Bridgestone 350 GTR
(Page 4 of 4)
March/April 2007
By Roland Brown
And so the GTR was gone, but not without leaving a lasting impression on anyone who had ridden one. Given Bridgestone’s success in the tire world over the last few decades, it’s hard to argue with the decision to quit motorcycle production. But after riding this quick and classy machine, I can’t help wondering how good modern Bridgestones might have been, if the firm that created the 350 GTR all those years ago was still building bikes. MC
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“But if the brakes are good, the engine/transmission unit is fantastic. Never before have so many advanced features been incorporated into a single package. It is so good, in fact, that only a real technician can fully appreciate all of the details.”
— Cycle, August 1967
“The Bridgestone is a big motorcycle. The 33-inch seat height has a lot of people tippy-toeing to retain balance at a stop sign. And once you’re rolling, you’re very aware that it is indeed a long way to the ground. The wheelbase, at 54 inches, is longer than that of many 650s.”
— Cycle, December 1970
“The styling of the Bridgestone 350 is cetainly not going to hurt sales for this new model. We consider it to be one of the handsomest roadsters in all of motorcycling, with a superbly successful blending of Japanese smoothness and English cobbiness. Further, it’s, as we’ve said before, a full-size motorcycle, as big and as fast as any 500 — and considerably faster than most. The seating and control layout are exceptionally comfortable for the average or larger rider.”
— Cycle World, August 1967
“Bridgestone built the motorcycle line up gradually, and in the summer of 1967 tossed a major player into the booming middleweight sweepstakes — the GTR. Grand Touring Roadster? Great Track Racer? Nobody ever really explained the initials, but that was ok. It was a 350, and this was a hot item in that long-ago era.”
— Rider, July 1997
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