As 13-year-old I already considered myself a hardcore motorcyclist. I had an indestructible Honda CL100 that I rode primarily off road, but it didn’t take long for me to figure out how to get all around Indianapolis via railroad rights of way, alleys, dry or semi-dry creek beds, woods and open fields. I read all the major motorcycle magazines of the day – Motorcyclist, Cycle, Cycle World, Cycle Guide and occasionally even Cycle News.

The gorgeous power plant of the Suzuki GT750 - the bike of my dreams in 1973. (Larry Lawrence photo)

For some odd reason the bike that really caught my eye as a kid was the Suzuki GT750, known to many as the Water Buffalo. I just knew my destiny was to own a GT750 when I was old enough to get my drivers’ license. The GT was the first production water-cooled bike from the Japanese makers and it didn’t matter what the magazine reviews said, I just knew a two-stroke triple had to be faster than the four-stroke Kawi Z-1 or Honda CB750.

Anyway, I never got a GT. By the time I was old enough for a big street bike the GS750 had arrived and I simply could not ignore the rave reviews. Soon I was a proud owner of a brand-spanking new 1978 GS750E. I paid $1995 for that bike, that’s only $6680 in today’s dollars. A 2009 GSX-R750 costs nearly $12,000 or almost twice what I paid for the equivalent motorcycle in 1978. Maybe that’s one reason we have a lot fewer young folks going into motorcycling today than we did in the 1970s.