Calling all BIG's this is the Doc

[Fogo72]

I want mine back.



There was one for sale on the side of the road at Muswellbrook a few months ago for $1500 white and orange model 750, should have bought it
Cheers Fogo...

[robmoto]

Hey bro have you lost a fong, nah just found one. .
And still not a KTM in site I ride alone..

[troy safari carpente]

Originally Posted by Doctor

back when there was not a KTM is sight hehe



you may confirm Troy that once the Big's were top of the tree those were the days

Gaston Rahier... the "greatest" little man to ever throw a leg over a DAKAR bike.

He won his three World 125cc MX Championships (1975,76,77) with Suzuki (he was my idol)


He went on to win two Dakar's back to back in 1985/85 with BMW



Then returned to the Suzuki fold in 1987 (or 1988?... not sure) where he developed the DR BIG
Dakar bikes together with SUZUKI and support of his previous sponsors Marlboro;



He never repeated the success found in 1984 and 1985, but his team did put the BIG Suzuki singles up amongst
the multi cyl. fractory bikes from Honda NXR750, Yamaha YZE750 and Cagiva Elefant 900 for a few years.

The last rally examples of the SUZUKI BIG on Dakar were from 1990/91 (I think?) and by this time they
were running in the factory yellow/blue of Suzuki's motocross team colours at the time...
Gaston was a short arse... wasn't he?



In a lot of ways the DR BIG (to me) is linked to Rahier... though his iconic wins came on board the Munchen maffia's machinery , I remember the Suzuki efforts, they were great machines!

Gaston Rahier passed away in 2005 after an extended illness.
Little in stature, but a "great" man and a true champion in all respects.

I know I will always remember him for this quote; directed to Steve Chapman on the penultimate mornings pre-dawn start of the 1985 WYNN's Safari; Chapmans Honda XR headlight was non functional and he had no way of commencing the stage in darkness... Rahier (aboard the factory BMW) the two only seperated by minutes in a battle for the lead of the rally;

"You ride with me, follow my light until the sunrise... THEN, when the sun come up - we race..."

As the record books show, Chapman went on to win the 1985 Safari by a slim margin over Rahier... but it is that gesture of sportsmanship and fairplay that defines Gaston Rahier in my eyes...
a champion a 1000 times over, and a fitting standard bearer for the Suzuki BIG.

[Doctor]

Originally Posted by Fogo72

There was one for sale on the side of the road at Muswellbrook a few months ago for $1500 white and orange model 750, should have bought it
Cheers Fogo...

you will be shot at dawn for missing that

[lentil]

Good onya DOC.


I used to walk past the DR BIGS @ the suzuki dealership in Broken Hill and ogle them as a kid, they just used to look @ me and say yes you can sit on it!

[Doctor]

Troy you iz da man
i would give all my unclaimed children to own this BIG would LOVE to know were it is now

[robmoto]

The daughter is shorter than Gaston .

[robmoto]

Doc heres one thats going on 2012 scrapheap ride , scroll down the page.
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...=733553&page=3

[ausibatla]

Started as a single project and turned into an obsession.















Cheers.

[Doctor]

[ciedema]

You know these bikes, which are what 15 years old, still have fairly sharp modern lines. Put some USD forks on them one in fresh condition would look pretty good amongst the BMW 800's, Tigers etc of this world.

[Tony T]

FWIW Here's a couple of my first one. I did buy another recently, but sold it shortly after when the call of the Elefant got too strong

[robmoto]

Looks good Toni, Tell the Doc about the Suzuki Rally kit in it.

[robmoto]

Originally Posted by ciedema

You know these bikes, which are what 15 years old, still have fairly sharp modern lines. Put some USD forks on them one in fresh condition would look pretty good amongst the BMW 800's, Tigers etc of this world.

Try 25 years old, the first DR750 came out in 87, so all modern bikes followed the lines of the BIG, BMW I think was the first to copy the beak,
The lines of the BIG were way ahead of there time and at the time looked a bit to far out and was a expensive bike .
I remember seeing one when they first came out and thought at the time it was the ugliest bike I have ever seen .

[Doctor]

Originally Posted by robmoto

Looks good Toni, Tell the Doc about the Suzuki Rally kit in it.

please