Stourport-on-Severn Suzuki X7 Owners Club

The latest group meeting brought Seven Suzuki X7 owners together on their motorbikes for a ride-out to the annual Chaddesley Corbett Classic Car & MotorBike show. Meeting up a Dorrell's Motorbike shop we had a quick ride round Stourport to get cash and stop for breakfast, then went on to the bike show in Chaddesley. The ride round town was something quite special. With the seven bikes making a cacophony of noise and filling the air with sweet two-stroke smoke almost everyone in the streets stopped and stared. The subsequent ride out to Chaddesley allowed the bikes to really open up and full revs and throttle were needed to keep up with the pace. It really is surprising how quickly these bikes can go when ridden hard. There was ample proof that a healthy Suzuki X7 can readily wheelie off the throttle in 1st and 2nd gears without the need to use the clutch. An unpleasant burning smell on the way revealed itself to be a fire inside the exhausts of one of the bikes that had just had it's microns repacked.

Stourport-on-Severn is a picturesque town in North Worcestershire built on the river Severn and around the development of the UK canal network during the industrial revolution of the 1700's. On a usual Sunday morning it is a peaceful and pleasant place to be but at 9:00 am on 9th August the tranquil peace of the town waking up on a Sunday morning was shattered by seven 40-something men reliving their youth on their Suzuki X7's. With a population of just 19,000 Stourport must have about the highest number of running X7's per capita in the UK if not the world. If you believe you know a place with more running Suzuki X7's than 1 for every 2000 people then get in touch and put this claim to test.

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Seven X7's in Stourport on Severn 9th August 2009

Owners Left to Right: Andrew, Jason, Dave, Vic, Clive, Guy, Vince

Here are the seven bikes lined up in stourport before heading out. This is quite an interesting collection of Suzuki X7's. Many of them have been owned by their existing owners (now in their mid-40's) since the 1980's when they first rode them as learners and rather than being showpiece restored examples some are simply in immaculate but unrestored condition. Another interesting thing about the group is the different levels of modification. The one at the front of this photograph is standard except for the classic Micron exhaust pipes. On its original pistons and with about 15,000 miles on the clocks, in the hands of its long term owner, Andrew, this appeared to be one of the fittest, quickest bikes of the day, lifting its front wheel in second with little encouragement. The next couple of bikes are completely standard and in excellent original condition. Then there is a quite heavily modified bike with quite a lot of engine modifications (more of this later) which are reputed to take it to a top speed of 120 mph. Then there are a couple of examples with non-original paintwork, Vince's with his 1980's Pro-Am racing series inspired paintjob (done many years ago) and microns exhausts and mine with its paintjob inspired by 1970's suzuki racers but otherwise standard. The different exhausts and levels of engine work make the bikes sound and perform quite differently. The standard bikes appeared to have quite a midrange advantage over the ones fitted with Microns, especially the tuned one but then once 7000 rpm kicked in the ones with the Microns really took off with a piercing racket. The tuned one in particular was very loud but with a surprisingly deep pitch which when it came up behind me at one point made me think it was a four stroke with an open pipe. There are more Suzuki X7's believed to be in Stourport and if a few more can be called upon it might be possible to get a meeting of 10 bikes together. Perhaps there are owners in nearby Kidderminster or Droitwich that could bring the total closer to 20 which would have to be a modern day record !

The Stourport Seven

Details of the Bikes in the Stourport Seven

Vince has had this bike for a long time (20+ years) with this custom paint job and Micron Exhausts all that time. It still looks fresh. I love the paint job on this bike which is inspired by the Pro-Am racing series of the 1980's. It works well on the X7 and is set off nicely by the sporty looking Micron exhausts which sound great. An unrestored X7 and unique in excellent condition.

Vince's X7

Another long term owner. I need to check with Andrew but I think he's had this bikes since the 1980's. It's in excellent original condition but like the others here is ridden and not just polished. It might have just been the enthusiastic throttle hand of the owner but with its Microns this X7 seemed to me to be one of the crispest, quickest bikes of the bunch.

We might need a 7-way shootout one day to test them all. My bike was originally in these colours and the poor state of the paintwork put me off having the same colour scheme when I took it in to be professionally sprayed. I thought the original colours were dull. But seeing these bikes in the flesh in this condition has completely changed my mind.

These red originals are great looking bikes. I haven't seen a blue one in this condition but I'm now pretty sure the red colour schemes look better. This X7 is a beauty.

This bike got a lot of attention on the day as it's quite a bit different. Vic has just recently bought this bike and given its very interesting history he paid so little for it he might as well have stolen it from the owner !

Not only was this the only one on the day in the original factory white colour scheme but it has the striking red painted frame, shiny upswept exhausts and most importantly the following engine tuning modifications: Carburetors from Yamaha RD250, free-flowing K&N style air filters, Boyesen racing reeds, Skimmed head to increase compression and a spacer plate (1mm ?) between the crankcase and barrels to advance ignition. The two-stroke oil pump had been removed and so it runs on pre-mix (petroil).

These mods were taken from a sequence of 5 or 6 magazine articles in the 1980's that when performed on the magazines X7 gave a top speed of 120mph !

The great thing about this bike is that this tuning work was done by Vic's brother Vince (see above) while he was at tech college all those years ago. A great story. Vic is keen to get hold of the magazines or copies that carried these tuning articles so if any reader knows of them, please get in touch. On the day I don't think Vic tested it much as it didn't streak away from the other bikes here, perhaps another day ! However, it is definitely the loudest bike here with a suprisingly deep note coming as much from the induction roar courtesy of the air filters as from the exhausts. The bike lived up to its bad-boy image by setting fire to the wadding in the newly repacked exhausts and smoking like hell.

This is Clive's X7 and is another beauty. In red, it is original and unrestored, with some genuine replacement parts like the front mudguard (they are prone to rust). This bike is very original, keeping the standard exhausts and airbox.

Clive has a talent for getting X7's at good prices and has had a collection of X7's including the great looking and rare white example below.

This is Dave's Suzuki X7. I don't know its history but will find out. Suffice to say it's a proud original condition bike in immaculate condition. It's had a little necessary cosmetic work to keep it looking so good, notably re-chroming of the Exhaust downpipes, kickstart lever, rear brake lever and rear brake torque arm, all done at a chrome platers in Walsall for a paltry £ 100.

This is an earlier red colour-scheme than the other red bikes with its black tank pin-striping compared to the later model's orange/black/white stripes. Little details like this make it a bit different. Another cracking example.

Dave's X7

Another original, unrestored Suzuki X7 in great condition and credit to its owner Jason. The best thing about this bike on the day was that Jason brought along his 6-year old son Harvey (seen below) as a pillion.

Harvey seemed to be enjoying the day and it was good to see him being safety conscious in a one-piece Arlen-Ness suit and to see Jason taking up the responsible back-marker position during the ride-out. Hopefully one day Jason will be able to pass this bike on to his son to keep going until it's really rare. Just one thing - get yourself a new clutch cover Suzuki badge Jason.

Harvey

I put my own Suzuki X7 last on this list in reverence to the bikes above which are of such a high original standard they make mine look a bit ratty. In defence, I have saved this one from the brink. Bought as a £ 200 un-roadworthy wreck I have brought it back to life and given it some respect and uniqueness in it's new paint-job.

Methinks it needs a little more fettling as although it will pop the front in first it won't power wheelie in 2nd. Maybe I need some lessons from Andrew ! Whilst rebuilding my bike I deliberately omitted rear-view mirrors as the bike looks so much cleaner without them, but it does make riding the bike a little more challenging.

Looking through the photos it's interesting to see that of the seven bikes only two have mirrors. Is this just style or also an indication of competent riding skills and a priority on what's lying ahead rather than what has already passed ?

A good day out - thanks Lads !

Guy's X7

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