The present day motocross community owe a great debt to Suzuki, for they were the first to seriously tackle what at that time was a hard-to-break-into sport, for any Japanese manufacturer, irrespective how resourceful. Suzuki's MX project began in 1967, at which time they invested wholeheartedly in a raft of prototypes raced by Swedish rider Olle Petterson; Olle deservedly finished 3rd in the hard-fought 1969 250 World Championship. Joel Robert was hired for 1970, going on to win the World title for Suzuki over each of the next three years. Meanwhile, in the 500 Class, Roger Decoster had changed from CZ to Suzuki. He promptly won five World Championships between 1971 and 1976, giving Suzuki a head start over their domestic rivals! This success reflected in their sales of production off-roaders in all major markets. Suzuki GB was well served by the early 1970s appointment of Beamish Motors as their UK distributor. Graham Beamish himself had been a top 1950s scrambler on BSA Gold Stars. During this period of rapid growth, where each year's fresh model came with a raft of improvements – developed on the "works" bikes in the previous Championship year – Suzuki were under pressure from their larger importers to produce exact replicas of the factory machinery. This was not a new phenomenon in the racing world. So, for the 1975 season, Suzuki duly responded with a small batch of limited edition RN 370 series models, sometimes described as Decoster Replicas.

This rare machine, which to date has been run for barely 30 minutes, is from that batch, and was sold to Ron Stillo, in its unused condition, in 1996. A signed letter from Graham Beamish explains how these bikes originated. From 1975 onwards Graham received innumerable offers for this particular Suzuki, but had always declined, until finally accepting Ron's offer about 15 years ago. It should be stated how, way back, this pair raced together in France and Belgium as a team, and when Graham married Ron was Best Man. There is, however, a slightly crunchy sequel to this story inasmuch in 2009 Ron decided to sample this machine on some land adjacent to his house. He had never ridden the Suzuki before, nor even any 2-stroke scrambler, let alone a hugely powerful ultra light works replica. Needless to say an early application of throttle saw the machine turn over backwards! Rider 100% OK, luckily, if a little shaken, and no damage apart from a tear in the rear plastic fender! The Suzuki has not since been ridden. During its long hibernation the machine has been carefully stored, and emerges without any discernible rust or corrosion. In addition to the Beamish letter on file there is an undated copy article from The Motor Cycle by Martin Christie, in which he summarises Suzuki's successful entry into the motocross arena. Offered without documents.