner who’s done his homework. An hour down the road, with the seat still comfortable, the pegs back far enough so your legs aren’t cramped, the bars low enough so you’re leaned into the wind, with view' over the fairing giving the look of Loudon or Laguna Seca, letting you crouch into the curve and tuck into the paint, then the 450S feels right.
We characterized the GS425 as a Nice Little Bike. The 450S is bigger, faster, just as practical and you can’t get one like it in every store in town, which makes the 450S a Nice Little Bike With a Difference. 82
SUZUKI
GS450S
$1739
SPECIFICATIONS
ACCELERATION
PERFORMANCE
