I was looking at the kettle yesterday especially the side
panel (see picture) and that classic Suzuki GT series badging from the
seventies. I remember being 16 and
seeing a mates brand new GT250, gold in color, and very envious of it as I was
just starting on my 'M' reg gold colored '75 fizzie (PFA 195M).
The GT at the front of the badge was just stunning. I loved
looking at bike magazines and the 1976 World Cycle Guide I bought from a local
news agent when I worked for my Dad during the summer holidays being able to buy
such things as he paid me to help rewind motors. I still have it to this day.
I would spend hours looking at the pictures ad reading the
specs of each and every bike but the Suzuki GT series and that badge just did
it for me.
Then a few weeks later a mate bought a brand new GT380 -
that badge again. We would be down the
pub, in Swad, on a Friday night (yes 16 but it was the seventies and we only
drank lager lemon tops). That beautiful
black GT380 would sometimes arrive. I
would go out and just stare at that side panel and think what a wonderful thing
to have.
Then, I visited the local bike shop in Burton and wow wee,
he had a brand new GT750! A three
cylinder two stroke 750 - how could you ride such a monster, it was gorgeous,
and that side panel 'GT750', the wonderful enlarged red 'T' nestled between the
smaller red 'G' and the silver 750 - numbers and letters that moved me so much,
so emotive, a funny feeling in my stomach every time I was lucky enough to see
a GT Suzuki.
A couple of weeks after that I was walking to a pub from a
mates house in Castle Greasley and as we were going through the door I heard a
two stroke bike screaming up the hill. My mates continued to enter but I stayed
outside waiting to see the bike. It came
screaming past me. It was the black GT380.
Gorgeous. As it went
past I watched it tear away from me then Jesus H Christ, he went off the road
into a railing at the side of a house and a big cloud of dust rose up hiding
the results of the impact.
I ran into the pub and yelled for them to call an ambulance.
I then ran to the scene ad OMG I was not ready to see what
was waiting for me. It wasn't the kid
that owned the bike who was on it - it was a kid we called 'Worm' (I will not
state his real name for his family and for respect). He had apparently stole
the bike but there he was lying on the grass in the garden of this house.
His left leg missing from below the knee and was lying about
four feet away from him. His right leg
was bent 180 degrees the wrong way at the knee, his left hand was mashed into
his shoulder and his eyes were half open.
It was dark and he was lying near to a street light. This was the bit that really disturbed me
because the light was reflecting off of his eyes, he was still alive but
unconscious.
The 380 was on its side, the front end all smashed up but
the tail light remained on - so spooky and weird.
I just stood there looking at him waiting for the ambulance
to arrive and went it did, which seemed like an eternity, they assessed him and
put him onto a stretcher. As they placed
him on it his other leg fell to the ground and he died.
I was so upset and didn't know what to do. As they days went by I kept seeing the lights
both in his eyes and the one remaining lit on the severely damaged GT380. How could this be, why, what went wrong,
motorbikes are dangerous, I need to stop riding, etc., etc,. all going through
my head.
I quickly decided that I would never own a GT series Suzuki,
for reasons I cannot quite understand apart from the fact that they would
always remind me of this horrible incident.
Well, I got back on the horse and rode my fizzie around but
with a little more respect knowing what could happen.
As the weeks went by I turned 17, passed my bike test and
bought myself a DT125 Yam (PJF 853R).
Loved this wee traillie and went everywhere on it then, out of the blue,
a mate of mine at Drakelow power station where I was an apprentice said he
would love to have my DT and would I swop it for his bike.
Wow I was onboard for this as I knew he had a couple of
'big' bikes so I said yes for which bike.
Guess what, it was a GT380 (TRC 335L)!!
Oh no, how could I own and ride one of those after what I had
witnessed? Totally illogical of course
but just that association. After a few days of thought, screw it and we made
the exchange.
I rode it home and had a smile on me like a Cheshire
cat. I just sat next to it and marveled,
admired, and got that funny stomach feeling while I started at that gorgeous
emblem on the side 'GT380'.
To cut a long story short I put clip-ons onto and it was the
first bike I saw 100 mph on the clock - so much for being put off by Worms’
tragic end on a GT380. Boys and toys and all that stuff of youth thinking that
you are immortal, etc.
So the point of this.
Yesterday when I was staring at my GT750, for a fleeting moment I was 16
again and I got that strange feeling in my stomach again - oh how good it was -
the innocence and wonder of being a teenager with everything still in front of
you and no sense of mortality.
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