The Big Trip or Smokin Paul’s fun project bike.
It looks to me like some sort of endurance racer.
I picked this up in May 1997 when Ken Solar and I took a road trip to deliver some motorcycles to California and pick up a bunch of parts to bring back. The guy we were getting the parts from was Dan Cragen from Santa Monica, or at least that is where he lived in the late 80’s when I knew him.
Dan really needed to get the GT750 parts out of his garage so Ray Meyers offered to pick up the parts in LA where Dan lived and bring them up to his place in Monterey where we would pick up the parts in exchange for delivery of a Suzuki GT750 and two T20 (X6 Hustlers) Ray bought from Mike Sucharski, another friend of ours here in Milwaukee. The plan was to deliver the bikes, pickup the parts and visit with my relatives along the way as we went from Southern California up the coast to Monterey.
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We took turns driving and drove nonstop Milwaukee to LA. When we arrived in LA we visited my Brother Mike and his wife Donna then it was off to LAX, Dan lives down the street from the airport. In this picture I had just come back from a ride on Dan Cragen's RE5.
After a long trip that ride hit the spot. :-) Next stop was the Thousand Oaks area where I stopped by to see my brother Tim and some of my old friends. I made sure to visit Tom Zinger the original GT750 guru. When I lived in Southern California I met Tom when he was leaving a note on my GT750M. Our common interest in the GT750 turned into a great friendship. Tom knew everybody in the GT750 circles which was really remarkable because this was before the internet. Having Tom as a friend I learned about all the GT750 people, where & who had parts, bikes, knowledge and more. Ken Tom and I spent the rest of the evening having dinner and talking GT750 tales well into the night. Unfortunately Tom no longer rides GT750's or any bike. He was a (GT750) motorcycle courier in LA and was an avid lane splitter. For those of you that do not know about this practice it is riding on the white lines between lanes, its legal in California. I always cautioned Tom not to do it and especially at speed. Well one day a lady bumped his handle bars and a sliding he went. 
Not just sliding but sliding under and just in front of the left rear tires of a semi truck! He was FACING the tires that were just inches away from his face! He slid past the left rear tires as he proceeded under the truck! Then past the right set of tires but now they are an inch or two in front of his face! Luckily for Tom the truck driver was on his brakes and Tom just missed having his head flattened. He sold both his GT750's, found god in a big way and bought a Mazda car. Having something like that happen can really change you. Tom still has a love for Suzuki GT750's and may possibly try riding again if opportunity knocks on his door.
In the morning we continued up the coast on our way to Ray's but first a stop at Suzuki Joe's.
Suzuki Joe must have at least one of every model Suzuki motorcycle ever made starting with the Power Free, a 36cc single-cylinder two-stroke. He has quite a collection. Joe was nice enough to put us up for the night and in the morning took us to breakfast letting us ride our choice of motorcycles. I chose one of the few non Suzuki bikes he had a 6 cylinder Honda CBX. :-) Down the mountain we went getting squiggly and straitening out the turns. We spent a little more time with Joe before continuing our blitzkrieg trip up the coast to Ray Meyers.
In the picture you see Ken, Myself and Ray’s daughter unloading the bikes.
Finally we made it up to Ray's in Monterey, Ca.
http://www.monterey.org
Ray Meyers was very hospitable and it was a pleasure visiting him.
I didn't spend as much time with Ray as I wanted because I went to visit my sister and her husband who lived a short drive away in San Luis Obispo. The day after we arrived at Ray's my brother in law stopped by to picked me up for a drive along the coast and a long overdue family visit. :-)
Later that afternoon in Ray’s garage Ken and I were looking over the Cragen parts cache before packing it up. When I moved from California back to the midwest in 1990 I had gotten rid of a bunch of GT750 and GT550 stuff I had. I just did not have the room, and besides three bikes was enough. Gee did I just say that? ;-) hahaha. Anyway I recognized a few of the parts, they were parts I had given or sold off back in 1990 when I left California. Funny how good parts keep on getting recycled. :-)
Because Ken used his van and trailer for the trip we decided he would have first pick at the parts. Ken took one look at the crazy gas tank and tail and said he did not want any part of that monstrosity.
I had just the opposite reaction, it was love at first sight.
When I found out it had a modified GT750 frame I starting dreaming about what i could make out of it. Well its been sitting around for 7 years and its about time I do something with it.
If you know anything about this, or similar motorcycles, its history or anything else I want to hear from you. You can join us on the GT750 email discussion list/group
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/GT750
or email me, Smokin Paul, at Dazzle@waterBuffalo.com
In general I am interested in your thoughts or info about these mysterious motorcycle parts and any ideas you have or thoughts on what I should make with them.