SUZUKI T Models/Series Timeline, Specifications & Photos

These engine require no gas/oil mixture as fuel, unlike conventional 2-stroke engines. The T 350J has a unique forced oiling system "Suzuki Posi-Force Lubrication".

As the engine power of the T 350 did not pose a real challenge to the solid chassis, the stable and multi-stiffened double-loop tubular steel frame was also used in the T 350 Rebel. During the model change from the T 20 to the T 250, the Japanese motorcycle manufacturer significantly strengthened the frame with additional connecting plates and tubes.

The Suzuki Stinger T 125 is equipped right off the line with a 124cc air-cooled dual carburetor with a two stroke parallel twin. Matching engine statistics with the 5-speed transmission and this bike could blow away a majority of other similar bikes on the track. Soon after the release of the 1969 Suzuki Stinger T 125, many improvements were needed and thus the Suzuki T 125 2 Stinger was released in 1970.

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. 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 switc gear and hardware.

The Suzuki T 125 Stinger was a 125cc bike with a great name and looks. As teenagers of the time remember, this little screaming two-stroke twin-cylinder was the most exciting 125 bike of the time.

The T 500, being the bike that couldn't be built, was a sensation in 1968. A big two-stroke that ran faultlessly, didn't foul plugs, performed like a 650cc four stroke, but was light and cheap to buy. It had strange handling, the thirst of a cane-cutter and by today's standards woeful brakes. It looked kinda dumpy too, in typical 60's Japanese style, with a velour seat, a short wheelbase and a watermelon shaped petrol tank. One of the features we feel Suzuki has done an outstanding job on is the gearbox. Except perhaps for one thing. When downshifting, every time we would miss low gear. The transmission insisted on shifting into neutral and not go into low.

The 1967 Suzuki T 125 was a totally different bike from the T 125 Stinger, introduced a couple of years later. Unlike the Stinger, styled like a competition bike, the original T 125 looked more like the other bikes of the Suzuki T series, the T20 being the most famous of them.

Suzuki followed up its sensational T20 Super Six with a 200cc version - the T200 Invader. Introduced in 1967, the T200 was styled like its 250cc brother but subtly scaled down as well as having 'only' five gears and a smaller engine. The latter produced 23bhp, six horsepower down on the T20's but this was nevertheless sufficient to propel the 'junior' twin past 80mph. The T200 lasted in production for four years, being dropped from the range at the end of 1971.

The T250 was manufactured from 1967 to 1972 — and sold in some countries even a couple of years after the model was discontinued. It was replaced in most countries by GT250 in 1973 (in Japan already in 1971), another 250 twin with its roots in the T20, but with a single brake disc at the front and a new kind of cylinder head that was supposed to channel cooling air down behind the block (called Ram Air System by Suzuki).

When Suzuki introduced the T20 in 1965 it caused an immediate stir, especially among lovers of light-weight high-performance engines. The small 247cc air-cooled two-stroke engine was capable of almost 90mph and the motorcycle was suprisingly sophisticated.