If you can stretch to £5000, the classic world opens up like never before, with everything from the rigid Ariel Red Hunter to the riotous Yamaha R1 available. Our five experts pick their favourites
Smoking bargains
With FS1-Es heading north of £5000 you need to be canny to get a two-stroke bargain. Mark Graham is your guide
Yes, it’s a GT, with the emphasis more on Turismo than Gran. Demure, mundane even, compared with Suzuki’s three-cylinder offerings of the 1970s, but do not be swayed by those who would seek to dismiss this durable twin.
A late development of the long-running T500 (1968-1975), the GT500, like many last knockings of most mainstream manufacturers’ models, is super-dependable and bug-free, although not entirely viceless.
The T500’s starred history informs appreciation of the GT: launched in high summer, with a US press ride through eastern California’s Death Valley (highest recorded temperature 57ºC). None of the 498cc twins wilted in any way. It was ample proof that what was then considered high-risk engineering – a large-displacement stroker – could endure the worst the globe could throw at it.
The T500 won two proddie TTs (Frank Whiteway in 1970, Stan Woods in 1973). Aussie GP ace Jack Findlay won the Senior in 1973 on a TR500 race version packing a broadly similar air-cooled piston-ported 70mm x 64mm unit. With the possible exception of a Detroit diesel, few two-strokes are as over-engineered as this GT.
The 1976 makeover into the GT from the T involved a front disc brake, capacitor discharge ignition (CDI), and a larger capacity 3.7-gallon fuel tank (from the GT750). And this is where the Turismo element comes screaming into play. Suzuki reduced carburettor choke sizes from 34 to 32mm in 1973, and the GT runs Mikunis of the same bore. You can get 50mpg from a GT. That’s a tank range of 180 miles; 200 miles if you’re gentle.
And it pays to be gentle. Not because the engine can’t endure visits to the unnecessary 7000rpm redline, but for the fact it’s simply not worth it. Even with the rubber-mounted bars, it’s vibey up top. The claimed 44bhp comes at 6000rpm, maximum torque at 500rpm less. About 5000rpm is a sensible ceiling before the onset of ‘white finger’, numbed feet slipping off footpegs, front mudguard brackets fracturing, and a marked reduction in enjoyment.
This is not a two-stroke to excite with power wheelies in the lower ratios or a blurred tacho needle as you chuck gear after gear at it. There are only five speeds, and the engine is a slugger – an all-day, every day shire horse of a thing. And that is its charm. If it’s a show pony you’re after, get an RD400 or a Kawasaki triple.
The chassis is long – and the 1466mm (57.7in) wheelbase makes the GT stable at speed – ‘speed’ being the 75mph it’s
