I didn’t think they made the L model until 1981?
Anyways, good bike, very popular back in the day. Good performance too- they topped out at about 120, pretty good back in the late 70s. Handling was better than most bikes of their era. Suspension and brakes were better than most in 1978. I think they are a blast to ride, but anyone used to a halfway modern sportbike with find it to be underpowered and overly heavy, with weak brakes and a soft, imprecise suspension.
Even though the GS series was Suzuki's first effort at 4-strokes, they were good solid machines, being drastically over engineered because Suzuki simply could not afford to have their first 4-stroke be a dud. So they are solid, dependable bikes with a good record for reliability and longevity. As with all older Suzukis, the charging system is the weak point, but parts are still easy to find even if the stator should fail sometime in the future.
In short, the bike is the Dodge Dart of the motorcycle world: nothing flashy, low tech, solid as a rock, run forever.
