| Author | Message | ||
     Danger_dave |
Some of you asked for comments on the Suzuki cruiser. This is a draft of what I'll submit to the mag. You have to wade through some local content, but it has a rundown on my thoughts on the bike. I kept it for 2 weeks after the event. Tells you something too :-) ------------------  Blue Skies for Rolling Thunder This year Suzuki decided to have two Boulevard Rallies, separate North and South Island events, rather than alternating Islands as they have done previously. Unfortunately the Christchurch earthquake foiled those plans and the North Island’s ‘Rolling Thunder 2011’ became the big show. Thanks to Suzuki and Colemans, who made a stunning white M109R available, I was able to do some KR Coverage of the ride. As usual with the Boulevard Rallies, it all went off without a hitch, mostly due to the organization and planning of Simon Mead and his marketing team and the good form of participants. I made sign-on at Suzuki dealership, The Pacific Motor Group, on the southern outskirts of Whangarei at dusk, just as Steven Croad and the crew from the Road Guide were packing up their trade display of goodies. PMG have a tidy showroom with new and used Suzukis on the floor. There were half a dozen Rally goers making use of the Friday afternoon sign on, in the parking lot when I skidded in. By Friday night the City centre was full of shiny Boulevards of all descriptions, many parked outside the local eateries. I cruised downtown for a takeaway and like most starters, settled in for a pretty early night at my Hotel in anticipation of a big Saturday, and it’s exactly what we got. The ride kicked off from PMG’s city yards and headed north along state highway one towards Kaitia and a coffee stop at Kaitia Motorcycles. The volume of machines filled both yards. There were around 200 people on more than 150 bikes in the convoy and it made a really impressive sight rolling through the late Northland summer. Riding conditions were near perfect all weekend and the ride itself proved pretty much the same. No incidents, a heap of happy folks enjoying their motorcycles, good company in stunning scenery on very good roads for the big cruisers to roll away. From Kaitaia we turned on to State Highway 10 and a lunch stop at the famous fish and chippery at Mangonui. Again the massive line of chrome machines made for a very impressive sight, set against the backdrop of clear blue skies and glistening Northland waters, while the fish and chips were rated as ‘outstanding’. Back along State Highway Ten I scooted off in front to get some photos of the convoy passing. The line of bikes looked fantastic, strung out as fas as the eye could see at times, the sound of the thunder passing was pretty impressive too. Not surprisingly, the crew were in pretty good spirits by the time we made it back to PMG and the Saturday afternoon Show & Shine. Some of the custom jobs really are first rate. The Boulevards give owners a pretty blingy point to start customising from, but some of the ‘rodded’ units are quite special. I don’t buy that ‘Good Custom has to come from Milwaukee’ line any more than the Boulevard owners do. It’s 2011 – tasty is tasty no matter where it’s made. After a drool over some of the meet’s showpieces we mini-bussed it out to the Whangarei Golf Clubrooms for a huge buffet dinner, presentations, a few stories, and a heap of fun and frivolity before the van eventually returned and poured me into my Hotel. Outstanding day. Outstanding event. M109R Workouts I was lucky enough to get a clear run through the Mangamuka Gorge on the organised part of the ride and managed to ‘give the bike its head’ on that excellent set of twisties. Spooling the 109 cube monster up in second and third gears is magic. It sounds great and pulls out of the corners on the back of its huge pistons going up and down like pile drivers. Even if you are in a gear too high, it just has a bit of a shake and the torque does the rest. You can feel each pulse of the engine and it is just delightful. 1783cc of fuel injected Suzuki mumbo. The cruiser ergos mean it’s pretty easy to touch the pegs down, so you have to be a little circumspect with corner entry speeds and make some allowances for the massive 240 section rear end, but pulling out of the bends can be such a pleasant surge that it kind-of compensates for tipping in slower. I got through the gorge pretty rapidly, and quite legally, it’s the kind of road where 50kph can be too hot, but it was a thrilling charge and the bike really was a ton of ‘yeah baby’ fun. Sunday saw the main group heading south for a stop at the Puhoi Pub on the way home, but I was more interested in giving the M109R another workout – I’d done a heap of group ride cruising too. So I peeled off and headed back towards base via one of my favourite roads. The Paparoa road on the 109 was a delight too. Again you have to wash off speed on entry to the tighter corners, but negotiating the open sweepers, where there’s hardly any change to the big twin’s pulse, and the torque and power of the huge mill just made me feel good. Brakes, gearbox, shaft drive, in fact all the running gear works just like you want it too. In what seemed only a blink I was back on the Western Freeway in to Auckland, feet forward and chillin’ my way back home. I found it very comfortable for the extended saddle time I put in and really enjoyed sitting astride the machine. I thought it looked great, sounded phat, and it made me feel good with its big torque and big power. It’s a big unit, and one for an experienced wrangler. It’s a rapid bit of kit when you do spool it up too, but if you fancy a bike with muscle, this is one of the daddies, Then as the Boulevard Rally amply demonstrated there’s a huge range of Boulevard models to suit all types and size of riders. I’ve been impressed with the quality of every Suzuki Boulevard Rally I’ve been on, (all of them) the bikes, the people and the organization. Long may they cruise. See your Suzuki dealer if you want to play. | ||
| Kyrocket |
Thanks Dave I've been waiting for that. | ||
| Sayitaintso |
Good writeup, thanks. When i bought my Yamaha Raider I had gotten my list of bikes I was considering down to the Raider and the 109R. I really really liked both bikes. Gobs of power and torque from both. At the time I was looking, those two plus the V-Rod and Rocket III were pretty much it for the "power cruiser" market. The V-Rod and Rocket were out of my price range. The deciding factor for me was that the 109 was water cooled and I like the air cooled look, seems much "cleaner" looking to me. Oh yea, the headlight on the 109 looked really strange to me also. So i went with the Raider. I really do believe i would have been happy with either bike. | ||
| Blake |
I like the Danger Man's reports, no nit-picking, just nice solid thoughtful reporting and pleasant commentary. This one piqued my interest, so I visited the M109R Suzuki web page. Noticed this bit of over the top marketing:
Sounds great, might make sense... until you see the thing...  "Born of championship-winning Suzuki race heritage"? Really?  | ||
| Blake |
It does have inverted forks and dual disk front brakes, and the tires are black rubber. They really should hire Dave to write their marketing blurbs. | ||
| Babired |
M109R rocks I rode one in 2007 at Americade and I never forgot it! Blue one with the white racing stripe please and a full suit of leathers! | ||
| Sayitaintso |
Blake, I held a little back on my thoughts about the looks when I was choosing between the Raider and the 109. I try (but often fail) to live by the old saying "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" | ||
| Danger_dave |
It has GSXR brakes and some of the engine management doohickeys from memory. | ||
| Danger_dave |
Here's the photo set - mainly for the participants. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiwirider/sets/721576 26465321330/ | ||
| Swampy |
Looks like it is a copy of the Polaris....er....Victory spaceship thingie Sorry I can't get past the looks, but if I remember correctly I wasn't happy about the TT either, so what do I know? | ||
| Xl1200r |
I rode one at Americade as well in 2007, mine was white. For a cruiser, I mostly liked it. For me, the rear brake pedal was adjusted far too much up/back and made it hard to use it sparingly - this could have been an adjustment issue. I recall dragging my heels around nearly every corner and the engine, while not bad, didn't seem to be as happy as low in the rev range as my old Sportster or the XB12 I had at the time, which surprised me. But it sure did get up go plenty well for a machine its size. Nice write up. | ||
| Greg_e |
I would not buy that silver/chrome thing, some of the other color schemes might be OK though. | ||
| Kenm123t |
Dave Give Buck Rodgers his bike back ! | ||
| Danger_dave |
Good call. Those that don't know bikes think it's an OCC special. The one I had was white with blue Cobra stripe. I thought it looked pretty cool - in a futuristic kind of way. | ||
| Greg_e |
Almost a Lawmaster. | ||
| U4euh |
suspension, brakes, fuel management, and the inner workings of the valve train are what the 109R take from the GSXR line. I think the 109 looks utterly different than most power cruizers out there, one of it's most appealing points to me, but what do I know, my favorite bike so far has been the Lightning. | ||
| Babired |
okay I just got this photo of the M109R with a fairing on it I could totally do this bike. X11200r my demo model was white too! In case you guys haven't heard Kawasaki is gearing up for a nationwide demo fleet tour called Ticket to ride it will be in DC weekend after next I'm going if I have time  | ||
| Grancuda |
It uses the GSX-R brakes? The GSX-R is 312lbs lighter so I am guessing it needs better brakes? | ||
| Sayitaintso |
Doesn't that picture say its a Vulcan 1700, not a M109? | ||
| Blake |
The GSXR can make over 185 MPH, and braking energy is proportional to mass and speed squared (mV2), so even at twice the total bike+rider mass, the M109R should be good to go for speeds up to 130 MPH. Using rough wet weight numbers with the GSXR at around 450 LBs and the M109R at 760 LBs then adding 200 LBs of rider and gear, the weight ratio is just 960/650=1.5, which bumps up the braking speed capacity to SQRT(1852/1.5}= 151 MPH. That would seem adequate.  | ||
| Babired |
oh yeah it does  I guess this is proof on my attention to detail I like the big machine to dust off any HDs down the road! Thanks K | ||
| Danger_dave |
Yea - I understand what you mean, but then 'Fastest Cruiser' is a bit of a strange premis really. The accolade still belongs to the Triumph Rocket III. | ||
| Sayitaintso |
The accolade still belongs to the Triumph Rocket III. Plus, it has some SERIOUS torque right from the low end of the rpm range. I've never ridden a cruiser like the Rocket III....including the Boss Hoss. Well, if you include the V-max as a cruiser I'd being saying something different, but I dont think of the V-max as a cruiser. | ||
| Danger_dave |
Yep - why I said in the draft 109 copy "'one' of the daddies." I suppose the Vmax is a cruiser under Dave's law of scraping hard parts. The Rocket still has the best business down low. Point to point a Rocket Roadster or a Vmax would be hard to split. Drag strip it's all Vmax. Much longer legs and 60 more ponies. | ||
| Dbird29 |
Ladies bike. My wife Lori loves her M109. | ||
| Baybueller |
Vmax real life. A buddy bought one and after 2kmiles of adjusting the suspension he is selling at a big loss. Massive HP/ torque but aparently not user friendly. | ||
| Danger_dave |
Long wheelbase for high speed stability. They are rock solid around 150mph. Slows the handling down some, I dialed it in OK. Heavier the rider the better. It's a bit like the ZX14. That's a slow steerer too. Offsets the kazillion mph top speeds. | ||
| Danger_dave |
DD top 10 killer gigs - #8. Me and the Ed got the keys to the local drag strip and a Vmax laid upon us. Warn't tappin that sucker out some fun boyo.  | ||
| Faseljd |
B-King over the overpriced V-Max | ||
| Danger_dave |
Yeah - but the B-King is actually unrideable if you are tall. There is nowhere for your legs to go. A hyabusa is more comfortable, and it's not that flash for long legs either. Always struck me as ironic. Big man's size bikes that aren't. (Message edited by danger_dave on May 05, 2011) |
