Suzuki T 500 Titan

In 1968, everyone knew the only good parallel twins came out of England. And four-stroke engines powered all of these. Two-strokes, the conventional thinking went, were noisy, smelly and high-strung.

With its big-bore T500, Suzuki meant to change all that.

Originally marketed as the Cobra, the first T500s garnered more fame for their extreme thirst for fuel than for their obvious merits: clean lines, good handling and, unlike most two-strokes, a smooth (at least at low rpms) low-revving engine. At 412lb (187kg) they weren’t exactly light, but considering that a comparably sized Triumph Tiger weighed a few pounds more but put out a few horses less, they were a tempting option to the British mounts.

Early Japanese bikes were — and are — often faulted for their mediocre handling, but from the beginning the T500 drew praise for its good road manners, and was a winner on the track as well as the street. A T500 won the 500cc class at the Isle of Man in 1970 and 1972.

Even so, as much as the T500 was admired for its low-rpm pull, testers panned the engine’s performance at high revs. As one tester noted: “To use the 500 to full rpm is an unrewarding experience, as one’s foot can be firmly but steadily shaken off the footrest.”

The T500’s front brake, a twin-leading shoe affair, also drew criticism, prompting one tester to quip, “It is difficult to be enthusiastic about it, as it simply works.”

In 1969 the T500 Cobra gave way to the T500 Titan, with altered porting to help quench the bike’s thirsty nature. Period testers applauded the bike’s improved economy, but its front brake — maintained to the end — still drew criticism.

Engine porting aside, Suzuki changed very little on the T500 during its seven year run. The gas tank and seat changed for 1969, but after that changes were limited to color options and minor upgrades in switchgear and hardware. When Suzuki stopped selling the bike in 1975, it was hard to tell a new T500 from a five-year-old model.

Source:  Richard Backus, Motorcycle Classics