Review 1982

To Suzuki, the GS750TZ is more than just another new model; it's a solution. In the final analysis it might not prove to be the solution, but for now it's at least a solution to a dilemma that the entire Japanese motorcycle industry, not just Suzuki, has been stuck on the horns of for the last few years: how to design factory-custom motorcycles to have precisely "The Look" that is so vital to their sales success without having them all look alike.

A catch situation, indeed, and the GS750TZ is Suzuki's response to it. The TZ is a decidedly conservative approach to the problem, though, not just in the way the bike looks but in the fact that it will be the only model in the company's entire 1982 lineup styled in this fashion (all the other customs will be in the usual L-model configuration). Apparently, Suzuki wants to test the waters of acceptance for a new generation of factory-custom motorcycles by cautiously dipping in with just one toe rather than jumping in feet-first And instead of breaking any all-new styling ground, the TZ simply attempts to split the difference between customs and standard models.

The styling still captures the essence of the Great American Street
Cruiser, but some of the more practical ergonomic elements have been lifted from the standard-issue Suzukis. What emerges from this marriage made in Hamnmatsu is a clean, simple, unpretentious motorcycle that almost looks more "classic" than "custom." There is, in fact, more than a hint of Triumph, circa late Sixties, in the TZ's lines.

Much of that Britbike look is no doubt due to the particular profile of the TZ's 4.5-gallon teardrop tank, especially with its Triumph-like color-contrasting knee cut-outs. But the overall effect of being a latter-day classic might be the result of the bike having an unfamiliar (for this day and ago) combination of familiar pieces.

The gas tank, for example, has the requisite custom-bike shape and the handlebar is conventional (read: not high-rise pullbacks) fare, but the two usually aren't found on the same motorcycle. Likewise for the stepped seat, fat 17-inch rear tire and simple rear fender (all custom-bike traditions); but the seat is not radically stepped, the fenders are not bobbed short and the front fork is not—and doesn't even look to be-extended (all standard-bike traditions).

The difference, therefore, between this bike and the usual factory customs is that the TZ resembles a vintage Triumph before customizing, not after.

Mechanically, the TZ offers no such controversies, being essentially an E-modcl GS750 with major cosmetic differences and a few mechanical dissimilarities. Most of the latter are obvious (single front disc, drum rear brake, no anti-dive mechanisms on the fork, different spoke pattern on the cast wheels), and the instrumentation was lifted directly from Suzuki's L-series street customs. Otherwise, everything else is identical to its E-model counterpart

That should assure the GS760TZ of being an extraordinarily fast, fine-handling boulevard cruiser; but the issue at stake here is not how quickly the GS750TZ will move on the street but how quickly it will move in the showroom. Suzuki believes, obviously, that the custom-styled market simply has to expand and that this is one of the directions it will expand in. It's our belief that there is a growing number of riders out there who will agree with Suzuki's philosophy. And for them, it can't happen a day too soon. —Paul Dean