Finally a Cobra comes my way…

Just a quick pic of that elusive Cobra… only 7 of them were imported in the country in 68.

Sadly the motor is not the original one, numbers should match the frame on these. It has the correct large carbs but later type cylinders (11 fins instead of 10). It’s also missing the rear grab bar (remade nowadays, but at a price).

It came with a replacement tach as the one on the bike is split into bits.

There’s a few things not quite original on the bike, one of them being the seat. The Cobras not only had a specific suede-type cover (now available again) but also a specific seat pan. This is a later type fitted, see the gap? The fork ears look like the right type, but the chrome washers are wrong and come from a T500 R or J.

All in all, even with the missing parts, it’s just pure luck to find one of these here in Switzerland.
Most of the imported bikes were meant as demonstrators and were often kept in the shop window. Then Suzuki couldn’t meet the demand and most of the production was shipped to the US. Then in 69, the 500 II, called the Titan (see on your right of the page, in the bike menu) had a radically different and more modern styling… the old Cobras couldn’t sell and some of them end in the back of the store room and stayed there for many many years… This is where Tom found this one, only a few kilometers from his home.

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