Nostalgia! Classic 1981 Suzuki GN400

[mcgovern61]

I know that this is a Classic Goldwing Forum, but I just came across a picture of my first bike, my 1981 Suzuki GN400 single cylinder kick start. I bought this bike in April '82 as a 1981 leftover brand new for $1,286. That included the bike and the following additional accessories; two helmets, plexifaring II windshield, custom black extended mirrors and chrome engine guard. That was a deal even back then!

I rode this bike everywhere year round! (I could not afford car insurance in Philadelphia at age 20!) I was looking at some of my old boat pictures when I found this. In the background is my 1956 24' Chris Craft sedan that I was restoring. ($50 - it was a great deal!! except that I had to haul it out before it sank! :smilie_happy: )

Take notice that I am carrying the propeller shaft on the side along with a tool bag and parts bag. I also had my classic red metal tool box with me but it was already up on the boat out of the picture.

Sure is fun looking back. :yahoo:

 

[AApple]

Sometimes it's fun to remember the "old" bikes/cars we used to have, ain't it? I rarely ever thought about the other bikes I had until I got this Goldwing...now I compare the experiences of them all the time!

That's a sweet looking daily ride!! :good:

And utilitarian, too!

 

[mcgovern61]

Yep, it sure was fun. My wife and I rode that bike a lot, before we were married and dating and all the way up until our first daughter was born in Connecticut in '87. We sold the bike to the movers before moving to our first house in New Jersey.

My wife actually likes the look of this bike rather than my GL1100 with the Vetter faring and Hondaline bags. She says the faring makes it look like the "Batman Bike" from the '70's. She just wants it to look like a motorcycle. If it were up to her, she would make the wing naked with just a windshield! I have thought about that, but I reminded her that we really like having the iPod playing through the radio! :music3:

If I could figure out how to move my Vetter sound to a Plexi-faring windshield, I would do it! The unit is independant from the faring and the speakers are attached as part of the unit.

 

[Joep]

buy stock in super glue!!!!!! my first bike was a CB360T honda twin with 6 speed box.. it is the only bike I owned that picked me up flat footed when I locked the front brake and popped the clutch to spin the rear tire.. never spun but I went for a 10 foot ride in the air!!! I shipped tat bike over to Italy and my wife rode to base with me until My first was born also..!!

 

[dan filipi]

buy stock in super glue!!!!!! my first bike was a CB360T honda twin with 6 speed box.. it is the only bike I owned that picked me up flat footed when I locked the front brake and popped the clutch to spin the rear tire.. never spun but I went for a 10 foot ride in the air!!! I shipped tat bike over to Italy and my wife rode to base with me until My first was born also..!!

My first all street bike was a 360T. Had a lot of trouble with the cam chain tensioner. Maybe not the bikes fault, I might not have known what I was doing at 15 years old.
I rode that thing all over the desert here, wide open throttle most of the time!

 

[Joep]

My first all street bike was a 360T. Had a lot of trouble with the cam chain tensioner. Maybe not the bikes fault, I might not have known what I was doing at 15 years old.
I rode that thing all over the desert here, wide open throttle most of the time!

yeah mine actually broke in three pieces.. thought I had overtightened it.. and never got it back running correctly after that. did get it running but not well.. wasn't used to motor tinkering and I was overseas and no internet at that time... ( mine was the Blue one)